What a great re-telling of an ancient story. Shakespeare gave us much in the English language when he re-told it, and now Paxson brings ancient history to life. Her research into Celtic Britain is fundamental to the story, and the struggle of Cridilla/Cordelia with her father fits into a change from matriarchy to a more warrior culture. The familiar characters are here with changing of the names to more ancient pre-Celtic forms.

Cridilla's two older sisters are anxious to see their queenship with the land restored and this striving for the return of old, half-remembered ways forms the basis of their telling their father they love him more than Cridilla does. And C. is given a more fleshed out life in this re-telling, so that we learn her childhood, her warrior training, her understanding that the queen gives life to her land, and her heartbreak when her father casts her out.

My only observation of when the story drags is the point where Cridilla finds Leir in the wastes of the Isle of the Mighty; it's another instance where 5 pages could have sufficed for 20. Otherwise, the writing is top-notch and pulls the reader into a world very different from ours. ( )