Red-Robed Priestess: A Novel (The Maeve Chronicles, 4)

great 4th of a enjoyable series
i thoroughly enjoyed, it tied the loose ends of the previous 3 books with a very satisfying ending. a great series of books. this is a series of books so different from most fiction, taking the story of jesus and maeve at times what could be called irreverent yet a story so human, so intense, with such depth of love in relationships you love all the characters and their flaws and eccentricities. her other books do not compare to this series.

Things End Badly
The Maeve Chronicles has been a long journey I’m happy to have been on. The last book, Red-Robed Priestess, is mercifully short (I lived in dread of dropping The Passion of Mary Magdalene on my foot). It covers one last year of Mary/Maeve’s life, carrying us up to and through Boudica’s Rebellion. There are some strange elements in it, such as the love affair with Suetonius (who is, by the way, the OTHER Suetonius, I learned, not the writer) and the peculiar notion that (1) he was the father of the Roman Procurator who precipitated Boudica’s war with an act of souless barbarism and (2) he was the half-brother of Jesus (their common ancestor being, presumably, the centurion Pantera, but that’s another story). And the New Age elements have jostled their way into the foreground. Cunningham’s New Age Gnosticism I’m sympathetic to but it does nothing for me emotionally or intellectually.Cunningham suggests that the book can stand alone, and I’ll have to take her word for it. It certainly is not the place to begin the series; I don’t think people reading it “cold” would be tempted to get the other books, whereas one I read Magdalen Rising (the first book, and also not voluminous), I was hooked. For me, the foundation in the other books is essential to enjoying this one. The central figures — Maeve, Sarah, even Jesus and the witches — need their backstory to be fully imagined. The Druid thread is not very compelling unless you compare it to the material in the first novel. Boudica and Suetonius are new, interesting, and effectively used, but they are very much in the background of the story. Cunningham’s take on the rebellion is itself a good piece of speculative historical fiction; it drove me to Antonia Fraser’s Boadicea’s Chariot, an account of the history of the idea of the Warrior Queen that actually takes care of the Boudica Rebellion in three quick chapters. There is, of course, vastly less known about Boudica than you will find in Red-Robed Priestess but, as I said, she is not really the point.The point is where Maeve ends up, and that is a very satisfying place. Red-Robed Priestess is like the last mile of a long, arduous but interesting journey, brief and, in the good sense, downhill.

I enjoyed reading the entire series
I enjoyed reading the entire series. This is one I’ll read again in a few years and would want my daughter to read for the hidden symbolism and messages weaved within the story.

Review of Red-Robed Priestess
I enjoyed this book but only because I read the previous book. Would not have enjoyed it as much had I not.

A brilliant end to the series. I’m in awe of Elizabeth Cunningham’s weaving talents. Loved it. Thank you, Maeve Rhuad.

Bought for a friend