The Barbarian Princess

by Laura Buchanan (Pseudonym), Florence King

Book by Florence King, Laura Buchanan

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance

410 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! A true Old Skool bodice-ripper that takes the reader on a journey to the 5th century from Britannia to Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople, to mention but a few of the heroine’s many stops on her adventure. Along the way, she meets a Roman Emperor who worships his chickens, she nurses Alaric, first king of the Visigoth, who sacked Rome, she befriends Hypatia of Alexandria, and eventually, she becomes the reincarnation of Queen Boudicca. Oh yeah, and somewhere along the way, she falls in love with a sexy Saxon warrior. As I said, a whole lot of Crayzee and a whole lot of entertainment. Like Bertrice Small, this author is in on the joke. All the outlandish, un-p.c., absolutely bonkers perspective was truly a breath of fresh air. Wanted to look for other books from her, alas this seems to be the only book in this genre she ever wrote. Quel dommage :(

[Suzanne Costner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The BEST romance novel ever written, and they should make a Broadway musical out of the story of its writing. The author drinks herself into oblivion to get through writing the damn book, and correspondingly the heroine keep losing conciousness from one chapter to the next like a narcoleptic twin. Utterly hilarious!!!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by Florence King, once of my best-loved authors, under a pseudonym appropriate to her tidewater Virginia roots. The scholarship invested in the book is excellent, both in history and in language -- so much so that the author's sense of the ridiculous seems apparent even in the most serious scenes. As a straight-up bodice ripper or as a sly parody, this book is a treat.

I would recommend any of Miss King's early books. She is a diehard conservative reactionary and I am a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. But she is so very smart and funny, and she writes with such wit and clarity, that I am inspired and delighted by her work.

[Stephanie Scoggin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was 16, this the first bodice-ripper I ever read (and still own)! I occasionally reread it and still love every word, in spite of its political incorrectness. It really is a good read.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As romance novels go, this is pretty good, although that's not a genre I'm generally fond of. However, it was written under a pen name by Florence King (her hilarious essay on its writing is the reason I bothered to read it), and she seemed unable to keep herself from sandwiching a lot more real history into it than one normally finds in bodice-ripper romances. Since I do like history, I found myself Googling the names of characters I recognized to see how close to reality she managed to keep them. King seemed to amuse herself by making Lydda encounter people well-known to history while sticking to the basic formula of the historical romances I used to sneak out of my mother's room as a middle-schooler. But if you don't know history, I don't think you'd find this use of real people to be a distraction from the story of a woman who has adventures all around the Roman world in the 400s.