“Shadow of the Raven”

At 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 23 I finished reading a historical novel written by a fellow blogger Millie Thom. She has many great achievements in her life (read HERE) but I had no idea if her book was one of them.

MILLIE THOM

However, I love historical novels for more than 70 years and not long ago published on this blog a post “BERNARD CORNWELL” about a former English teacher who due to stupid American immigration laws became a very well-known writer of historical novels.

I remember that I read with great pleasure his novels (The Saxon Stories) about the 9th century reign of Alfred the Great (king of Wessex), his opposition to Danes and his efforts to unite England..

When I read “About” on the Millie Thom’s blog I noticed that she was also an English teacher. After bringing up six children and retiring Millie started to write. She mentioned in “About” that protagonists of her first published book “Shadow of the Raven” were Alfred, son of king of Wessex and Eadwulf, son of king of Mercia.

It was very interesting. Two English teachers wrote books about the same era and the same people.

I have to confess, that when I started to read “Shadow of the Raven” I did not expect much. I love Bernard Cornwell’s style and consider him a great modern writer of historical novels.

However, after I read several chapters of the book it became clear to me that the book is very well written and that Millie’s research of the era was very good.

What is this book about?

Here are two sentences from a synopsis that Millie sent to me:

“An adventure tale of Viking raids, ill-fated thralls, noble kings and their sons, and friendship and love . . .

But, above all else, a tale of unforgivable betrayal and the ever-present desire for revenge.”

Yes, this book is about all the above and it is very entertaining like many other historical novels.

I read “Shadow of the Raven” very fast with great interest.

It pictures many interesting people and their relationships. It describes battles and ordinary life in different countries (England, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway).

I also think that it allows to answer the following questions:

why do we have wars between countries and between ethnic and religious groups?

why for many years foreign policy of my country does not bring positive results?

at what conditions are possible equal rights for men and women?

how important are ties within families?

is it easy to make a person a murderer and a rapist?

what motivates people?

can friendship and love overcome all difficulties?

I highly recommend my followers and guests to read “Shadow of the Raven” (you can find it on Amazon).