Review: A Song of War: A Novel of Troy

I recently reviewed “A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii” and some time before that “A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica’s Rebellion”. Both are similar to “A Song of War: A Novel of Troy” by Kate Quinn, Christian Cameron, Libbie Hawker, Vicky Alvear Shecter, Russell Whitfield, Stephanie Thornton and S.J.A. Turney in that all are novels written by several authors.

Each author writes their story from one or two point of views, which means that these change in the course of the book. But it works very well, here perhaps even more seamlessly than in the other two previous novels, or maybe it’s just that I’ve gotten used to this method.

We see the Trojan war and the events that led to it through the eyes of several characters, both Trojan and Achaean; kings, princesses, slaves, warriors… The situation lends itself to delicious drama and conflict. There are battles, there is betrayal, there is love; some seek honour, some vengeance, some victory... One of the central themes is honour and hubris, and the utter senselessness of war. The characters sacrifice so much, or even everything, but what do they win?

It would be hard to choose a favourite among these stories, so I’ll just say a few words about each.

Kate Quinn: The Apple. The story that begins the novel is told by Hellenus, half-brother of Hector and Paris, and Andromache, Hector’s young wife. Both suffer from feelings of not quite fitting in, which makes them endearing characters. Their tale of the wedding of Odysseus and Penelope introduces us to many of the key characters. The beginning may not be as dramatic as the later parts, but Quinn is an experienced author and that shows; the story gripped me right from the start. I loved the humour and I really cared about Andromache and Hellenus.

Stephanie Thornton: The Prophesy. This part is told by Priam’s daughter, Cassandra. As she is often known as a mad prophet, it was clear that this part must have been a challenge to write. On one hand, it is a truly fascinating perspective, dark and intense, but on the other hand, you don’t want the character to appear so insane as to alienate readers. Stephanie Thornton handles this with enviable skill: you don’t only understand Cassandra, but her descent to madness is so real and relatable it’s almost scary.

Russell Whitfield: The Sacrifice. This part is told from the perspective of Agamemnon, a king weary of the war and the world, tormented by his guilt and his grief. It is gritty and tragic, and if, by the end, I did not quite like or admire Agamemnon, I certainly pitied him.

Christian Cameron: The Duel. Once a queen, now a slave, Briseis finds herself becoming the lover of the legendary Achilles – and taking the place of his chariot driver. I couldn’t quite get into this story at first, but when I did… what a ride! The story gains momentum as it hurtles towards its poignant, tragic end.

Libbie Hawker: The Bow. This part has two narrators: Penthesilea, a fierce amazon, determined to seek honour and death, and Philoctetes, an old, crippled warrior, hopelessly in love with Achilles. I fell in love with both. Add to that the lovely language, the haunting and beautiful imagery… I wanted more! I have actually read one novel by Libbie Hawker before, but this story definitely convinced me to check out her other work.

Vicky Alvear Shecter: The Horse. This part has one of the most well-known narrators in the collection: Odysseus. There’s quite a lot of humour in this account of the wily trickster, but underneath it runs desperation. The war is dragging on. Someone should do something. Which is more valiant, fighting on (and on and on) or using any means to end the conflict?

S.J.A. Turney: The Fall. The end is seen through the eyes of Aeneas, which is fitting in many ways. Even when Troy falls, all the threads of the narrative are woven together. There is tragedy and so much sorrow, yet there is also hope of a new beginning.

All in all, I enjoyed “A Song of War” immensely. The story is literally legendary and very familiar – from other books, movies, TV shows… but even though I knew what would eventually happen, I never really wanted to put the book down.

Review: A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion

Boudica.
You've heard her name. Of course you have. Everyone has. And when you've heard it spoken, you've heard the hushed awe of her admirers or the grudging respect of her enemies. You've heard her legend.
Because she did not fight merely for lands or even for freedom. She fought for the humanity and the dignity of her daughters. Because of that, her name will always serve as a rallying cry for those who seek justice. 

- Stephanie Dray, A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion

Those who know me know that I'm one of the admirers of Boudica, the Iceni queen and warrior who raised a rebellion against the Romans. The first novels I ever read about my beloved heroine were the four “Dreaming...” novels by Manda Scott. I fell in love with these books. They became so much more than books to me. Since then, Scott's Boudica has been my Boudica, her story the story of Boudica to me. This, however, hasn't stopped me from enjoying other takes on the same subject.

So, when a dear friend (yes, another Boudica fan!) let me know about “A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion”, I immediately added it to my TBR list and, a while later, bought the book... and couldn’t wait but started reading right away.

The novel is actually a sort of anthology consisting of seven stories by seven authors who all – as far as I know – have experience of writing fiction set in the period in question: Ruth Downie, Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Vicky Alvear Shecter, S.J.A. Turney, Russell Whitfield and E. Knight.

What's different from a typical anthology where stories may focus on the same theme or take place in the same world or be otherwise more or less loosely connected is that the seven stories actually tell one tale, i.e. although the main characters and narrators vary, the stories form a (mostly) chronological, consecutive whole. It may be possible to read only some of them, but I'd say you need to read them all to get a proper picture of what happens.

What I like about anthologies is that you get different stories and different voices in one book. As I may have mentioned, I like variety. Another reason I like anthologies are the bite-sized stories; sometimes you just are in the mood for something quick. That's also their drawback, however; if you really enjoy a particular story, it will end much too soon. That, in turn, leads me to what I think is the very best feature of anthologies: they can serve as an introduction to new authors. You get a good sample of the work of different contributors and maybe find something you like and want more of.

This anthology's writers include some authors whose work I've been meaning to sample, some I'd not heard of before and only two (Russell Whitfield and Kate Quinn) whose books I've actually read. Therefore, I was very interested in this collection and potential new favourite authors I might discover.

Now, one thing I have to point out: this anthology is called “A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion”. Note that it is a novel of Boudica's rebellion. It is not a novel about Boudica. The stories are narrated from the point of view of other characters while Boudica herself remains a rather distant figure. This was something of a disappointment to me, but then, I should have realised this before buying the book… not that it matters; I'd have bought it anyway. It's close enough. ;)

As a whole, the novel is fast-paced, well written and the feel of the period authentic. There were some scenes that failed to maintain my attention and I found my thoughts drifting away from the book, but these scenes were fairly few. The many main characters and thus the different points of view – queens and slaves; warriors and druids; Britons and Romans – guarantee variety. This, however, also meant that the main characters disappeared for long periods of time, and even if some of them reappeared, they were (often) supporting characters in someone else's story. I suspect that this is why I did not find the book as emotionally engaging as I had hoped.

I'm not going to go into individual stories here, but I will mention that I particularly enjoyed Stephanie Dray's “The Queen”, which not only made an interesting, sympathetic character of Queen Cartimandua but was also written in a beautiful language; Russell Whitfield's “The Tribune”, which mixed brutality of battles, humour and even some light philosophy into a very enjoyable read, and Kate Quinn’s “The Warrior” with its lively dialogue and the poignancy with which it handled both bloodshed and relationships, especially the often painful ones between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters.

I'm definitely going to take a look at other works of some of the authors here, and was pleased to discover that they have collaborated on a similar novel before, titled “A Day of Fire: Novel of Pompeii” (now on my TBR list).