Lady of Conquest

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Summary: There's always something magical about the first time...
Review: Everybody remembers their first crush..their first kiss...the first time they fall in love. Well, for an author, there is no more special experience than writing that first book. With Bantam's long-awaited re-release of my debut novel, LADY OF CONQUEST, I get to relive that magic all over again. LADY has been out of print and unavailable for almost ten years so I want to thank all of my wonderful readers who clamored for its return and kept it a bestseller on Amazon even when it was only available in my grandmother's basement!

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Summary: A book all to it's own
Review: I've not read another novel that came close to how this one was written. I loved everyone of the characters, especially the midget jester. It seemed serious at times, and hilarious the next. I would say that this novel needs ten stars. Shadows and lace is also a great novel.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: THIS IS ONE GREAT BOOK. THE CHARACTERS ARE SO ALIVE!! IT HAS ALL THE GREAT INGREDIANTS, HATE LOVE LUST AND LOYALTY... DON'T MISS THIS ONE...

Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: This is my favorite Teresa Medeiros book, and one of my favortie romance books of all time. The characters, although not always likeable, are believeable and well thought out. The chemistry between Conn and Gelina is great, and their relationship had me sitting up late at night unable to put the book down. I've reread this many times and I always get sucked into the highs and lows of their love story. I was outraged for Gelina when she was falsely accused (more than once actually) and gleeful when she got the better of Conn. This is one of the few books I can say that I both laughed and cried while reading. The only part that I would change is the ending- it was too rushed.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: Some years ago, right after my return from Ireland, where I had lived for a time, a friend of mine, knowing my interest in Irish history and literature, recommended "Lady of Conquest." I respected my friend's taste in books, so I borrowed it and started reading. After the first few chapters, my incredulity grew into disgust, and at the halfway point I threw it against the wall. I wasn't expecting Morgan Llywelyn or Rosemary Sutcliff, but "Lady" managed to sink far beneath even my minimal expectations. One would think, by the constant descriptions of chess games, velvet gowns, puffed sleeves, satin breeches, gardenia perfume, sandalwood chests, mandolins, and large, mansion-like palaces with wooden walls and prevalent bathtubs that this is sometime after 1500 (velvet, after all, was invented in Italy during the Renaissance, and chess was a game of Middle-Eastern origins, probably introduced to Europe during the Crusades). However, as the historical note in the back makes clear, this story is set long before the destruction of the Fianna in 280 AD. Conn of the Hundred Battles died in 157, so it would seem- incredibly- that "Lady of Conquest" is actually set during the 1st or 2nd century AD. Medeiros refers to Roman-occuped Britain, and at one point our hero Conn is sold to Roman slavers and taken to ancient Rome itself- an event which seems to make little lasting impact on him, save that it gives him the chance to buy a "toga" for his girlfriend. So, while the British Celtic queen Boudicca was painting herself blue and sleeping in a hut, Conn and his parents were evidently dining on gold plate and dressing in velvet and "voluminous pink satin." Um... okay.

Asides from the note in back and the frequent mentions of the Romans, at no point would I have guessed that this story is set almost 2000 years ago. All the characters act and dress like they're in the middle of a Ren Faire. I wouldn't have minded this as much if the story had been campy and funny, in the Xena Warrior Princess mode, but the whole book takes itself so damn seriously, with poetic quotations heading each chapter. Yet the lack of research is appalling. What's even more appalling is that this shabby bit of nonsense masquerading as an historical novel of ancient Ireland managed to even get published in the first place. I suppose what really disappoints me is that Medeiros' writing is competent, and even lovely on occasion. I think she would have been able to pull off an interesting romance about Conn of the Hundred Battles, but she didn't even care enough to read up on the subject. Personally, that angers me. Irish history and myth is best left to other people, who actually love and respect it enough not to butcher it.

If you're interested in Conn, "Isles of the Blest" by Morgan Llywelyn is an entertaining and well-researched novel about Conn and his grandson Connla. Rosemary Sutcliff, a wonderful young adult author, has also written often of the ancient Celts, as in "The High Deeds of Finn Mac Cool." Madeleine Polland's "Dierdre" is also worth a look, as are the recent novels by Diana Paxson, such as "The White Raven." There are many, many other worthy authors out there, who have more than half a notion about ancient Ireland. Teresa Medeiros, evidently, has none at all.


Rating:
Summary: I was as divided by this story ...
Review: about as much as the hero and heroine were divided against each other! I don't know. I think the author must have been pissed off at something when writing this book. It was violent and had little humor (except for Nimbus - no pun intended). The sex was so unsensual and stirred nothing but remorse in me. I thought, OK, Gelina is a warrior. Conn gets shipped off to Rome and I thought Gelina would rise up and defend his kingdom against his enemies and when he came back he would find this mighty woman. Alas, the book did not go the journey I had wanted. At every turn, it showed how petty Gelina really was and how Conn abused her. I am really not bothered by the older man thing, however. In fact, I rather like an older man in a romance book. When Gelina gets shipped off and Conn treats her so horribly I thought he would find out the error of his way and then go and woo Gelina back for his sins. Alas, the book once again did not go the journey I had wanted. Conn shows so little remorse at the ending I have to wonder what the author was thinking. I certainly wasn't wooed back by his bad behavior!

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing.
Review: The fact that so many people (including myself!) are furious about this book is a statement in and of it's self. I first read it a few years ago and I've actually re-read it a few times since. I have vented and vented and vented... sometimes I was angrier with Conn than Gelina had the good sense to be... but never once did I complain about the writing. And not once have I seen anyone else complain about the writing. If we are upset with the characters it's because they were written SO well that we were able to develop an opinion. More than that, I felt that they acted "correctly" for their character all the way through even though it was certainly not romantic... at least, not the typical type. I definitely did feel the sparks through this story and I thought it was a more realistic vision of love than in most stories I've read. The big thing that I think would have changed most of the reviewers (and my own) opinions is the ending... it was SO unsatisfying that it left us all without the reasons to forgive Conn or understand why Gelina forgave him. I think that with a better ending this story could be amazingly powerful... because it already is amazingly powerful it's just that the abrupt ending leaves us frustrated and angry and I think that that is what you're hearing in all these reviews... it's a great, unique story, about wonderfully vivid characters written so well that it inflames the reader... I took emotion away from the book and I've thought back on it several times: I think that that is the true test. This book was NOT fluff and it was not disposable... the characters and their actions and my own emotional opinions haunted me and made me think. Apparently, though, the average romance reader isn't looking for that. (just remember that all my praise comes attached to the acknowledgement that the story does need a more qualified ending). Oddly enough this is one of my favorite books even though every time I read it I get furious all over again. Good writing elicits emotion... not always happy "awww"s, though. And love it's always happy "awww"'s anyway but it is love, even when it's completely messed up.