ARC Review: Call of the Raven by Wilbur Smith with Corbin Addison
Thank you so much to Bookish First and Zaffre Books for the ARC of Call of the Raven in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
This is a prequel book to Smith's Ballantyne series, that introduces Mungo St. John and gives him an origin story.
I love historical fiction set in the Civil War and reconstruction era, although this is set a little earlier in the 1840s. The slave trade has been illegal for maybe 30 years and it didn't quite have the effect on slavery that the American leaders hoped - aka there is still an illegal trade, and breeding for profit became more prominent. This is the setting to which Mungo St. John returns from Cambridge to his father's Virginia plantation. A corrupt banker has murdered Mungo's father, seized the plantation and sold the slaves, and is about to visit even more atrocities on Mungo's lover, Camilla.
"There is only one law on this Earth, the law that gives the strong and wealthy power over the weak and poor"
The book is amazingly action packed as soon as Mungo returns to America. How does he exact revenge on the banker, Chester Marion? Through a complicated and somewhat diabolical scheme that entirely ruins Chester's life. Nothing seems to quite go Mungo's way though and we get to see the anti hero develop.
"I am not cut out to play the hero"
"A man like you can play any role in life he chooses"
Mungo is a walking contradiction, one of those gray characters that I know I should hate, but ended at least appreciating. He is more of an anti-hero. Revenge is the preeminent theme throughout the book. Camilla is another interesting character, her choices and actions are interesting as ones that at times required some thought as well. I didn't care as much for her chapters but she gives us the perception of a domestic slave with liberties once she gets to New Orleans. Without her I would have had a lot less to think about, and honestly because of her, I wanted to be the one torturing Marion at the end. She is one of the single things that gives readers a reason not to hate Mungo.
This book gave me a lot to think about that I either had forgotten or just never thought about. Things like: how exactly are the slaves transported? How are they rounded up to begin with? Why were the African chiefs involved in selling out their own people? How were the slaves fed on the ships? How did the sailors entertain themselves while sailing and dealing with the deplorable conditions? In what ways were the British involved in trying to put down the trade?
A lof of these questions are answered in ways that aren't for the squeamish, but I mean I am pretty sure that 99% of it actually happened. This is pretty well researched historical fiction and while the answers made me cringe at times, as we said, Mungo is no hero. One other reason that Mungo constantly made me think was that despite his actions, he really didn't seem to see much of a difference between skin colors and was constantly able to use this to his tactical advantage when dealing with other white men. I also love reading about piracy and pirates and life onboard ships, and Call of the Raven offers plenty of that as well. Do we mention that Raven is actually the name of Mungo's own ship?
Mungo VS Marion is going down as one of the best chase and arson and murder scenes I have ever read. I really can't wait to read the Ballantyne series at some point, it has been added strongly to my list. If nothing else Smith and Addison are flawless story tellers and kept me compelled throughout the novel
I say definitely read it if you are a fan of historical fiction, but not if you have delicate sensibilities. There are some parts that are hard to read but I don't think that ignoring the atrocities of the time period does anyone any favors, and reading Call of the Raven was a great exercise in morality, critical thinking, and would offer a wonderful discussion in characterization if anyone is interested.
"What in God's name-"
"God has no interest in this"
Thank you again to Bookish First and Zaffre books, all opinions are my own
This is a prequel book to Smith's Ballantyne series, that introduces Mungo St. John and gives him an origin story.
I love historical fiction set in the Civil War and reconstruction era, although this is set a little earlier in the 1840s. The slave trade has been illegal for maybe 30 years and it didn't quite have the effect on slavery that the American leaders hoped - aka there is still an illegal trade, and breeding for profit became more prominent. This is the setting to which Mungo St. John returns from Cambridge to his father's Virginia plantation. A corrupt banker has murdered Mungo's father, seized the plantation and sold the slaves, and is about to visit even more atrocities on Mungo's lover, Camilla.
"There is only one law on this Earth, the law that gives the strong and wealthy power over the weak and poor"
The book is amazingly action packed as soon as Mungo returns to America. How does he exact revenge on the banker, Chester Marion? Through a complicated and somewhat diabolical scheme that entirely ruins Chester's life. Nothing seems to quite go Mungo's way though and we get to see the anti hero develop.
"I am not cut out to play the hero"
"A man like you can play any role in life he chooses"
Mungo is a walking contradiction, one of those gray characters that I know I should hate, but ended at least appreciating. He is more of an anti-hero. Revenge is the preeminent theme throughout the book. Camilla is another interesting character, her choices and actions are interesting as ones that at times required some thought as well. I didn't care as much for her chapters but she gives us the perception of a domestic slave with liberties once she gets to New Orleans. Without her I would have had a lot less to think about, and honestly because of her, I wanted to be the one torturing Marion at the end. She is one of the single things that gives readers a reason not to hate Mungo.
This book gave me a lot to think about that I either had forgotten or just never thought about. Things like: how exactly are the slaves transported? How are they rounded up to begin with? Why were the African chiefs involved in selling out their own people? How were the slaves fed on the ships? How did the sailors entertain themselves while sailing and dealing with the deplorable conditions? In what ways were the British involved in trying to put down the trade?
A lof of these questions are answered in ways that aren't for the squeamish, but I mean I am pretty sure that 99% of it actually happened. This is pretty well researched historical fiction and while the answers made me cringe at times, as we said, Mungo is no hero. One other reason that Mungo constantly made me think was that despite his actions, he really didn't seem to see much of a difference between skin colors and was constantly able to use this to his tactical advantage when dealing with other white men. I also love reading about piracy and pirates and life onboard ships, and Call of the Raven offers plenty of that as well. Do we mention that Raven is actually the name of Mungo's own ship?
Mungo VS Marion is going down as one of the best chase and arson and murder scenes I have ever read. I really can't wait to read the Ballantyne series at some point, it has been added strongly to my list. If nothing else Smith and Addison are flawless story tellers and kept me compelled throughout the novel
I say definitely read it if you are a fan of historical fiction, but not if you have delicate sensibilities. There are some parts that are hard to read but I don't think that ignoring the atrocities of the time period does anyone any favors, and reading Call of the Raven was a great exercise in morality, critical thinking, and would offer a wonderful discussion in characterization if anyone is interested.
"What in God's name-"
"God has no interest in this"
Thank you again to Bookish First and Zaffre books, all opinions are my own