Boudicca

In Roman-occupied Britain, the prosperous Iceni tribe crowns an extraordinary new queen. Tall and flame-haired, Boudicca is devoted to Andraste, the Iceni’s fearsome patron goddess, known for her raven familiar and swirling blue tattoos. It is Andraste who has guided Boudicca through the shadow world of Annwyn to her new destiny. Descended from generations of powerful Celtic women, Boudicca and her two young daughters will carry the tribe forward in dangerous times. The Roman tax collector Catus Decianus, expecting weakness in a female ruler, launches a devastating attack on the tribe’s stronghold. Boudicca and her family barely survive—but they refuse to bend the knee. Drawing on the dark power of Andraste and the fiery wrath of her sister goddess Brigantia, Boudicca and the Iceni vow to cast the Romans out of Britain once and for all. Their vengeful queen calls a war council, bringing together her most trustworthy allies, including her childhood friend Rhan, now a powerful Druid seer, and the horse master Cadoc, whose devotion to Boudicca runs deeper than a warrior to a queen. In the autumn when the Romans gather to trade, Boudicca’s armies—now 250,000 warriors strong—sack the wealthy cities of Camulodunum and Veralamium. As the snow falls, the Celts retreat to a hidden valley to plot their assault on Londinium, the heart of Roman Britain. But in the jagged ice of winter the Druid Rhan foresees a tragic end to Boudicca’s rebellion. Although the defeat of the Iceni is spelled out in signs sent by the gods, Rhan swears she will alter the future and save her queen. Now the battle-hardened Boudicca must put her trust in the powers of the otherworld to save her from both the traitors in her midst and from Rome’s mighty legions. Inspired by the rich history of Boudicca’s attack on Roman Britain, bestselling author P. C. Cast crafts an epic, mythic retelling of one of the most legendary female warriors of all time.