An Unkindness of Ravens

An Unkindness of Ravens #1

by Dee Morrison Meaney

Branwen was the daughter of a Saxon lord, lady of the manor. Where, then, did her strange powers of healing come from? And her ability to call birds down from the sky to her hand?

She had to know. She had to find the secret of her grandmother's unicorn before she could be satisfied--even in the arms of the tall Viking warrior who held her heart.

But war was brewing in the land, a brutal struggle for kingship that would set father against son, Viking against Saxon, and put Branwen's own love to a test of faith and magic that would try her strength to the utmost and shake the very foundations of her world...

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Historical Fantasy, British Literature, Fiction, Romance

236 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1983

Reviews

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a sweet, gentle little book. Branwen is a daughter of a Saxon theyn (more usually spelled thane) in 1011 AD, a time when England is not a united country due to a weak king, Ethelred the Unraed (Unready as we would say) and the repeated invasions of Vikings from Denmark and Norway. She learns to become a healer in the course of the story, but also has uncanny powers due to the heritage of her Celtic grandmother, who was a priestess of the Goddess. The worship of the Goddess has fallen away with the various invasions of patriarchal communities, and the rise of Christianity on one hand and the pagan Norse religion on the other.

Branwen is torn between two potential lovers: Thorkell, ostensibly one of the enemy because he is a Viking leader, and Eadric who is married to Ethelred's daughter but exercises a spell of physical attraction over her. As the country is beset by fighting between the various factions, Branwen tries to stay at her beloved home, Thornbury, and to avoid having to choose sides, even though her brother Godwin has joined the band of Edmund, younger son of Ethelred, whereas Thorkell's leader is Knut (who I was aware became the historical King Canute). Inevitably, she becomes drawn in to the fighting and has to use her powers to prevent bloodshed, perhaps inadvertently making things worse and certainly making one enemy too many.

The picture of the lifestyle of the times among the Saxon nobility is interesting. I also liked the fantasy elements of unicorns, speech with birds, illusion-casting and so on. The main character's staying on the fence though does make it difficult to identify with her, especially since Eadric is quite obviously a nasty piece of work underneath his charm. And there is some clumsiness in the writing: for example, in the opening scene, Branwen's "small hands" and behaviour made me picture a young child whereas it transpired that she was fifteen years old, an age when many of her contemporaries would already have been married. I gather there is a sequel but prefer to halt here before the perhaps inevitable tragedy follows. All in all, a 3-star rating as I liked it but it wasn't a keeper.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's hear it for previous decades' fantasy paperbacks, woooooo!

Branwyn is not a witch, or heck, maybe she is. She has a "soulmate" Viking lover; they have nothing in common. His life revolves around killing her family and friends and sacking the loose collection of kingdoms that eventually become England.

Her life involves waiting for her lover to visit periodically, ya know, when he's not busy killing her family and friends, and she sometimes wanders the hills and forests in search of her personal unicorn who leads her to the hut of the local Goddess.

(Small print disclosure: local Goddess is a non-licensed trademark, not recognized by the Catholic church.) Branwyn puts a grandmother safe in a local nunnery so grandmother won't get pillaged and killed. Local priest mutters things to the extent of "No talking about goddesses here. Get out."

Branwyn gets stuck in the middle of a war, sees battle, turns into a bird, back into human, puts men out of their misery, needs to figure out how to stop the war . . .

Note: she is offered opportunities to ditch all the stupid war-mongering. The local non-trademarked Goddess is all like "Hi, Branwyn! You're in heaven! Stick around, leave the world behind." Branwyn is like, "Um, thanks, but no. My man is crying, he's like the only man in the world who has ever gotten sad, and it makes me feel hella frisky. Imma go back to him, byeeee."

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a special fondness for old, out of print books. Especially the ones that few other people have reviewed. And this one definitely fits the bill. Between its journey from the used book store to the library book sale donation pile, for a couple of days it lived again as I stopped to read it.

Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily make it a good book, and this one was just OK. The story takes us back to the eleventh century in England. Our heroine, Branwen, is torn between her inexplicable love for an invading Viking, Thorkell, and her loyalty to her family and king. War rages and she has to choose sides, and yet she manages not to. Eventually, this seems like just so much waffling and I got completely frustrated with her. Also she's part faery and has a knack for healing and creating handy illusions, but again, due to all the waffling, I wasn't that impressed.

I feel a bit like waffling myself at this point, as I seem to lack a strong opinion on this book. It wasn't bad, nor was it good. If you happen to see it at my library book sale and you like historical fantasies, why not give it a try? Especially at the end of the sale, when you can get a whole bag of books for just a dollar, I would say go for it.

[Korynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I say this is historical fiction because it is based in a specific time period in Britain and contains historical figures. However, yet it has fantastical elements, a magical woman with connections to the Goddess of the Moon, our protangonist Bran who sees unicorns, speaks to animals, knows herb lore and has, yes, magic. But then it is also romance for she falls in love with a Viking warrior, an enemy of her Saxon people. As she is, of a sense, of mixed birth due to her magical heritage, she battles to remain her own neutral person as the Vikings and Saxons battle around her for the island of Britain. This is really where the story settles is her being torn apart by not wanting either side to get hurt and the choice of using her magic - but it's strangely unmoving for me, and rather dull. The old "I'm in love with my enemy" mixed with "I deny my heritage and cause trouble by mucking about with it."

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book lurking on my shelf and had no idea where it came from or when it arrived. Based on age and condition, my best guess is that I found it at the church fair some year and put it away on the shelf without reading it first. Definitely not something I remember reading as a kid. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but moreso in the first half of the book than the second. The climax of the book was nearly nonexistent and the ending dribbled off into nothing. I'd give this 2.5 stars if I could.

[Jessa Slade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessa's pithy reviews:
Beautiful writing with a gorgeous touch of melancholy. I read it as a child and wanted a raven of my own.