I acquired a overview copy from the writer. This doesn’t have an effect on the contents of my overview and all opinions are my very own.

Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper

Mogsy’s Score: 4 of 5 stars

Style: Historic Fiction

Sequence: Stand Alone

Writer: Union Sq. Co. (September 2, 2025)

Size: 438 pages

Writer Info: Web site

I turned an enormous fan of Elodie Harper after her Wolf Den trilogy, so you possibly can think about my pleasure after I heard about Boudicca’s Daughter. Whereas Boudicca herself was a legendary warrior queen, not practically as a lot consideration has been paid to her kids. That leaves numerous area for creativeness, and this novel seeks to inform the saga of the Iceni’s well-known rebel towards Rome and its aftermath via not solely the eyes of Boudicca (known as Catia right here), however her daughter Solina’s as nicely.

Followers of Harper’s historic fiction will discover themselves again in snug territory because the ebook opens with an introduction to Catia—spouse to a robust druid, and mom to 2 unbiased, strong-willed younger girls. The early chapters painting her as a pure chief and a formidable fighter, unwilling to bow to Roman oppression. Whereas her open revolt in the end failed and led to her demise, her fierce spirit and defiance continued dwelling on within the coronary heart of her youngest daughter, Solina.

This units up the subsequent a part of the story, which shifts predominantly to Solina’s perspective, and that is the place inventive magic begins occurring. Whereas the main points surrounding her mom’s rebellion is a matter of file, no less than in define—there’s solely a lot room for reinterpretation of these occasions—what turned of Solina is an area ripe for hypothesis. Taken captive by the Roman basic Paulinus and later whisked away to the guts of the empire itself, our protagonist quickly faces the last word check of studying simply how far she is prepared to go to outlive. Pressured along with the person who crushed her folks and destroyed her lifestyle, she finds herself caught between hostility and a reluctant attraction to his sophisticated nature. As their relationship grows, Solina should reconcile her proud previous with the brutal actuality of her future.

All this ends in a novel that’s as a lot about legacy as it’s about survival. Solina is a captivating mixture of power and vulnerability—somebody who’s painfully naïve at occasions, and who actually makes her fair proportion of errors. However she can be somebody who by no means provides up. Rising up within the shadow of her mom’s legend whereas additionally going through the cruelty of Rome, it’s straightforward to forgive her misguidedness and settle for that she is going to make some questionable selections alongside the way in which. Solina’s journey is de facto one in every of discovering herself, displaying how typically staying alive simply means placing one foot in entrance of the opposite, even when feelings are operating excessive.

Should you’ve learn The Wolf Den, the writing fashion and the themes right here will even really feel acquainted. Harper’s prose is vivid, and he or she has a knack for making environments come alive on the web page. That mentioned, nothing is ever excellent. The pacing is somewhat wobbly in locations, particularly within the early sections. For such a well-known historic determine, Boudicca and her rebel solely bought what felt like perfunctory therapy. Occasions had been glossed over in broad, dry strokes. Virtually just like the story was desperate to get Catia’s half over with, in order that it may possibly transfer on to Solina’s as an alternative. Certainly, the latter’s chapters really feel much more fleshed out, as in far richer intimately and emotionally partaking. Nonetheless, I get it—the novel is known as Boudicca’s Daughter, in spite of everything. I solely want its sections felt extra even when it comes to steadiness.

Ultimately although, Elodie Harper’s storytelling is irresistible. The ladies in historical past that she options are all forces to be reckoned with—however they’re additionally very flawed and really human. Whereas Boudicca’s Daughter may not have reached the heights of the Wolf Den trilogy, it nonetheless packed a punch that greater than made up for its stumbles. Should you take pleasure in richly drawn characters in deeply immersive historic fiction, this can show a worthwhile learn. I look ahead to extra of the writer’s work to see how she is going to subsequent reimagine the previous.