Tag: Britannia

What’s Ashley Reading?: Boudicca’s Daughter

Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper

First line: The twisted branches flash past, swift as shadows, yet solid as spears.

Summary: Few women strike fear in the hearts of Rome like the Iceni queen, Boudicca. She challenged Rome’s takeover of Britannia with a revolt that destroyed several key towns across the southern lands. But the revolt was doomed to collapse and the mighty queen is conquered leaving her daughter a captive of the Roman general, Paulinus.

Solina, the daughter of Boudicca and a druid king, has spent her life in her mother’s shadow but is now forced to carve out her own path in a world she never imagined she would inhabit. As a prisoner she is taken to Nero’s Rome where she finds that survival in the capital can be just as dangerous as war. With her life now in Rome she must come to terms with her past, the enemy all around her and what it truly means to be Boudicca’s daughter.

My Thoughts: Ever since I heard that Elodie Harper was going to write a book about Boudicca I could not wait for its release! I even went out and bought a copy of the beautiful book so I can add it to my collection. And it did not disappoint. I loved everything about this book!

While this book is historical fiction much of Solina’s life is fiction including her name. Boudicca’s daughters and their violation by Roman soldiers were cited as important reasons behind the revolt. Little is actually known about what happened to them afterwards and the records are all from Roman historians giving them a very one sided point of view. But I think Harper did a fantastic job imagining what life may have been like for a high profile prisoner being taken to Rome during a turbulent time in its own history.

Told through several viewpoints including Boudicca, Solina and Paulinius we travel from the Iceni homeland, to fierce battles, then captivity and finally to Rome. Solina is portrayed as a woman who is constantly in conflict with herself on surviving and the urge to continue the resistance to Roman control. As I’m sure the author intended, I could feel this struggle throughout Solina’s journey. Added to this Harper shows how cutthroat life in Rome was at the time of Nero. No one was safe from incriminations and threats. I could feel the anxiety of it through the narrative while also finding it fascinating.

I would highly recommend this and Elodie Harper’s trilogy set in Pompeii. She writes fascinating characters who inhabited the ancient world. We are shown the darker sides of what this gilded society was like through the eyes of strong female characters.

FYI: Currently this book is only available through Libby/Overdrive.

Book Review: The Valiant

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

First line: The steam rising off the backs of the cantering horses faded into the morning fog.

Summary: Fallon is the daughter of a king.  She has trained her whole life in order to join her father’s war band and avenge the death of

her sister, who died at the hands of Julius Caesar.  Instead, she is captured by slavers and taken from her home in Britannia to Rome to be sold as a gladiatrix, a female gladiator.  Knowing that the only way to escape her life as a slave is to buy her freedom or death, she decides to become the greatest gladiator that Rome has ever seen.

Highlights: An exciting historical action book filled with fighting and bravery.  I liked Fallon from the beginning.  She is a strong female lead character that fights for herself rather than relying on men to help her.  I am ready for the second book to be released already.

I have visited Rome and seen the Colosseum.  It is breathtaking in how large the arena is and that it is still standing two millennia later.  Gladiators and animals fought and died in the arena for  the entertainment of thousands of Romans.  It could be filled with water for sea battles.  Many underground tunnels and rooms can be seen below the floor of the building.  Even though this story takes place before the Colosseum was built, I can imagine that the spectacle was quite impressive.  

Lowlights: I felt that a few plot points were a little predictable but the author did not seem to rely too much on these reveals.  The relationship with Cai seemed to evolve a little quickly but in YA this seems to be a normal process especially when the story is not focused on this and the plot has to move along.

 FYI: If you loved the movie Gladiator this is a great read.