A Year of Ravens A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion

Kate Quinn, Vicky Alvear Shecter, S.J.A. Turney, Eliza Knight

Britannia: land of mist and magic clinging to the western edge of the Roman Empire. A red-haired queen named Boudica led her people in a desperate rebellion against the might of Rome, an epic struggle destined to consume heroes and cowards, young and old, Roman and Briton . . . and these are their stories. A calculating queen foresees the fires of rebellion in a king's death. A neglected slave girl seizes her own courage as Boudica calls for war. An idealistic tribune finds manhood in a brutal baptism of blood and slaughter. A death-haunted Druid challenges the gods themselves to ensure victory for his people. A conflicted young warrior finds himself torn between loyalties to tribe and to Rome. An old champion struggles for everlasting glory in the final battle against the legions. A pair of fiery princesses fight to salvage the pieces of their mother's dream as the ravens circle. A novel in seven parts, overlapping stories of warriors and peacemakers, queens and slaves, Romans and Britons who cross paths during Boudica's epic rebellion. But who will survive to see the dawn of a new Britannia, and who will fall to feed the ravens?

Reviews

Amanda@groovyginger

May 28, 2024

My second audiobook experience. After listening to this book (authors' notes included) and taking some time to reflect, I think my appreciation grew as the book drew to a close. Consisting of seven parts, each written by different authors working to interweave stories, plotlines and characters, this book told the story of Boudica's rebellion from every aspect -- except Boudica herself. We hear from her daughters, her right hand man, her enemies, but there is not even one instance where Boudica is a narrator. I still can't really grasp why. Or why not, I suppose. I feel the book is lacking because of this, even though we get to know Boudica from the perspectives of those closest to her, I wanted her to speak.

It probably will come as no surprise that I enjoyed the female-centric sections the most and preferred them to the Roman and male POVs. I really liked Queen Cartimandua (and not just because she was written by one of my favorite authors, Stephanie Dray) and was happy she had a chance to redeem herself at the end. This was the first section of the book, setting the stage for the rebellion to come. My other favorite section was at the end, focusing on Boudica's two daughters. Everything else just...didn't capture or hold my interest. I thought, aside from not including Boudica's POV, there was a bit much pro-Roman sentiment. Granted, we know more about the Romans than the ancient druids and tribes from what is now modern-day Britain, but I just didn't like the Roman section. And all the depictions of war and bloodshed were very detailed and gory.

And while I appreciated the premise of Andecarus' (I'm not sure how to spell his name, this was an audiobook after all) POV detailing someone who could sympathize with both sides, I feel it fell flat and was kind of boring. The druid chapters were also kind of boring. With many more boring and slower parts, this book just didn't hold up as much as A Day of Fire, which was also a collaborative effort between many authors. But E. Knight did a fantastic job writing about Boudica's daughters; I thought this was the most well written/well done aspect of the book, with Stephanie Dray's a strong second place.

Additionally, the audiobook narration didn't seem as strong this time around IMO. The male narrator would lower and raise his voice unexpectantly, and I either couldn't hear him, or he was coming in too loud. Keep in mind I mainly listen to audiobooks while driving, so road noise or my Bluetooth speaker may have had something to do with this, but I had no trouble with the female narrator's volume or inflection at any point.

Overall, I'm glad I finally finished this book after previously owning a physical copy and DNFing it years back. I learned a lot, but just felt this was lacking and not as strong as A Day of Fire. If you like ancient Britain and/or ancient Rome, chances are you will enjoy A Year of Ravens. There were some great characters and stand out moments.