Review by megancheyanne97 -- Apollo's Raven
Posted: 19 Nov 2019, 23:56
[Following is a volunteer review of "Apollo's Raven" by Linnea Tanner.]
Linnea Tanner’s book, Apollo’s Raven is about duty to one's family, betrayal and forbidden love. Catrin is the daughter of King Amren and is cursed to betray her family and join her brother to take down her father. When she was a child, something happens that shifts her role in the curse. A Roman Senator, Lucius, comes to Britannia asking King Amren to claim his son, Marrock, as the rightful heir to the throne. When King Amren refuses, Lucius tells him of the marriage between Cunobelin’s daughter and Marrock. King Amren is surprised to hear this because, his daughter Mor is going to be betrothed to Cunobelin’s son as a sign of alliance between the two kingdoms. King Amren asks Lucius to set up a private meeting between the three of them, that way they can discuss the marriage arrangement between Mor and Cunobelin’s son. As an assurance of the king’s safety he requires Marcellus be left in Britannia as their guest while they are meeting with Cunobelin. Lucius agrees on the terms that King Amren give his daughter, Vala, to the Romans as an assurance as well. Once both men are happy with their agreement and the exchange is done, they begin making arrangements to meet with Cunobelin. King Amren tells Catrin that she is the only person that is to escort Marcellus around their kingdom, showing him their culture as well as making sure that he is comfortable during his stay in Britannia. Now she is figuring out how to uphold her duty to her kingdom while trying to figure out her feelings for Marcellus as well.
Catrin has a duty to her father and her kingdom to try to persuade Marcellus to give her information about why his father, Lucius, is there. Her father tells her to spend as much time with Marcellus as she can to try to gain his trust. While she does spend all of her time with him, there is an unavoidable connection between them. Catrin has always been a loner, and the most intimate connection was with her raven who saved her as a child. She cannot shake the feelings of attraction that she feels toward Marcellus. She is willing to risk everything to try to prove that he is trustworthy. Throughout the book the relationship between Catrin and Marcellus grows stronger and becomes more troublesome to hide as well. Catrin is accused by her own mother of being a traitor to her kingdom because of her feelings for Marcellus. Catrin has to find a way to fulfill her role in her family, as well as keeping Marcellus safe.
First and foremost, I must say that this book has it all. There is violence, romance, mystery, mythology, and supernatural aspects throughout the entire book and I am here for it! There are more things that I liked in this book, than things that I didn't like. I enjoyed the structure of the omniscient third person point of view, what I mean by this is, the characters thoughts that we are able to see into are switched chapter by chapter. Linnea Tanner does a good job of knowing which character would be the best to see through. There are a few instances where she had given insight from two characters, and I wasn't fond of that choice but it didn't take away from the story.
I enjoyed the imagery that she created as well, especially in the scenes with the romantic couples within the story. Linnea Tanner creates a feeling within the story that makes you feel exactly what the character is feeling, and if you're not feeling that way then it's like you're the characters best friend. She also creates good imagery when the men of the story are angry. That may seem like an easy thing to achieve but the way that she does it is different. The opinion that you create about the character before the scene, makes you feel that much more intensely whenever they are mad about something. One of the things that stuck out in my mind is when Lucius gets angry and shoves his shoulder into something, and let me tell you it made me so happy. I was not a fan of Lucius in the book and it gave me so much pleasure that he hurt himself.
Touching on the statement of my dislike of Lucius, it's not that I didn't like the character. The character is perfect for what he is used for. He is manipulative, greedy, selfish, and easily the rudest character in the entire book. I meant that I didn't like him in the sense of, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as him. Linnea Tanner is really good at creating characters that fulfill their role 110%. Out of everybody, Marcellus is my favorite character because he the one that goes through the most character development. At the beginning of the book, he sees Catrin and he immediately realizes that she is interested. When his father tells him to gain information by whatever means necessary, Marcellus is confident in the fact that he could get anything that he wanted. He is a cunning, smooth talking, handsome man that knows exactly what he is doing whenever he is flirting with Catrin. Toward the end of the book, he is kind and cares about Catrin more than anything. There are some moments of doubt, but it's not that he's doubting his own feelings for her. He is worried that Catrin is just using him, and he was a pawn the whole time. This is a huge revelation for Marcellus's character because he isn't the confident and cocky man that he was at the beginning with Catrin.
Since Apollo's Raven has a developing relationship within it's story lines, there are some erotic scenes. Linnea Tanner has a tasteful way of writing those scenes. She doesn't come right out and say what is happening bluntly. She adds to the romance in the scene by describing what is happening in a romantic and PG-13 kind of way. No crude mentions of genitalia or sexual action.
As I said before, there are scenes where men specifically getting irate. In that time period, men weren't soft spoken and reserved in their vocabulary when they were angry. Thus, curse words are used throughout the book. There are instances where the cussing is very heated and is used with no remorse. Personally, I didn't think that it took away from the story. If anything it added to the anger of the scene by showing how the character couldn't contain their tongue even in the presence of a woman (when there was a woman present).
I found only two typos in the book, because of this I feel comfortable saying that this book was professionally edited. It is obvious that the author and the editors took the time to search through the book and make sure that the errors in writing were almost nonexistent. There were a few word choices that I would change, and rephrasing of certain sentences but nothing major that took away from the book. I give this book a four out of four stars. I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy sci-fi/fantasy, action, and romance books. I would definitely put an age limit on it because of the erotic scenes and the use of curse words. I personally don't think that they took away from the book, but I also don't think that anyone younger than high school age should read this book either.
