As erotic and violent as one would expect for a story of Ancient Rome and rebellion, the book offers a humanizing rendering...
A historical novel about Queen Boudica and the Iceni uprising from author Burch (Angels and Vampires, 2013).
It’s 60 A.D., and the Roman Empire extends westward to Brittania. Famously organized and militarily powerful, the Romans have a fairly secure hold on the local people. As Nero goes about his personal madness in the capital, the outreaches of the empire are relatively tranquil. Or so it might seem. After the suspicious death of her husband, Prasutagus, the fierce and beautiful Queen Boudica, leader of the Iceni tribe, is shocked to find the empire annexing her land. In answer to her protest, Boudica is flogged while her daughters are raped. If there were ever a time for the Iceni to rebel against the occupiers who instill harsh punishments and humiliating taxes, this would be it. There is, though, the thorny issue of the queen’s lover. Retired Centurion Marius Marcellinus is not only a respected soldier and master horseman, he is in love with the rebel queen. Can these two maintain their relationship as the world around them erupts in warfare and all varieties of degradation (from rape and pillaging to roasting small children and beheading corpses)? Thoughtful in its creation of a forbidden romance, the integration of Romans and locals is entirely plausible even if later bloodshed might suggest otherwise. Dipping into the sexually explicit (“ ‘Too many conquests that took his finest parts and wore them out,’ thought the queen as she took his broke dick and gave him a blowjob and the general spanked her buttocks”), the relationships of characters from many different worlds tend to be physically consummated. While physical pleasures and savageries permeate, grandiose blocks of dialogue slow momentum; e.g., “Thank you, brave Iceni warriors, for getting me safely to Verulamium. My twenty horsemen from Brigantines will take me to my army of four thousand countrymen waiting just outside the colony.” As the pace picks up in a final battle, readers familiar with the story of Queen Boudica will know what happens, though her fictionalized fate will come as a well-planned surprise.
As erotic and violent as one would expect for a story of Ancient Rome and rebellion, the book offers a humanizing rendering of the infamous Queen Boudica.Pub Date: July 31, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494460761
Page Count: 202
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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