This was my fist P.C. Cast read but it will not be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I have found that I am enjoying Historical Fiction more and more. The author made this book very easy to read and really interesting. I had not heard of Boudicca before I picked this up, but I found myself on the edge of my seat reading this story of a strong widowed queen. There were parts of this story were I found myself in such pain for her. She had gone through so much but stayed so strong. It was a beautiful story. I did feel like some parts were drawn out a little. But, it wasn't anything I couldn't push through due to my interest in Boudicca's story.. I look forward to reading more of this author's work and seeing what else they have to offer.

This was an interesting history listen. Boudicca was such a strong force. I wish history had been kinder. I wonder what happened with her ancestors.

This is a historical fiction novel based on Boudicca, the Celtic queen that united the tribes of Briton to stand against the Romans. A lot of thought and research went into the novel and it is not to be missed. However, there was a bit of unnecessary scenes that didn't serve the plot and probably could have been edited out of the novel. But it is very enjoyable otherwise.

*special thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this digital e-arc.*

This book was an unexpected delight. As it is based mostly on a true story, the author also ties some minor fantasy elements in. The beginning of this book is absolutely heartbreaking, especially as a mother. I recommend reading the trigger warnings. My enneagram 8 was absolutely screaming. I love that the FMC is in her 30s and isn’t a 19-year old teenager. She’s a widow with kids and some life under her belt. The way the entire emotional spectrum is described before, during and after battle scenes is brilliant. You feel like you’re living through the action. I highly recommend this book if you’re into historical fantasy, historical fiction, stories about feminine rage, why choose trope, etc. Thank you to Harper Collins, P.C. Cast and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictional historical fantasy. Cast has always been a go to author for me which is why I originally asked for this title.

Boudicca is a well plotted out book with plenty of action mixed with romance and heartbreak. The story follows Boudicca from her time before and after her rule up to her fight with the Romans.

I recommend this book if you enjoy strong FMCs and historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest thoughts on it.

I know very little world history. Going into the story, I looked up some history and paintings of Queen Boudicca. I have read other books from PC Cast and like historical fiction, so this sounded great.
It is a beautiful story of strong women, a strong people, and fighting for freedom. Queen Boudicca is a widowed leader of the Iceani people. The Romans are taking more of the Briton Celts' territory. This is an ultimate underdog tale and even experts in this history will get a surprise or two in this book. This story has tragedies, strong female characters, love, and war. It also showed the way the people lived and what they believed in. I recommend this story that brings the characters and time alive. for the readers.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first PC cast book since house of night.. in high school.

P.C Cast storytelling is amazing. Boudicca’s story kept me on my toes until the end however, I felt like this book could have been 150 pages left. Parts became very long and drawn out.

I had previously never heard of Boudicca and was excited to read something with her in it and get to know her. Sadly, this book I don’t feel like did her any type of justice. I feel like I need to read something else about her to really understand who she was. This book being told in the first-person narrative really causes the book to be too narrative driven. There is no true character building, settings being described, and just overall makes it hard to stay interested in what is going on. Boudicca is interesting, however this book dragged on so much that I tuned out a lot. I don’t know how well received this book is going to be.
Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I grabbed this book purely because of Boudicca herself. She was a figure of interest to my dad for a bit when I was a child, so I actually knew generally who she was and what she was about. This story follows her brief but powerful retaliation against the invading Romans.

Alas, I was mostly bored. My favorite parts were probably during the chapters where they were camped for the winter, and everyone was just kind of vibing in the snow, and everything was cozy and safe. On the whole, the pacing was incredibly slow, and the story was repetitive. And when I say it was slow, I'm not saying it was atmospheric, or character driven, because I was not picking up on much atmosphere, and the only things the characters were driving were ME, INSANE. Legit like three or four things happened in the whole book. Not just big, plot things. Things, total. Period.

I didn't click with the characters either. Boudicca herself was competent enough, but every time she had to make a decision everyone around her was all "ooooh Boudicca you're some hot stuff you're the bomb diggity" and she'd be all like "ha haa, you're so right, I am The Most Competent."
Repeat ad nauseum. I wasn't very annoyed by it, it just wasn't interesting. Boudicca started out awesome and ended the story being awesome (kinda). The other characters fared similarly - there was no change, and they ended the book (or their lives I guess 🙃) in the exact way that they started.

There was some romance, which I anticipated mostly because of the blurb. Even aside from that though, it was painfully obvious who the romantic interests would be, although I have to say I wasn't entirely expecting that both options would be correct at the same time. No surprise threesomes though. Both romances were bland and weird and I didn't get either vibe at all. I would have rather Cast filled her sex quota by including some flashbacks of the dead husband, who was by far the more interesting romantic partner for Boudicca.

I should also add that the book basically opens with the Roman attack on her village, which includes some pretty brutal behavior, including physical assault. The fact that it was included isn't my issue per se, but the amount of times it was brought up after the fact made it feel like it was being used for shock value. It was unexpectedly awful, and then I went on to read a consistently boring story. Boudicca brought the incident up every time she saw her daughters or her guard, and she mentioned it several times (including once to everyone in the village, if I remember correctly), and as a rallying point for her and her people started to lose its potency. Just like everyone cheering "Victory!!!" whenever she made a speech. The first time was grand. The twenty times after that were too much.

Anyway I'm sad I didn't like this. The coolest parts were probably the descriptions of the historical cities (including/especially Londinium). Again, I also kind of liked the bit where they all just vibed in a snowy mountain valley. The ending was disappointing, if not somewhat expected (again, I knew a bit of Boudicca and her story). I hoped for more from the setting as well - Britain can be an incredibly evocative setting in the right hands; I felt more connected at the start, but once they left the village we could've been geographically anywhere. If anything, this book made me want to learn more about the true story of Boudicca and her people. Regretfully, I don't know that I will be recommending this book to other readers, unless perhaps they want a story about Boudicca herself.

Queen Boudicca's story as never told before. This novel was incredibly well researched, and it shows. I fell in love with every character. I felt the pain of their losses and the anger of their vengeance. I felt their awe as they stood in front of their gods and their determination to avenge their loved ones destroyed by the romans.
Of course, we know the history of the might of the romans and how the story must end. Cast sugarcoats nothing. The chapters are headed by Roman Numerals - there's no denying the outcome of Boudicca's story. Still, she is magnificent.

The book itself took me a couple of chapters to really get into, but once the action gets going there's no putting it down. Boudicca is a woman scorned, desperate for victory over those who wronged her. It's only more satisfying to learn that she was a real warrior queen, leading over 250,000 men to battle after battle; so powerful that the patriarchal romans refused to believe she was "just a woman". This may very well be the first account of her story told in full, outside of the roman lens.


Thank you to NetGalley for supplying me an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know what it is but stories that are about defending and reclaiming your home from invaders/colonists are my jam. There were several points when the book was discussing topics including family and ancestry that I found myself tearing up - heck, I was tearing up about the death of a side character we met within a page of their death.

What I loved the most about this book is that we had a badass, bisexual warrior queen as our main character as well as a cast of other strong female characters. I love that so much of the focus of this story was on the women. Especially facing the Romans, a largely patriarchal and male-dominated society as the antagonists in the story, it was a wonderful thing to read.

The only thing I don’t like is how this book is being advertised as a romantasy. Yes, there is romance in the book. However, it is not, in my opinion, the main focus by any stretch. I understand that this is the trending genre right now, but to label a book like this as such feels misleading in my opinion and may cause people who are looking for that romance-centric story to not enjoy this book.

First, to those who do not know the story of Boudicca (or Boadicea), please check out the trigger warnings on this one before reading it. Cast does her best to sensitively relay the events that befell Boudicca and her daughters in the beginning of the story, but there is no shying away from the history as we know it.

Queen Boudicca of the Iceni has ruled her people peaceably since her husband’s passing three months prior. However, when she is awakened by the goddess Andraste one morning, she must make a life-altering choice: to either remain safe with the goddess alone, survive devastating circumstances and become the goddess’s vengeful warrior for her people, or perish at the brutal hands of Rome.

In all honesty, this story is a difficult one to read. Nevertheless, it’s an important one because it sheds light on a prominent figure of women’s history. It is rare to hear women’s names, let alone their stories, from ancient times because so many were either scrapped from history books or were never written about in the first place. I didn’t even know about Boudicca until I saw a documentary in college on the history of Britain that had a small clip on this Celtic queen, so it is wonderful to get a more detailed telling of her story.

In telling this from a first-person POV, Cast’s storytelling is raw and visceral. We feel everything Boudicca experiences. Her pain, grief, and anger become our own. I knew reading this would be hard, I cried during the scenes where she is torn between comforting her daughters, grieving her mother and the friends she lost, and having to be a strong queen for her people. While it lays bare the cruelties women have suffered at the hands of men historically, it is more a reminder of the strength and resilience of women through their perseverance and survival. It truly is a story that speaks to women across time and throughout the generations.

If you are looking for a book that beautifully tells the story of a strong woman, daughter, mother, leader, and warrior, then look no further because this one is an epic telling that shouldn’t be missed.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the eARC of this book!

There were certainly parts of this story that I enjoyed, there were parts that I wanted more from. The story of Boudicca is a fascinating one and this novel definitely captured the journey well. However, I really wish there had been just a little more involvement by the gods and their magic. I had trouble pushing through this book, not because Boudicca doesn’t have a great story, but the prose was a little clunky, which was surprising for a book in first person. The characters and their conversations were flat and generally uninteresting. Normally I am able to zip through those, but unfortunately that was not the case here. If not for the fact that I wanted to leave an honest review, I probably would not have chosen to finish this book.

I do want to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read Boudicca before its release.

This was a wonderful reimagining of the life of Britain’s great Iron Age Queen and namesake of the book. This is being marketed as a romantasy which I think is giving people the wrong idea because it’s more of a historical fantasy than anything. 🌀

The story drops the reader in Boudicca’s life a few months into her reign and the day she, her daughters, and her tribe are attacked by the Ninth Legion. I kind of wished we could’ve gotten a little more into her background other than descriptions or reminisces from other characters just to get a clearer sense of Boudicca as her own character and later on ruler. While the r@p€ of her daughters (and potentially her lead guard, Briallen) is done “off screen,” the reader can understand the horror and traumatic guilt that Boudicca goes through thinking of her girls in this situation. Her grief over her tribe is also well done I think and really paints Rome in a way that not many people are willing to do so which is brutal and with a superiority complex that rivals even the gods. I think this is what I was hoping to get out of The Wolf Den but felt like Amara complains more than does really does anything compared to Boudicca who I thought was more proactive in her case. 😬

While the romance felt like an added bonus that I personally could’ve done without, I did like how Cast portrays Briton women as being more in control of their lives and sexual needs. I still think this should be the basis to type this book as a romantasy outright because Boudicca has agency over her desires and body. 💋

The other thing that I wish we got just a smidge more of was the fantasy/supernatural element. I would’ve liked more interactions between Boudicca and the gods of the Britons not only because I love it, but also because it would’ve added more to the story itself. 🐦‍⬛

All in all, while the ending felt rather abrupt, I still had a pretty good time with this read. Thank you goes out to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review, and to the author, Cast, for bringing a new life and perspective to this incredible warrior queen. ❤️

Publication date: January 21!

Overall: 4.25/5 ⭐️

Boudicca has long been a favorite historical figure of mine. I name my children after strong patriarchy defying queens, and if I had a 3rd daughter her name would probably be Boudicca. That said, when I saw P.C. Cast was releasing this novelization inspired by Boudicca’s story I was very quick to request an ARC. A sincere thanks to William Morrow/ Harper Collins and Net Galley for this opportunity to review this ARC.

Boudicca is an Iron Age Queen of the Iceni tribe. In the wake of the death of her husband and atrocities perpetrated by Roman invaders durinttg the second Roman invasion on her family and people, Boudicca rallies and inspires many of the tribes to unite to push the Romans out. In her journey her inner circle of advisors becomes an invaluable asset, her friends, and for some …more. While P.C Cast acknowledges that she wanted to be as historically accurate as possible there are some key changes made. PC Cast addresses the limitations in the available research and the decisions she made around changes in the “Authors Notes” at the end of the book.

As a whole I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the staunchly anti-patriarchy and feminist lens in which this novel was written. It’s an ode to powerful spirited women everywhere. I greatly appreciated how the author presented Boudicca’s story, the Iceni and other tribal peoples and in general the staunchly anti imperialist attitude of the novel.

Even with my familiarity with the history of Boudicca’s rebellion, and how it ended, I still found myself emotionally rocked at multiple points towards the end of this book. Which is a testament to how the author built the characters and relationships throughout the story.

However, the start of the novel is very awkward. The early dialogue is very choppy and unnatural feeling. While it does get better as the book goes on, it still retains some choppiness. Perhaps it is an attempt
to replicate the speaking patterns of the time period, but it just feels a bit awkward as a reader. There is also historical context and other information provided through dialogue in the early chapters that would’ve been better covered in other ways. Also side note that the author and publisher elected to spell the protagonist’s name with two “cc’s” versus the typical spelling of one that most historians or other authors have used.

There are some intense and traumatic scenes including depictions of child sexual assault, and even though the actual attack takes place off page it, the physical and emotional aftermath is covered in detail. This attack also occurs very early in the book which makes it exceptionally jarring. This and other themes are addressed that may be triggering for some, so proceed with caution if you are sensitive to this or other topics.

Lastly, I think the advertising of this book is doing it a disservice. Advertising this as an “Epic, lusty, magic-filled romantasy” is highly misleading. While I’d agree the story is an action filled adventure with a great dose of ancient Briton mythology and magic, the romantic elements are a very very minor subplot (though I do really like how it is presented #polyrep #Bisexualrep) and it is far from the typical conventions for books currently labeled “#romantasy.” Honestly, this book is a historical tragedy with fantasy and romantic elements, and I sincerely hope readers are not disappointed when they are looking for a fantasy romance/ romantasy with typically romance genre conventions.

All that said, I will be ordering my hardback shelf trophy, and sharing this book with my daughters when they are mature enough because it is an empowering portrayal of an incredible woman in history.

The following review is in exchange for an ARC from netgalley:

Dnf at 34%

I loved the idea of this story. A woman who takes on the Roman empire in ancient times with magical elements? Sign me up. The first 5% percent was so interesting and I was excited to read more, but as I continued I just found the story slow and difficult to get through. I have been trying to read this book for a while and have found it difficult to want to read to the point where I've decided to stop. While I hate DNFing a book, this one is just not doing it for me.

Left a review on goodreads

I did not finish this book due too clunky word choice and "telling not showing" the reading of the story. I could not get immersed in a story I was very excited to read as I think we need more tales of Boudicca but I immediately felt a disconnect with the narration and felt that the author did not understand their characters/was emotionally distant from them.

The brutal and inspiringly hopeful life of Queen Boudicca of the Ice I tribe, of all of the Britons.
A beautifully told story of a strong woman who was born to be her goddess’ victory over the Romans who sought to enslave her people. She lives a life of relative happiness and peace until one event after another unfolds and tests her faith in her goddess, in her people, and in herself. She goes on to fight the oppression of the Romans and inspires all of the Britons to band together as a people and that hope is not lost. They will have victory in the name of their goddess.

Brutal, devastating, but the never ending shine of hope through it all.
Check trigger warnings, this book does not shy away from the brutality of war and conquering.

4.5 stars. This book is absolutely captivating. I, like the author, have been lowkey obsessed with Boudicca since learning of her. I enjoyed the characters and how the author mixed historical with our modern understanding. Cast does a great job of recreating this world and immersing us in it. I had to actively stop myself from reading this nonstop.

I recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction with amazing badass women at the helm.

Thank you to NetGalley, P. C. Cast, and William Morrow for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for giving me early access to this book! All opinions are my own.

Now THIS is what I’ve come to know and love from P.C. Cast. This is a beautifully written historical “fantasy” about Boudicca. It can be a bit of a tough read, but feels genuine to Boudicca’s story. Absolutely wonderful storytelling, and I loved the characters. 4⭐️