Review: Celtic Cassandra
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2013
In her first book, "Lady of the Moon," of her Silver Wheel Trilogy, Mary Gillgannon compellingly relates the spiritual awakening of Sirona, a young woman training to be a "Learned One" or "Drui" who experiences terrible visions that suggest that her people's interaction with the colonizing Romans will have serious game-changing repercussions that will forever change her world and belief system.  However, as well thought out and nuanced as Sirona's journey might be, the extremely abrupt ending which cannot even be classified as a cliffhanger leaves the reader wondering if Gillgannon's original text was divided into three parts to create three ways to capitalize on what should have been only one book.For the most part, Gillgannon covers familiar ground for those who favor this type of historical fiction.  Barbara Erskine in her novels "The Warrior's PrincessandDaughters of Fireas well as Marion Zimmer Bradley in herThe Forest HouseandLady of Avalonapproach the attempted Roman conquest of Britain and its effect on its people and religion with the same degree of historical accuracy and attention to detail that allows the reader more than a glimpse of what life amongst the Celtic tribes around and after the time of Boudicca and the Iceni tribe uprising was like.  Gillgannon mirrors Zimmer Bradley, telling her tale from the perspective of a woman acolyte gathering strength and spiritual understanding.  Gillgannon's Sirona deals not only with the threat of the encroaching Romans, but her own tribe's mistrust of her innate abilities as the daughter of a talented seer who has disrespected the traditions of her people and has paid the price.Drui-in-training Sirona enjoys two love interests:  the tenacious Cruthin, obsessed with discovering the Great Mysteries his elders deem him too immature to understand and the loyal Bryn, sent to study amongst the Druis but wanting only to hone his skills as a defending warrior that would rather die than see the ways of his people change through the intervention of the Romans.  Gillgannon follows the development of their stories from both Sirona and Bryn's third person vantage point.The novel moves along at a nice pace with Sirona developing her burgeoning skills as a seer and Bryn deciding to pursue his own dreams rather than those of his father's  when without warning, "Lady of the Moon" stops dead.  At the end of this reviewer's ebook version, the reader is urged on to read further by downloading the next book in the sequence.  This is all well and good except for the fact that "Lady of the Moon" then seems to serve no purpose other than to introduce the reader to the characters and their situations.  However, in order for literature to make sense there should be some resolution of the issues challenging the characters no matter how well the author sets the scene and fleshes out her players.  "Lady of the Moon" is merely the beginning of the story, not a story unto itself.  Unfortunately, Gillgannon divides her book into three pieces, perhaps to better market it, offering the first at $0.00, the last (which includes all three) for $4.99 and not even offering the second "Raven of Death."  How confusing!  The $0.00 priced "Lady" should have either been marketed as a first part teaser to  "The Silver Wheel" novel or done away with totally, leaving in its stead just the "Silver Wheel" novel priced at $4.99.Nonetheless, what Gillgannon writes is good fiction.  Sirona's story of enlightened understanding regarding her gift and what it infers will occur to her and her people is conveyed with both a conviction for Sirona's paganism and a desire to depict real people in a historical setting.Bottom line?  "The Lady of the Moon" is the beginning of Sirona the Drui's story that transpires during the Roman conquest of Britain circa 60 C.E.  While this storyline--the burning of the sacred grove on Mona and the uprising of Boudica of the Iceni--has been covered before by authors of great merit, author Mary Gillgannon stands her ground firmly as someone with the talent and conviction to convey her view of these historical events from her own very detailed perspective.  Sirona's tale is convincing and winsome.  This reviewer only wishes that her entire story was told within the pages of this one novel instead of mercilessly chopping the full novel up into three pieces where none of its parts can stand alone as a novel should.  Recommended, nevertheless.Diana Faillace Von Behren"reneofc"