This was an animated retelling of Saint Brigid's story. I didn't know that much about this Irish saint before reading this book, and as such, I don't know the accuracy of the portrayal, but it did make me care about the characters, and the saint.)

There were three things I wished we would have seen in this book: The first was that I wish we'd gotten to see Saint Brigid meet Saint Patrick. We heard a little bit about her previous encounters with him, but by the start of the narrative, he had already died, and that was a bit disappointing. I also wish we could have learned what happened to Bram. Over and over we heard that he was on the verge of converting, but the last we saw of him, he was weak and sick. The last we saw of him he was dying, probably alone and in the middle of the wilderness, and we never find out if he fully converted, though he didn't appear to disbelieve in Christ, I was never sure if he did grow to believe in him or not. The third thing I wish we could've heard, was what happened to Arden. He was captured by raiders, and being tended by a Christian, and asks to know more of his God. This angry, bitter, power-mad man, who had spent most of Brigid's life trying to destroy her, and just like that, heh asks to hear more about Christianity. does he actually convert? Does he ever return to Ireland? Does he ever seek Brigid's forgiveness? These are a few questions I would have liked to get answers for.

That said, in spite of the fact that a few story lines could have come to a slightly more satisfying end, the end of the book was pretty satisfying. Brigid, in one form or another, managed to forgive the person who hurt her more than any other, from whom she withheld her forgiveness for so long.

The ebook was formatted extremely poorly, but I don't hold that against the story.

Like [b: Saint Magnus, The Last Viking|21567213|Saint Magnus The Last Viking|Susan Peek|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395777159s/21567213.jpg|40898888], I don't know whether to put this book on my Catholic Fiction shelf our my non-fiction shelf, so, contradiction or no, it's going on both. ( )

Offensive. Poorly written.

Poorly written speaks for itself. It is offensive because of the amazing arrogance shown toward the pagans in the piece, both by the character, which is always permissible, and by the author, which is really not, in my books. The author is also very confused about Celtic culture and as such offers a book which is neither entertaining--unless you share the author's view that Christianity is by default the only valid response to reality and are content with that--nor trustworthy historically.

Once again, I wanted to like this book. I don`t require that a book share my view of whether Brigit is goddess or saint, real person or mythical figure, and I don’t care whether the point of view is Pagan or Christian. What I want is a book that is honest in its treatment of historical fact and hagiography, which shows integrity in its treatment of characters and themes, and which, if we are very lucky, is well written and absorbing. If it is an honest work but poorly written, I give it higher marks, and am more likely to recommend it to others, than if it is well written and lacking in integrity.

I don’t use the words honesty and integrity in terms of a writer’s good intentions. I don’t doubt the good intentions of this book’s author. ( )

As a historical novel this was good for bringing in the terms and talk of the Irish, but as a novel it was not quite my cup of tea. Somewhere toward the last third of the book several years were jumped and there was no clue to the time passing that rapidly before. It was rather choppy to me. One day she was a young girl doing what she felt the Lord wished and missing her mother... while the next she was a selfish woman who didn't understand what she wanted. Things just did not really seem to flow and make sense to me. I do not however regret reading it, I do feel that it was enjoyable, minus the choppiness. The ending however abrupt was really good and appropriate. ( )

As a historical novel this was good for bringing in the terms and talk of the Irish, but as a novel it was not quite my cup of tea. Somewhere toward the last third of the book several years were jumped and there was no clue to the time passing that rapidly before. It was rather choppy to me. One day she was a young girl doing what she felt the Lord wished and missing her mother... while the next she was a selfish woman who didn't understand what she wanted. Things just did not really seem to flow and make sense to me. I do not however regret reading it, I do feel that it was enjoyable, minus the choppiness. The ending however abrupt was really good and appropriate. ( )