Raven: Blood Eye cover art

Raven: Blood Eye

(Raven: Book 1): A gripping, bloody and unputdownable Viking adventure from bestselling author Giles Kristian

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Raven: Blood Eye

By: Giles Kristian
Narrated by: Philip Stevens
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About this listen

If you like Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow and David Gemmell, you will love this spellbinding Viking adventure, packed with battles, blood and gore, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lancelot, Giles Kristian.

"An unabashed carnival of bloodletting and betrayal...Kristian has a knack for writing real blokes living their lives, not reciting their author's research." -- DAILY TELEGRAPH


"A gripping tale of action and treachery which splendidly conjures up the sounds, sights and smells of Dark Age Britain..." - HARRY SIDEBOTTOM


"A powerful, lightning-paced tale of the Norsemen in England..." - BERNARD CORNWELL


"I have been thoroughly overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of Kristian's writing style, depth and colour of story, meaningful characters and clever humour. I have been most definitely impressed and have almost finished the 3rd book in the series. Time to return to the beginning and read again." -- ***** Reader review

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SOME CALLED THEM WOLVES OF THE SEA. OTHERS SIMPLY CALLED THEM VIKINGS.

For two years Osric has lived a simple life, though he is feared and shunned for his mysterious past and blood-red eye. When raiders from across the sea ransack his village, Osric finds himself taken prisoner by their chief, Sigurd the Lucky.

Immersed in the Norsemen's world and driven by their lust for adventure, Osric proves a natural warrior and forges a deep bond with Sigurd, who renames him Raven.

But the Norsemen's world is a savage one, where loyalty is often repaid in blood, and a young man must become a killer to survive...

Raven: Blood Eye is the first title in the Raven trilogy. The story continues in Raven: Sons of Thunder.

Action & Adventure Fantasy Historical Fiction Medieval World Literature Fiction Viking

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Critic reviews

A gripping, bloody narrative.
A powerful, lightning-paced tale of the Norsemen in England; an astonishing and riveting debut (Bernard Cornwell)
An unabashed carnival of bloodletting, betrayal and rough sex...Kristian has a knack for writing real blokes living their lives
Plenty of interest for fans of Norse tales, with battles galore and the promise of more to come
A gripping tale of action and treachery which splendidly conjures up the sounds, sights and smells of Dark Age Britain. It creates a believable world of men fighting, feasting and braving the sea, a time when the Christian and Norse gods were very real and very close in the thoughts of mankind. It leaves the reader keen for the sequel (Harry Sidebottom, author of Warrior of Rome)
Kristian's first novel is a rip-roaring viking saga...Raven is a complex, engaging hero, trying to carve a path through a world that is satisfyingly confusing while still retaining the bedrock of all good sagas: a woman to fight for, a church treasure and a duplicitous priest. Fine, powerful, thrilling stuff! (Manda Scott)
All stars
Most relevant
I love this book. I read it first on my Kindle a couple of years ago, and thought I'd get it on audible as well. The narrator is extremely good, his enunciation clear, and he gives a good account of the widely differing characters, letting the listener feel more involved in the story, rather than just read the words off a page with no emotion. My only only bone to pick with this narrator is that he mangles many of the Norse names, like Øystein and Håkon. I realise that audiobook production is extremely labor intensive in many ways, but I feel he could have done a better job by 'asking around' and at least do some research on these (to many) un-pronunceable names. I know another author whose audiobook narrator did just that, and this is why I'm disappointed in Stevens' performance and apparent lack of research. Other than this issue, I love the story. It has all my favourite parts in it, like seemingly hopeless and lost battles with blood, guts, and limbs lopped off, disemboweling and beheading. And love. just a little, not too much. Fill your boots.

Fab!

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Good story, nice pace and characters that come to life, felt very easy to get immersed in this tale and forget the here and now for simpler times gone.

Very enjoyable

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The book is overall good, although it's a shame the author's knowledge on the Welsh is lacking. In the books, they are displayed as poor, small, mostly incompetent, but numerous. In reality, the Welsh, albeit poorer and less numerous than the Saxons, were no worse, or excelled, in other aspects. They were well known for their skill as spearmen, and especially for their archery and skirmishing. The peasantry of Wales were better equipped, skilled and experienced than the levy and peasants of the Saxons, whilst they also had more warriors by trade than Saxons per capita (Due to the more prevelant warrior culture, and greater emphasis on reputation, very similar to the Vikings), but the Saxons numerical advantage and overall greater wealth proved to even the odds throughout history. The Vikings raided and sacked England, although they were repelled numerous times by the Welsh warlords, just as they were in places like Scotland and Ireland. Its a shame the author chose the boring, and untruthful display of the Welsh, as they would have been far more interesting if shown factually, or even similar to the Arthurian style legends, being home to tales from the Mabinogion and story of Merlin. If he wanted a boogeyman type of people for the main character to come across, the Picts/Scots were much more barbaric, although still not so much as the author displayed the Welsh.

Enjoyable

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Loved it from the beginning to the end. Good story. Next one in line now.

A very good book !!!!

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I bought this book back in 2012, i was a roman fiction fanatic at the time and read 2 chapters and thought this is not for me. 8 years on (having watched vikings and the last kingdom) i have widened my genre through audible and decided to pick this back up.
Well what a tale, i really enjoyed it, the narration was great and the author did not disappoint, just a pity it took me so long to find out. Thank you Giles for the story.

Why did i wait

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