Funny, I wonder if there is a bit of truth in the way the "barbarians" underestimated the Romans by their effete appearance. Sadly, the tribe leaders met with maybe the least impressive, Claudius. Tragically so.

I've always found it odd that the Romans wiped out the Druid practice/religion when they pretty much left all others alone, even encouraging people to build temples in Rome to foreign gods.

Interesting the self-interest on display when the outraged Britons quake under the prospect of becoming Roman slaves when they enslave each other with abandon.

Not sure I'll finish this. It's a foregone conclusion and there is a ton of grisly action and cruelty, to be expected with war, but I'll never listen to it again even if I do get through it. Back to Audible it will go.

Ok, I made it through, but skipped over some more gratuitous passages - droning on about curses and battle blows. It strikes me, in the fierce pride of the women in the book, that the only way they can have any agency is to adopt the bloodthirsty violence made the cultural norm by men. Behaving with gentleness, kindness, compassion and compromise are all weak and despised. Why? Because they are the default position of many women? Because they don't result in absolute domination and oppression? Why do we value those qualities in humans over the others? Why are we, and by we I mean the culture as a whole and men in particular, so afraid of that other side to us? Sometimes called the feminine side, but I don't think it's that specific. It's just been nearly completely wiped out of so much of how we think of ourselves and what we consider normal and natural. Sad really. We never learn and it will be the end of us one day. And, sadly, probably all life on earth as we know it. ( )

This. Was. So. Good! Reading about tragic historical events is so bittersweet. On the one hand, I'm learning about a new era and meeting engaging characters. On the other, I know they're basically all going to die. It's like meeting a new friend only for them to suddenly move away, but the time I spent with this book was still so rewarding, that I recommend you read this book anyway.

My favorite stories were Dray's The Queen, Quinn's The Warrior, and Knight's The Daughters. These stories were poignant and full of soul. Dray's Cartimandua was a perfect foil to Boudica while Knight's Sorcha and Keena were the perfect vehicle to show us the infamous warrior queen. They sacrifices really sung from the page. As for Quinn, she wrote about the epic battle, which was heart-wrenching, even though I knew what was going to happen. What made it so sad was Duro and Valeria. Quinn really brought them to life. I understood and sympathized with both of them, which is no easy feat when the characters are sworn enemies. Quinn is truly masterful.

Middle of the road for me was Downie's The Slave, Shecter's The Druid, and Turney's The Son. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I didn't like about them. I guess their stories felt kind of small to me compared to the ones I liked.

My least favorite story was Whitfield's The Tribune about Agricola. I found this story dragged, and I had a hard time understanding how it related to the rest of the narrative. Eventually, it made sense, but it felt very detached and slow. I think this was partially because this is one of the few stories that doesn't get split up between two perspectives, so it was a bit of a slog to get through.

If you like doomed histories, you'll love this! ( )

Great read to start with but got utterly disjointed towards the end of the book ( )

A collaborative novel from seven authors telling the story of Boudicca's revolt against Rome. Each author picks up the baton to move the story forward to form a continuous novel about a group of characters who tell the story of the revolt from different perspectives.

There was only one of the authors whose work I had not come across before, and I have to say he was the weakest link -- the Roman arm clasp was invented in Hollywood and he should have known better than to have included it and there was one transition which was so abrupt I felt sure some sentences had dropped out.

I did have to put the book down and breathe for a while when we got to the atrocities in Londinium but the last battle was moving and had me in tears over the fates of some characters who had been pretty unfavourably portrayed for most of the book. ( )

When asked to review a book about this utterly fascinating woman I couldn’t say yes fast enough. To be honest I didn’t even notice the fact that the book was written by seven different people until it arrived. I just find Boudica so intriguing. So little is really known about her yet she exerts her pull on history with her remarkable story.

If you don’t know anything about the Queen of the Iceni at the time of the Roman occupation of what we now call Great Britain. The Romans wanted and wanted and wanted and finally they didn’t get what they wanted and there was a rebellion. The beauty of this book is the telling through the imaginations of seven very different, very talented writers each writing a different story. Each story advances the overall tale in time and while there is really no continuity in style there is one fantastic overall book.

This is not a romance novel. It is not a simple retelling of historical events. It is a down and dirty exploration of a war between the might of Rome and peoples determined to regain their land and way of life. Horrible, despicable things happen – on both sides – and they are not glossed over. It was a violent time and yet, despite that the book was nigh on impossible to put down.

Not much of this amazing woman was left to history – the events take place in 60 AD. And most of the written record on Boudica is what the Romans have left. We all know that history is written by the victors so we can only imagine the truth of her exploits. She really must have been one hell of a woman! The seven authors of A Year of Ravens bring her and the rest of the players to vivid life in a format that allows for reading one chapter at a time if you so desire. I found that I just wanted to read and read and read. And when it was all over I wanted to start again. All hail Boudica. ( )