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Raven Speak (2010)

by Diane Lee Wilson(Favorite Author)

3.32 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1416986537 (ISBN13: 9781416986539)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Margaret K. McElderry Books

review 1: Booklist: "Gr. 9-12 Dispense with lusty images of swordplay and gluttony—the desperate Viking clan at the center of this gritty novel amounts to barely two-dozen starving souls cowering inside a cave while a cruel winter thins their numbers. The men of the tribe sail away in a last-ditch—and probably doomed—effort to find food, leaving 14-year-old Asa on her own to defend herself against the attentions of the power-hungry Jorgen. A battle with the Jorgen sends Asa fleeing on her horse until she meets Wenda, an alternately kind and threatening old woman living among ravens. Though some chapters are told from Jorgen’s vantage, the focus is on Asa and her determination to do anything to save her clan. Wilson’s depiction of the harsh conditions is relentlessly grim, ... moreand her Nordic gusto infuses every line of prose (a floor isn’t “swept”; rather, it “meets the cleansing bite of a broom”). Despite hints that Wenda is a seer, things are wisely kept terrestrial. Best of all, never is the tale’s trajectory predictable. A rousing read, by Thor!"
review 2: Winter seems like it will never end for Asa Coppermane and her viking clan. Asa's father (chief of the clan) and all the able-bodied men leave on a boat to find food and perhaps to find another settlement that can supply aid to the village. Unfortunately, Jorgen--the skold (clan's storyteller)--is left behind and he has plans for taking over the clan. Asa and her parents are the only people who ever stand up to Jorgen, but with her father at sea and her mother on her deathbed, Asa is no match for Jorgen. She runs from the village fearful of her and her horse's life and meets a strange old woman who is accompanied by two ravens. The old woman tells Asa she will have to sacrifice something dear to save the clan. The woman also seems to know an awful lot about Asa and her clan.The writing is very descriptive, clean (a good story without being too wordy like so many ya novels seem to be), and the story very compelling. The story is much like a folktale. The author's note says she did lots of research to make the story fairly authentic.Grades 8-10. less

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