This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite
Boudicca’s Knife by Steven James Foreman is a fascinating fantasy. The narrative follows the “life” of a Celtic dagger for a thousand years, its blade variously a knife, a family heirloom, and a ceremonial sword, but always the harbinger of death. A great deal of accurately researched history has gone into the creation of Boudicca’s Knife, but myths are also cleverly woven in. Did D'Artagnan exist? Who was Jack the Ripper? Every scene is brought to vivid life, many told by one man to another. The setting, the way people behave, the names, and the speech transport the reader back to a clearly dated time. The Roman Invasion, King Canute, The French Revolution, both World Wars, Yosemite National Park, and on to Dorset, and a mother’s dream of peace.
Steven James Foreman’s writing captured my interest from the first page. Imagine descriptions of the horror of the Somme; they are here, but this? “The sky above the trenches was painted in the muted hues of dawn, streaks of pink bleeding into the grey.” Boudicca’s Knife is brilliantly convincing, utterly gripping. Most featured owners of the weapon are male, but Emma kills a man she fears, and Julie is forced to use it against a man she loves. Robespierre, who operated the French guillotine, steps off the page; a man taking lives for a living, who refused to kill his king and queen, was honored with a knife. It was dug up by chance, stolen, gifted, inherited, sold to a pawnbroker... A ten-star book to be read in one sitting.
