Apollo's Raven

By: Linnea Tanner

Narrated by: Kristin James

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Can a curse control ancient Britannia?

The world is in turmoil. Celtic kings hand-picked by Rome to rule are fighting each other for power. King Amren's former queen, a powerful druid, has cast a curse that foretells Blood Wolf and the Raven will rise and destroy him. When Roman envoys unexpectedly arrive with a cohort of legionaries and demand King Amren's fealty, his rule begins to implode.

King Amren reveals to Princess Catrin, the grim prophecy that his former queen pronounced at her execution for treason to him:

The gods demand the scales be balanced for the life you take. If you deny my soul's journey to the Otherworld by beheading me, I curse you to the same fate as mine. I prophesize your future queen will beget a daughter who will rise as a Raven and join your son, Blood Wolf, and a mighty empire to overtake your kingdom and to execute my curse.

As his daughter, Catrin is trained as a warrior and discovers she is the Raven and must find a way to block the curse of the evil former queen. Torn between her forbidden love for her father's enemy Marcellus, the great-grandson of Mark Antony, and her loyalty to her people, she must summon the magic of the ancient druids to alter the dark prophecy that awaits her.

Will Catrin overcome and eradicate the ancient curse? Will she be able to embrace her forbidden love with Marcellus? Will she cease the war between Blood Wolf and King Amren? Will she save ancient Britannia?

Apollo's Raven sweeps you into an epic Celtic tale of love, magic, adventure, intrigue, and betrayal in ancient Rome and Britannia.

©2017 Linnea Tanner (P)2017 Linnea Tanner

Critic reviews

“'Apollo’s Raven' is a good balance of adventure, magic, and romance. Every side character has a unique voice and personality, and each has a backstory that is intriguing to the point of the listener wanting more. What makes this book especially fun is the spin on ancient history as it blends real events and people with the realm of the magical. Marcellus and Catrin have undeniable chemistry. Their journey is one full of turmoil, betrayal, and lust." (InD’Tale Magazine)

Totally absorbing, I was spellbound!

I got so lost in this book that I didn't realize how much time was passing, I only noticed the time when the book ended... 2am... oops!

So it probably now goes without saying, but I loved this book and I'm definitely getting the next book int he series to find out what's going to happen next.

The story is beautifully crafted, it took me on a journey along with Catrin (the main character) who is coming into her Druidic powers and discovering that she is the subject of a prophesy and what that means for her and her people. Her growing relationship with Marcellus a roman and therefore and enemy of her people allows for many twists and turns. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say, if you like this type of book, you'll love this one.

The narration was excellent, Kristin did a fantastic job with the character voices and the overall flow and pace of the narration. The only thing that I noticed is it sounds like some on Marcellus' parts were re-recorded, there's a slight change in the sound for some of his thoughts, but it's only a minor shift.

This book was supplied free by the author/narrator/publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

If you found this review helpful would you please take a moment to click yes below, thanks.

Fantastic historical fantasy

What made the experience of listening to Apollo's Raven the most enjoyable?

The narrator is excellent and the story is very interesting.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The final fight scene is very intense.

Any additional comments?

Very interesting story that combines history and fantasy. Using elements of ancient Druid and Celtic beliefs and some Roman, all coming together to make one of the most interesting books I have listened to this year. I requested a free copy of this audio from the producer via Audiobook Boom which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Loved The Interactions

I got this book via audiobook boom. this story is during the time when Rome expanded its territory to include the British Isles. The interactions between the clans and the Romans was remarkably told. the intrigue and social climbing were told beautifully. The interactions between the youngest daughter and the son of the Roman hooked me into the book and I kept listening just to see what they would do next. The story was a refreshing change from some of the thrillers and mysteries that I have listened to lately. Glad I chose to review it. The king and queen's story also adds to the plot.

A Celtic Tale of Love, Magic, and Betrayal.

I received a free copy of this audiobook for an honest review in return.
I enjoyed the history, the characters, and the non-stop adventure. Early first century, after Julius Caesar and before the onslaught, Catrin Celtic princess is learning of the prophesy and her talents. Falling in love with the son of the invading enemy can never be fulfilled. The book ends how it must, but I’m glad to hear there is a book two in the series. The narration was good but the story was epic.

