Boudica: Dreaming the Bull

Boudica, Book 2

By: Manda Scott

Narrated by: Jerome Flynn, Liza Goddard, Philip Stevens

Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In AD 60, Boudica, war leader of the Eceni, led her people in a final bloody revolt against the occupying armies of Rome....

Dreaming the Bull continues the story of Breaca - now hailed Boudica, the Bringer of Victory, and her half brother, Bán, now an Officer in the Roman auxiliary cavalry. Each stands on the opposing side in a brutal war of attrition between the occupying army and the defeated tribes; each is determined to see the other dead. Caught between them are two children, son and daughter to two of the greatest warriors their world has ever seen, while in distant Rome, the Emperor Claudius holds the balance of lives in their hands.

©2003 Manda Scott (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

This series is the best.

Loved this book just as much as the first! Listened to it all within a day. Such a great story, well-written, excellent narration. Highly recommend!

Love this Series!

The Series are very worth the credits!! If you love historical fiction these books are for you! Great narration, research and imagination bring these characters to life in your heart!

Slows a bit during the military history sections, but worth it

Not as engaging as the first book about Boudica, but good. I appreciate that the history is accurate, and made interesting by the storytelling

Fabulous series

Love the series, I'm listening through for the second time and it does not disappoint. The cruelty and violence are painful, but so is life. The Celtic culture described shows an unflinching pragmatism, but also deep love for family and a dedication to their spiritual beliefs which are interwoven into everything they do. I find myself wanting to live in that world, at least in peace time before the Romans came. Yes, there was strife between tribes, and it was clearly a warrior culture. But also a culture that had time for art and story and music. We mourn along with the characters as tribal culture and language suffer upheaval and irreplaceable loss. Prosperity vanishes as all of the able-bodied leave the villages to join in the fight. And environmental destruction begins as people who once lived in balance with the resources available to them are forced to cultivate more land and cut more forest to satisfy Roman taxation quotas.

Manda Scott writes vividly, sometimes slowing time to instant after instant in slow motion, as happens in life and death situations. Her writing is superb, but what makes it special Is the human values that form the core of the story.

But I simply do not understand the narration. I loved the first version of the first book, and would have been perfectly happy to continue through the series with a single narrator. but I was willing to try the multiple narrator approach. And in fact had no choice, because the second third and fourth books were only recorded with the triple narrators. However, they must have sent them all to the same voice coach. There is a hard edge, almost a truculence, to the tone, and an intake of breath before the pronunciation of each tribal name, that is the same from narrator to narrator. It makes it sound as though The character through whose eyes we are seeing the story is endlessly uncomfortable with the names, vocabulary, and geography that would have been second nature to them. I try not to let it bother me, but I notice it.

Fabulous book, wonderful series

Reading these books has increased my awareness of what life could have been like. Even though they are historical fiction Manda Scott and the narrators (Jerome Flyn, Liza Goddard and Philip Stevens) bring life to the characters and makes one care for them.

Great book, well read

A heart breaking second book. Well written and moving, clearly read. I’m waiting the next eagerly.

this series just gets better and better

I am so hooked on this story line and the writing is superb. the descriptive writing brings all of it to life.

Becoming a top favorite!

I have to say that the first book in this series was a little hard to get into in the beginning, but once I was captured by the authors writing style, this series has quickly become one of my top favorites! I am so in love with the character development and the imaginative artistic license the author took with writing about this time period. I am HOOKED! Bravo! I just finished Dreaming the Bull and I am off to download book 3 now!

amazing

Loved it. The narration was well done. the story had a steady flow. I look forward to reading the next book!

Great

Not as great as 1 or 3 but still very good! Loved all. What a great series. The narrators are great! No nasty mouth noises