(no subject)

[owl]

I'm reading at the minute Rosemary Sutcliff's series of novels set in Roman Britain (starting with The Eagle of the Ninth). I'm going slowly through Frontier Wolf at the minute, because next after that is The Lantern Bearers and, ow!

Incidentally, it was only this evening that I finally made the connection between the cognomen Aquila and the big birds stuck up on the poles. I haven't the slightest excuse for it, seeing as the characters repeatedly refer to the Legions as the Eagles, and I had explicitly made the connection between 'Aquila' and the family nose. :)

I don't seem have a suitable icon for this, really; I'm using Ireland, north because it has a few bits of Britian showing at the sides.

Also, is coughingbear ok?

Comments

[aella_irene]

I love Rosemary Sutcliff- I just wish she'd written more! (Have you read her ones set in Post-Roman Britain? They're very good, and connected to the 'Eagle of the Ninth' series)

[owl]

The one with (?)Owain? Family killed off by Saxons, anyone notice a running theme here?

[aella_irene]

Well, the Saxons do make useful villains...

And there's another one afterwards, Sword Song, but the connection only becomes obvious at the end. Interestingly, all of her books that I've read have a recurring Dolphin motif.

[owl]

Marcus's dolphin ring still going strong?

[aella_irene]

Yes, for Sword Song. In 'The Armourer's House', its somewhat more subtle- they live in 'Dolphin House.'

[owl]

It's stretching my credulity a little that the ring was handed down over so many centuries in the same family without getting lost....What's The Armourer's House and when's it set?

[aella_irene]

It's stretching my credulity a little that the ring was handed down over so many centuries in the same family without getting lost...

Well, it was a valued family heirloom, and if it went from father to son, and was constantly worn they might just manage it...

The Armourer's House is Tudor period, set about 1550 or so (it has a cameo by Ann Boleyn). It's about an orphan girl called Tamsyn, who goes to live with her uncle's family.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

She's okay. She's got some very intensive work to do & is deleting her journal for a little while so that she can concentrate. She will come back.

[owl]

That's good :) Hope SixApart donesn't delete her in the meantime.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

She's got 30 days of grace, apparently.

[owl]

I'd always be terrified to delete my journal in case I am hit by a bus, and stagger to the computer on the 31st day only to discover that it's just been purged.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I deleted a roleplaying journal once and then changed my mind, and it was still there about eighteen months later. I think it depends on how keen they're being.

[owl]

I think they're planning to step up the frequency of the purges, now they've got better infrastructure. The promotion of rename tokens lately would tie in with that.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

OMGTENWITHAKITTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I've got nothing beyond that.

[owl]

They are both so cuuute.

SUTCLIFF novels

[valkyrie4clex.livejournal.com]

It's been a long time since i read these books but I think the main character in the EAGLE of the NINTH is followed by his descendants up through the final one that ends around the time of ARTHUR (ARTUROS) and the final battle. I read these books when i was in high school (1964-1968). My latin teacher had them in the back of the room for us to take out library style and I really enjoyed her realistic approach to the time periods that have been romanticized in books and movies. There was a side book about a young Briton who becomes a slave in Rome and eventually makes his way back to Britain (can't remember the title now) but it is also very good.
It's so nice to see that people are still finding her books and getting the word out about them.

Re: SUTCLIFF novels

[owl]

Yes, _The Lantern Bearers_ goes right up to the start of the Arthur story, and Aquila and Flavian are definitely in the direct line of Marcus Flavius Aquila.

I think I've read the one about the young slave, but I can't remember the name either. Caradoc? Madoc? Or perhaps I'm thinking of something else....

[emmy-roo.livejournal.com]

Oooh! It's been a long time since I read those! I remember that The Lantern Bearers was my favorite, though my sister preferred Eagle of the Ninth.

[owl]

I think _Eagle of the Ninth_ is my favourite too. I love Marcus and his ex-gladiator and his feral fiancée and his wolf :)

The Lantern Bearers is sooo sad. Flavia gone, and the farm, that wasn't just Aquila's and Flavia's, but Marcus's and Cottia's and Esca's and Flavius's and Justin's and Alexios's, and then even though Aquila's got Ness and the Minnow, they're all headed for that Arthur story and it never ends well.