A good story but fraught with problems.

Here we have an enchanting historical fantasy romance set in Britannia during Roman times.

I honestly wanted to love this book. It isn't often that I find Celtic-inspired fantasy.

Kristin James gives us a wonderful audio experience. Her voices are varied, distinct, and well crafted (even the male voices). Her control of vocal inflections and tempo shifts throughout are nothing short of incredible. She's second to none.

The first thing that struck me about this book is the lushness of the descriptions of the physical locations. I have no doubt whatsoever that the author has either extensively researched the locales or visited them personally.

At first, I actually liked both of the main characters quite a bit.

Initially, Catrin comes off as very mature, confident if a little headstrong, and well rounded.

Similarly, Marcellus is a strong-willed young man with a cool head for politics and is less immoral than I would expect of the son of a Roman senator.

Unfortunately, both of these characters quickly become very wishy-washy on all of the qualities that appealed to me.

Catrin's headstrong nature becomes childish and petulant and Marcellus becomes the sex-driven ass that most of his kind are known for.

Of secondary concern is the "romance" between them. I'll be honest, at the end of the book I still don't believe they're in love. I've seen nothing to suggest they are. It feels more like an obsessive school-age infatuation.

Neither knew the first thing about the other when it began, and rather than having any basis in emotion or personality, it is purely physically driven, even at the end of the book.

Now, outside of the "romance" there is an interesting plot, though it takes a long time to get to it. And unfortunately it seems to come out of the blue since the author focuses almost solely on the romance and Catrin's budding magical abilities.

Although there are a couple aspects of it that I find a bit ridiculous, I enjoyed the magic system. I think it was well thought out and there are many points of connection with the powers historically attributed to the druid priests and sorcerers.

I particularly enjoyed the raven and wolf particulars, especially as those two animals are historically associated with those of the warrior caste.

Similarly, huge chunks of the world building are brilliantly assembled and conveyed. It's almost effortless the way the author presents most of the world building.

The truth is that if this was a secondary world fantasy I would have nothing negative to say here. However, this is a historical fantasy based on the Celtic world and I find myself wishing the author had done her research a little more thoroughly.

The single biggest, most glaring problem that irritates me to no end is the druids WERE NOT priests. Nor were they sorcerers, as this book purports. The druids were a caste. They were the intellectuals. The educators, the historians, the judges, the poets, the philosophers, the shamans... and yes, the priests and sorcerers as well. But while a druid COULD be a priest or sorcerer, not all of them were.

The term "druid powers" would have been met with confused expressions.

The second major issue also ties in with the druids. This being that THE BRITTON CELTS DIDN'T HAVE A WRITTEN LANGUAGE YET!

(this being set in the year 24 CE)

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It had to be done. In Brittany the Celts didn't develop written language until around the 4th century CE.

And finally, the Caste System. While the Celtic caste system was not nearly as rigid as, say, the Japanese or even the Romans themselves, they still had an established caste system that was difficult to break out of and there is not the slightest hint of that caste system in this book.

Apart from the historical inaccuracies, there are a few other problems. First, good chunks of the prose are just clumsy to read. The natural consequence to this is much of the dialogue feels stilted and gets repetitive. There is also a lot of word usage that just feels wrong for the period.

Now, I'm not one of those purists who thinks the language needs to be 100% accurate to the period. But it should hold to a slightly more old fashioned feel. Unfortunately, we end up seeing a lot of modern turns of phrase that throw me out of the story quite regularly.

There were several points where words seem to have been transposed (eg: "in her eye's mind"). There are a lot more of these sorts of occurrences than I would normally expect from a professionally edited novel.

I'm also struggling with the language barrier. We're somehow expected to believe that after spending every day together for over a month, still Marcellus never learned any of the Celtic tongue. Despite his statements earlier in the novel that he really wanted to learn to communicate with his captors.

Let's talk about consistency for a minute.
There isn't any. The star crossed lovers change their minds about one another so frequently it makes my head spin. On the one hand, it lends credence to my opinion that they are merely infatuated. However, if we are meant to believe it is "true love" as Catrin insists, then why are they forgetting about that and betraying/accusing the other of betrayal so often?

