3 out of 4 stars
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Linnea Tanner’s Apollo’s Raven is a dark fantasy-romance novel based in Roman/Celtic era.
Catrin, a Cantiaci Celtic warrior princess with the druidic ability to pass between and share souls, becomes a weapon in negotiations between her father and Roman Senator Antonius. She is asked to get close to the Senator’s son to glean information about the Roman Empire and her estranged half brother, Marrock, who was shunned for barbaric actions later revealed in the novel. Simultaneously, the Senator has asked his son Marcellus to do the same to Catrin, to gain information about her father, King Amren.
As soon as the two meet, they easily fall for one another, and both demonstrate hesitancy to use the other one for their fathers’ political gain. As they fall in love, family secrets and deceit unravels around them, suggesting they are both perhaps being used as pawns for something so much more.
It truly is hard to write a synopsis without giving away too much of the big reveals. This novel is so full of secrets and twists and turns, that it truly keeps the reader gripped from start to finish. The novel starts out with a hook comparable to Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass novels. I instantly wanted to know more of these characters. More of the secrets they kept from one another. And I was bitterly pleased to find that the book ended on such a strong cliffhanger that I will definitely need to read the second book to know what happens next.
With that being said, there are a few issues with the novel. First, the character development of minor characters was a bit weak. I would have liked to know more of Mor and Belinus, and the man seemed pretty two-dimensional for someone who had such a strong hold on Catrin’s favorite sister. He seemed like a good man, up until he (SPOILER) willingly wanted to sacrifice Catrin--his beloved’s little sister--in order to appease the gods. It was a bit unbelievable, that he wouldn’t even give a thought to how that might affect Mor. Vala, the oldest sister, gets no character development whatsoever. All we know of her is that she is not pretty and she is a lesbian. We do not even know by the end of the novel if she’s still alive. Senator Antonius receives no desirable traits, and while he is an antagonist, I believe it would be important to make him seem a bit more relatable so we understand why Marcellus follows him so willingly. However, I understand that this is a series, and these characters will likely have further development in the coming books.
The second issue I had was, occasionally, the language was much too flowery in some places, but not in others. Of course, usually this language came during romantic scenes. When Catrin first sees Marcellus, the line “her turquoise eyes shined like beacons as though beckoning him to explore her mysterious shores” was a bit cringeworthy. I thought the author’s writing style otherwise was too strong to have lines such as that one ruin it.
This book was extremely well written, and I did not come to find any grammatical or spelling issues throughout, though I will admit that it was such a good read, I found myself lost in the story and forgetting to count errors. Because of the issues explained above, I will give this novel a 3 out of 4 stars, with anticipation for further development. I would recommend this book to any young adults who enjoy romance-fantasy, especially if they have particular inclinations towards mythology.
One particular point I’d like to establish was the incorrect mythology. This doesn’t affect my rating in the least, because people interpret mythology differently, but I would like to point out some of the inaccuracies. The main one being, Apollo was not the god of the sun. This is a common error, as many believe he is the one who pulls the sun across the sky in his chariot. This myth began in Greek Mythology, but it was the god Helios that ruled the sun--a god much different than Apollo. In later Roman mythology--in the later Roman empire, where this book apparently takes place, the sun God was named Sol. In respect for Roman and Greek Mythology, this error can be quite confusing.
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Apollo's Raven
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