Heir to a Prophecy
By: Mercedes Rochelle
Narrated by: Kevin E. Green
Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 01-06-20
Language: English
Publisher: Mercedes Rochelle
Book Blurb
Shakespeare’s witches tell Banquo, “Thou shalt ‘get kings though thou be none”.
Though Banquo is murdered, his son Fleance gets away. What happened to Fleance? What kings? The road to kingship had a most inauspicious beginning, and we follow Fleance into exile and death, passing the witches’ prophecy to his son Walter.
Born on the wrong side of the blanket and raised in disgrace, Walter was caught inside of a destiny he barely understood. In an effort to untangle Banquo’s murder and honor his lineage, Walter moved through events that shaped the course of England and Scotland. His relationships with the great men of his time drove his destiny: Harold Godwineson, Alain of Brittany, and finally, Malcolm III.
After a long and treacherous journey through Wales, England, and France, Walter fulfilled the witches’ prophecy as the first steward of Scotland and ancestor of James I – for whom, Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.
My Review
It’s good but not great. Shakespeare did it better. The first few hours of the novel held my interest. We meet Banquo and Fleance and someone’s daughter. A romance blossoms, a pregnancy is unexpected. Bad things happen. The pregnant daughter is banished from the castle and disowned. She has to live like a peasant and raise her son, Walter, as such. But after that point, I started to lose interest. Some small moments hooked my attention here and there but quickly fizzled out. I went into this expecting high drama and action, some supernatural spookiness, and great betrayal (because the description mentioned Shakespeare’s play Macbeth). What I got was a little more than a lengthy History Channel telling of events.
The pacing was slow but there are a few fights and battles. I did like Walter’s connection to several older men in the story, who fill in here and there for his long-absent father. The story could have ended 2 or 3 hours earlier with the heroes making it back from a great battle. However, the tale continued on with a documentary-like rendition of historical events following that battle. There’s big leaps in time and new characters brought in near the end that I’m sure were important historically but don’t really matter for Walter’s tale.
The ladies were mostly romantic interests and comforters. The exception are the Three Witches who provide our tiny, sole bit of supernaturalness – the prophecy! The element that I expected to be far bigger in this tale as it makes up part of the title. The women have no agency, make no plot-important decisions, and are practically without individual personalities. In fact, you could leave them out of this book entirely and the story would not be affected. For me, this was a let down.
In the end, I was left wanting more. But with that said, I can tell this story was written with care and with factual historical events in mind. If you are looking for a book based on historical fact for events surrounding Shakespeare’s Macbeth, then this is probably a good one to pick up. If you’re looking for a rousing tale of battles, glory, honor, and some supernatural spice, then this isn’t that book. 3/5 stars.
The Narration: Kevin E. Green gave a decent performance. He had a range of voices though sometimes two or more character voices bled into one another in a group discussion and I had trouble keeping track of who was who. The ladies sounded like ladies during the few times they did have lines. When it comes to regional UK accents, I have been spoiled lately by Richard Elfyn’s performances of Puleston’s Inspector Drake mysteries. So I couldn’t help but compare Green’s performance to those books in this one aspect. I needed more regional accents. No one sounded Welsh to me even though a chunk of the book takes place in Wales with Welsh characters. The pacing was good for most of the book but stayed the same stalwart, dependable rate for the action scenes as if the narrator was reporting on a long-dead battle. I needed more action and emotion in the narration for those moments. There were no tech issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.