To say nothing of the fact that we're expected to swallow the basically "insta-love" we see with them. While there is a half-assed attempt at explaining it away as their souls being already familiar with one another, it's left as basically conjecture and feels like a really thin explanation.

And finally, the ending.
Again, some of this seems to come out of the blue. Although the groundwork was there earlier, because of the focus of the novel very little of it is seen until things are brought to the fore.

That said, though, when we finally get to it the ending actually comes together pretty well and ties several (though not all) of our disparate plot threads together into a cohesive close that is at least moderately satisfying.

Intense

Since I listened to book 2 first and could not connect with it I felt listening to the first might help.
It did clear up alot of the background. But still, I was just as frustrated with this story.
This audio was given to me free and I voluntarily gave this review.

Great fantasy. Cool history. Great narration

Great fantasy with cool real history; Linnea Tanner wrote a great story and Kristen James' narration brought it to life. I am listening to the next book in the series now!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Epic love story with magic !!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters were well written and entertaining. The narriator did a great job bringing me into this world! Can't wait to see what happens next!!

You can love your enemy but can you trust them?

What did you love best about Apollo's Raven?

The book is both intriguing and captivating. The political game of trusts and mistrusts, machinations and manipulations, with "plans within plans within plans" (as Frank Herbert once wrote:)) serves as a magnificent background for Catrin and Marcellus's love story. The elements of the Druids' magic (which I really don't know much about) are woven expertly into the picture, mixing historical with mystical into a wonderful blend of magical narration. The main characters have complicated pasts, most of them have their issues and reasons for behaving in sometimes shockingly hasty ways - all that makes them believable and true-to-life.

What other book might you compare Apollo's Raven to and why?

Although the two come from two completely different fantasy genres, the level of intrigues in "Apollo's Raven", the way the story develops, as well as Catrin's attempts to defy the prophecy remind me a little of "Dune" by Frank Herbert - thus my quote above:) The similarity is there on some level although it's not really that big and that obvious, still, as I said, "plans within plans within plans" are there somewhere - which I like, cause "Dune" is one of my favourite books and one of those I frequently come back to...:)

Which scene was your favorite?

There are a lot of scenes in the book which will stay in the reader's / listener's mind, some are quite haunting, like the scene in Catrin's reminiscence of what happened between her and her half-brother when she was young and taken to the forest by him... I think this scene will stay in my mind for a longer time... (I can't give you details to avoid spoilers:)).
I also liked the last scene, and the last exchange between Marcellus and Catrin (again, no details for the "no spoilers" reason:)).
There are quite a few emotional scenes between Catrin and her mother which will make you cringe, and a few romantic moments between Catrin and Marcellus..

As I said, there are a lot of memorable moments in the book which you will love (or hate:)).

Any additional comments?

I have to say, it was a long audiobook to listen to... 12 hours, 7 of which I did in one setting... Yes, you've read it right:) I've spent the last SEVEN hours listening to "Apollo's Raven" non-stop on this beautiful Sunday, all thanks to Ms Kristin James, the narrator:)

With such a long audiobook I would normally take some breaks and maybe listen to it in parts, for a maximum of 3 hours a day, but Ms James' interpretation of the book made it impossible for me to stop... I just had to listen on to find out what happens next, how the story develops...

I know the praize first and foremost goes to Ms Linnea Tanner, the author of the book, for creating such a wonderful, exciting story, but Ms James' interpretation changed this magical book into an even more magical listening experience:)

Ms James is now officially one of my favourite narrators - she's brilliant in every aspect of her work: diversifying voices (both male and female), adding elements of acting in the right places, making emotions characters display ring true... I can't praize her enough, really:)

I only hope that when the next book in the series comes out, I will have a chance to listen to it in Ms James' interpretation:)

DISCLAIMER: I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

A Roman Conquest Romance

I enjoyed this historical romance about a Celtic king's daughter and the son of a Roman commander. The two become political pawns in the struggle for power between the two forces and an old curse cast by a power Druid sorceress.
Action, subterfuge and romance abound ... but it's part of a series where nothing is really resolved by the end, so unless you're willing to commit to the next book, you'll have to make up your own ending.