Lucia

By: Steven A. McKay

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

At eight years old, Lucia is torn from the life she knew. Her village burned to the ground and parents murdered by Romans, she is kidnapped, sold and shipped abroad to the Villa Tempestatis in Britannia to serve the young Roman army officer Castus.

Faced with a bleak future of decades of servitude to her master, as well as sadistic brutality at the hands of his slave and manageress, Paltucca, she finds herself fixated by one thought alone. Fuelled by hatred and a belief that the gods saved her for a reason, she vows to never taste freedom until she gets her revenge.  

As she and her fellow slaves are exploited mercilessly by the master and his 'noble' friends - and brutally punished for even the smallest misdemeanours - Lucia’s longing for vengeance only grows stronger. Despite warnings from her loyal friend, Sennianus, that her hatred won’t bring her happiness, she continues to plot the downfall of Castus and Paltucca.  

When Paltucca performs an unforgivable act, cruelly destroying a chance of happiness for Lucia, the manageress seals her own fate and unwittingly becomes her own undoing. But what will become of Castus? Risen within the ranks and trusted by the master, Lucia must decide whether or not to exploit her power and risk everything to fulfil her lifelong desire.

©2019 Steven A. McKay (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Hell hath no fury like a slave woman scorned...

They say revenge is best served cold but this is something else. Spanning the life of Germanic girl Lucia taken to Briton when she was but a child and put to work for her Roman master. Learning to obey and please through gritted teeth, as well as avoiding the dangers of a life where you can be flogged, maimed or killed unexpectedly just on a whim. Her journey into womanhood and progression through a life whilst harbouring her ultimate desire for complete revenge when the time is right. This is the Shawshank Redemption of revenge stories.

The narrator, Imogen Church, is superb and lifted the great story and dialogue and really did the prose justice. Perfectly capturing the heartache, camaraderie and fragility of slave life and her telling of a couple of tragedies in particular is emotional and moving. After the Wolf Lord books and the Druid, McKay changes gear and slips easily into a different world and commands it from the start. No wonder Audible picked it - it’s a seriously recommended listen.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Hmmmmmmmm

I cant help but feel annoyed by the way this book panned out. Not to give too much away, but too much was left unsaid, undone, and I searched for book two....sure that there would be a sequel to answer all those questions. No such luck. It ended abruptly and left me irritated!
The characters however are well described and the actual storyline is good. Theres a lot that could have been delved into deeper though. Lucias thoughts about the actual night Paltucca made the decision she did that ruined her life..... the storyline totally bypassed what actually happened from the female side its bizzare. I cant say too much without spoilers. Uts just all a but unsatisfactory and I feel like ive listened to half a book

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Excellent

A good story, well narrated by imogen Church. Very unusual to have a female slave as the lead character. A stroke of genius. Great plot the story kept you interested all of the time. Unexpected ending. I especially like the part of the novel when the master of the house became a Christian. Things did change tor the better. However luccia used this to her advantage. Great novel, it would highly recommend this novel if you like historical fiction. The novel does not disappoint.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Really great listen!

You really feel for the characters and get a good idea of what they are going through each character is well described

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good book spoilt by over-narration

Having read the description of this book, I bought it immediately without checking the narrator or listening to a sample. My mistake!
A potentially good book was spoilt by over-narration. Imogen Church reads in an exaggerated manner far more suited to children’s books, and her narration style doesn’t suit the tone/theme of the story. Despite enjoying the story, I couldn’t persevere beyond the first few chapters and returned the book. I’ll try and find the Kindle version to finish it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A great book

A great tale about a young girl taken as a slave and her life growing to maturity in a Roman villa

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Laborious narration ruined this for me.

I don't actually know how this book ended because for the first time ever, since becoming a member of Audible, I gave up on a book. The narration is so slow and laborious it drove me mad, I just wanted to wind up the narrator to make her read at a normal speed. On top of this, the voices of the characters were very badly done. As much as I wanted to know what happened to this slave girl, I could not persevere to the end and will buy the actual book and read it instead. The first Audible book I've returned and all because of the bad narration. Don't bother!

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Don’t waste your time

Poor story and over the top narration. Not really a story just a series of events.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

A stark contrast

Wow this is stark contrast to Up Pompeii that's for sure, it was very well performed by Imogen Church. It was so well performed that while I started of with symphony for Lucia to complete hating her, weather Steven himself intended that I don't know but it did for me.