******
Apollo's Raven
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Linnea Tanner’s book, Apollo’s Raven is about duty to one's family, betrayal and forbidden love. Catrin is the daughter of King Amren and is cursed to betray her family and join her brother to take down her father. When she was a child, something happens that shifts her role in the curse. A Roman Senator, Lucius, comes to Britannia asking King Amren to claim his son, Marrock, as the rightful heir to the throne. When King Amren refuses, Lucius tells him of the marriage between Cunobelin’s daughter and Marrock. King Amren is surprised to hear this because, his daughter Mor is going to be betrothed to Cunobelin’s son as a sign of alliance between the two kingdoms. King Amren asks Lucius to set up a private meeting between the three of them, that way they can discuss the marriage arrangement between Mor and Cunobelin’s son. As an assurance of the king’s safety he requires Marcellus be left in Britannia as their guest while they are meeting with Cunobelin. Lucius agrees on the terms that King Amren give his daughter, Vala, to the Romans as an assurance as well. Once both men are happy with their agreement and the exchange is done, they begin making arrangements to meet with Cunobelin. King Amren tells Catrin that she is the only person that is to escort Marcellus around their kingdom, showing him their culture as well as making sure that he is comfortable during his stay in Britannia. Now she is figuring out how to uphold her duty to her kingdom while trying to figure out her feelings for Marcellus as well.
Catrin has a duty to her father and her kingdom to try to persuade Marcellus to give her information about why his father, Lucius, is there. Her father tells her to spend as much time with Marcellus as she can to try to gain his trust. While she does spend all of her time with him, there is an unavoidable connection between them. Catrin has always been a loner, and the most intimate connection was with her raven who saved her as a child. She cannot shake the feelings of attraction that she feels toward Marcellus. She is willing to risk everything to try to prove that he is trustworthy. Throughout the book the relationship between Catrin and Marcellus grows stronger and becomes more troublesome to hide as well. Catrin is accused by her own mother of being a traitor to her kingdom because of her feelings for Marcellus. Catrin has to find a way to fulfill her role in her family, as well as keeping Marcellus safe.
First and foremost, I must say that this book has it all. There is violence, romance, mystery, mythology, and supernatural aspects throughout the entire book and I am here for it! There are more things that I liked in this book, than things that I didn't like. I enjoyed the structure of the omniscient third person point of view, what I mean by this is, the characters thoughts that we are able to see into are switched chapter by chapter. Linnea Tanner does a good job of knowing which character would be the best to see through. There are a few instances where she had given insight from two characters, and I wasn't fond of that choice but it didn't take away from the story.
I enjoyed the imagery that she created as well, especially in the scenes with the romantic couples within the story. Linnea Tanner creates a feeling within the story that makes you feel exactly what the character is feeling, and if you're not feeling that way then it's like you're the characters best friend. She also creates good imagery when the men of the story are angry. That may seem like an easy thing to achieve but the way that she does it is different. The opinion that you create about the character before the scene, makes you feel that much more intensely whenever they are mad about something. One of the things that stuck out in my mind is when Lucius gets angry and shoves his shoulder into something, and let me tell you it made me so happy. I was not a fan of Lucius in the book and it gave me so much pleasure that he hurt himself.
Touching on the statement of my dislike of Lucius, it's not that I didn't like the character. The character is perfect for what he is used for. He is manipulative, greedy, selfish, and easily the rudest character in the entire book. I meant that I didn't like him in the sense of, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as him. Linnea Tanner is really good at creating characters that fulfill their role 110%. Out of everybody, Marcellus is my favorite character because he the one that goes through the most character development. At the beginning of the book, he sees Catrin and he immediately realizes that she is interested. When his father tells him to gain information by whatever means necessary, Marcellus is confident in the fact that he could get anything that he wanted. He is a cunning, smooth talking, handsome man that knows exactly what he is doing whenever he is flirting with Catrin. Toward the end of the book, he is kind and cares about Catrin more than anything. There are some moments of doubt, but it's not that he's doubting his own feelings for her. He is worried that Catrin is just using him, and he was a pawn the whole time. This is a huge revelation for Marcellus's character because he isn't the confident and cocky man that he was at the beginning with Catrin.
Since Apollo's Raven has a developing relationship within it's story lines, there are some erotic scenes. Linnea Tanner has a tasteful way of writing those scenes. She doesn't come right out and say what is happening bluntly. She adds to the romance in the scene by describing what is happening in a romantic and PG-13 kind of way. No crude mentions of genitalia or sexual action.
As I said before, there are scenes where men specifically getting irate. In that time period, men weren't soft spoken and reserved in their vocabulary when they were angry. Thus, curse words are used throughout the book. There are instances where the cussing is very heated and is used with no remorse. Personally, I didn't think that it took away from the story. If anything it added to the anger of the scene by showing how the character couldn't contain their tongue even in the presence of a woman (when there was a woman present).
I found only two typos in the book, because of this I feel comfortable saying that this book was professionally edited. It is obvious that the author and the editors took the time to search through the book and make sure that the errors in writing were almost nonexistent. There were a few word choices that I would change, and rephrasing of certain sentences but nothing major that took away from the book. I give this book a four out of four stars. I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy sci-fi/fantasy, action, and romance books. I would definitely put an age limit on it because of the erotic scenes and the use of curse words. I personally don't think that they took away from the book, but I also don't think that anyone younger than high school age should read this book either.
******
Apollo's Raven
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes