From School Library Journal
YA-The setting of this historical/fantasy novel is Roman Briton. Eilan, a Druid girl who has been raised in the cult of the Goddess with the priestesses wielding the power, has fallen in love with a young Roman named Gaius. He is a half-Briton whose mother was of the Druid tribes and whose father is a powerful officer in the Roman legions. The clash between these two cultures and the eventual hope of unification through Eilan and Gaius's son is one of the book's many story lines. Bradley does a masterful job of creating the flavor of the period and the two diverse cultures, as well as strong female characters. With its elements of love story, intense emotions, and mysticism, Forest House will appeal to YAs.Susan B. McFaden, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The forbidden love of a druid priestess and a Roman soldier mirrors the clash of cultures in Roman Britain in the latest novel by the author of The Mists of Avalon (Ballantine, 1985). The novel evokes an age when three major religions maintained an uneasy coexistence on the island of Britain. Eilan, a daughter of goddess-worshiping druids, and Gaius Marcellius, a half-British Roman, live for the coming of a legendary future king to unite the warring islanders. Bradley envisions the "old religion" as a refreshing blend of classic and revisionist concepts, adding a distinct flavor to her seamless weave of history and myth. Most libraries will want this for their fantasy collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/93.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In the Forest House of ancient Britain live the last remaining Druid priestesses, practicing ancient rituals and attempting to keep peace between their people and the Roman invaders. Primary to the struggle is Eilan, herself the lover of Gaius, a half-Celtic Roman commander. Eilan's twin (well, actually, aunt, but they look so much alike their own families mix them up) is Dieda, another priestess, beloved of Cynric, leader of the vengeful Ravens, who are half-Roman offspring of raped Celtic priestesses. Somehow, the two bloods and the two religions must meld in order to form the sacred background of Arthurian legend, so richly mined by Bradley in The Mists of Avalon. Getting that job done is sometimes tedious (Gaius is sent to Rome to observe the Senate, married to a Londinium girl for dynastic purposes, sent off to war against the Germans) and sometimes thrilling (Eilan goes into a deep trance to encounter the goddess, and Gaius becomes the Year King in sacred sex). The second half of the book introduces far too many subsidiary characters for the reader's comfort, yet on whole this is a compelling goddess tale that should draw quite an audience. Pat Monaghan


From Kirkus Reviews
Continuing her fictional tub-thumping on behalf of ancient goddess religions vanquished by male-dominated cults, erstwhile science-fiction author Bradley moves her campaign from the seventh- century Britain of her bestselling Mists of Avalon (1982) back to the first century, the time of Roman occupation. Here, a Druidic priestess-in-the-pod and a Roman officer fall in love--with the predictable miseries, rebellions and upheavals, intra-Druidical conflicts, and mystical communions. (Sometimes out of body, priestess-wise, is the way to go.) The handsome young Roman Gaius Marcellius (whose mother came from a native British tribe) literally stumbles into acquaintance with the family of the Druid Bendeigid, son of the Arch-Druid Ardanos when the Roman falls into a bear pit. He is rescued by Bendeigid's foster son (later, a firebrand avenger opposed to Druidic negotiation with the Romans) and Eilan, his daughter, the spitting image of her aunt Dieda (this will come in handy later). Eilan and Gaius fall in love, but marriage is immediately rejected by Druid and Roman fathers. Gaius will marry unhappily, while Eilan is taken into the ``Forest House'' of the priestess of the Great Goddess. After secretly giving birth to Gaius' son, Eilan will become High Priestess and learn for herself not only the dangerous and exhilarating possibilities of communion with the Goddess but the invasive influence of the Arch-Druid. Will Eilan find the Goddess' Way and her own? And what of that new religion, Christianity, which seems to attract Gaius' unhappy wife and a Forest House ward? An aging priestess, mentor of Eilan, narrates, tells the sad story of lovers' deaths, and takes the child Gawen (of mingled ancestry, presaging a new British people) to the vale of ``Afallon.'' With the sure touch of one at ease in sketching out mystic travels (``It can be very cold between the worlds''), Bradley writes with an unhurried pace and uncluttered staging. And there's a complete list of characters and places (then and now) and a map. Certain to circulate. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

ANNOTATION

The amazing prequel to Marion Zimmer Bradley's bestselling The Mists of Avalon. Inside the walls of the Forest House, in a remote part of Britain, a secret sect of Druidic priestesses guards the ancient rites of learning, healing, and magic against the onslaught of invading Romans.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Before the Mists obscured the Isle of Avalon, there was the Forest House; where, in a remote part of Britain, a secret circle of Druidic priestesses guarded the ancient rites of learning, healing, and prophecy against the inexorable approach of the Roman Empire. Young Eilan, born to a Druidic family, is ripening toward womanhood and the flowering of an inner power she hardly dares dream of. Already she hears the call of the Great Goddess - and it will be she who is ceremonially chosen as the new High Priestess when the reigning Priestess of the Oracle dies. But first, Eilan hears another voice - that of her love for the young Roman Gaius Macellius, whose mission is to subdue her native land and all its seemingly pagan ways. But Eilan must find the courage to renounce her lover for her sacred destiny...For within the Forest House's realm also dwell the bitter priestess Dieda, who, against her will, makes a pact that will bind her to Eilan forever; and the rebellious young priestess Caillean, who protects Eilan with a passion that runs far deeper than duty. Yet it is the Arch-Druid Ardanos, by turns the High Priestess's greatest ally and most ruthless enemy, who could destroy the Forest House, should he learn the terrible secret Eilan guards as fiercely as her life. The war that rages within Eilan mirrors the turbulence of her times; as the legions of Rome move closer, Eilan must rely on the power and magic of the Great Goddess to find her way out of the labyrinth in which fate has placed her... Like her classic bestseller The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's new novel is a tapestry of myth, mystery, and romance, rich in the detail of the Druids' timeless rituals. The Forest House is a mesmerizing epic of a woman's mythic role at a turning point in history - brought to magnificent, unforgettable life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The forbidden love of a druid priestess and a Roman soldier mirrors the clash of cultures in Roman Britain in the latest novel by the author of The Mists of Avalon (Ballantine, 1985). The novel evokes an age when three major religions maintained an uneasy coexistence on the island of Britain. Eilan, a daughter of goddess-worshiping druids, and Gaius Marcellius, a half-British Roman, live for the coming of a legendary future king to unite the warring islanders. Bradley envisions the "old religion'' as a refreshing blend of classic and revisionist concepts, adding a distinct flavor to her seamless weave of history and myth. Most libraries will want this for their fantasy collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/93.

School Library Journal