While not actually finding romances on my shelves that truly feature barbarians, I have found a couple that scratched the itch for me. I’ve also come up with a theory. There are no barbarians in romances. Jerks, yes. True barbarians? Hmmm, maybe not. It seems to be one of those descriptive terms tossed around a lot like lions and wolves but without any true reality.  

What I haven’t decided is whether this is because most romances are so limited in terms of time and place for settings or because it’s all a matter of perspective in the first place. Say a book was set in a less civilized culture. Would those people consider themselves barbarians in the first place or would they believe everyone else was?

The light bulb on this one with a great big question mark in it went off for me as I was rereading Merline Lovelace’s Lady Of The Upper Kingdom (Harlequin Historical, No 320) and the Egyptian heroine, chief singer in the temple of the cat goddess Bast, referred to her new husband as a barbarian and she meant it quite literally. Thing is, he’s a commander in Alexander’s army and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see himself as the barbarian in the relationship. So, who’s right?

Both? Neither?

Well, let’s see. Merriam-Webster says that a barbarian is “of or relating to a land, culture, or people alien and usually believed to be inferior to another land, culture, or people” or “lacking refinement, learning, or artistic or literary culture”.  

So, it appears they both are right . . . from their own points-of-view. (Why do I suddenly feel like Obiwan Kenobi?)

Anyway, all that aside, Fiona posted a list of pre-historic books from Byron and I thought I’d copy it here just in case anyone else is having problems reading the comments on this blog. Anyone read any of these and give us a heads up because even though most of them are quite recent, I’ve never heard of any of the authors?

BROKEN PROMISE
Theresa Scott
1/1995
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

CHILDREN OF THE DAWN
Patricia Rowe
9/1996
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

DARK RENEGADE
Theresa Scott
6/1994
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

KEEPERS OF THE MISTY TIME
Patricia Rowe
4/1994
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

LOVE’s AMBUSH
Theresa Scott
3/1997
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

MAYBE THIS TIME
Victoria Barrett
8/1996
Rom/C/TT/R-Prehistoric/Medieval/Regency

YESTERDAY’s DAWN
Theresa Scott
1/1994
Rom/H/I-Prehistoric

3 Comments

  1. I’ve read and absolutely adore WARPRIZE. It is an amazing book and I think I mentioned it in the comments of the other post on this topic as a sort of example of what I was sort of craving with the crucial thing being that the supposed “barbarians” were the ones doing the conquering.

    Hmmm, I could’ve sworn I’d commented at length about WARPRIZE last year but couldn’t find it on searching. Maybe I commented on RRA. I’ll have to check.

  2. oooo, that sounds good Alau. Thanks for the heads up!

    Fiona

  3. Actually the word itself “barbarian” is a Roman term used for non-Romans (usually the roaming tribes of Germanic / Celts who spoke other languages that sounded like nothing but “bar bar bar bar” to the Romans.

    You should check out “War Prize” by Elizabeth Vaughn. It’s a recent fantasy romance from Tor, that actually portrays interactions between “civilized/settled” peoples vs. nomadic “barbarians” quite well. It features a princess sold to a “barbarian” warlord as a warprize in order to end a war. I really enjoyed it.

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