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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Wonderful memoir, if for nothing else than it's such a unusual story. But it's not for nothing else! Skaife is lively and engaging and you get the sense that you're on site at the Tower and he's giving you a special tour.
informative
slow-paced
Enjoyable! Skaife says in the book that Yeoman Warders must be storytellers, and he is a good one. I visited the Tower for the first time about a week before I started this book, so I had a good mental image of the location and had recently seen the titular ravens. Skaife's cadence of speech was very similar to the storytelling cadence of the Warder who gave our tour, which I found kind of funny.
The book itself is an interesting mix of Skaife's own history and military career, his observations of the ravens and their habits, and stories of the tower of London. It's like a very, very long series of anecdotes. Well told to be sure, but listening to this in essentially one chunk was a little much. Favorite stories were Skaife's research into where the legend of the ravens actually comes from, and his stories of personal interactions with the ravens.
Would recommend this for someone with a little more patience than me, maybe someone who is more the "read a chapter before bed" type, and also someone who knows less than me about birds (I know a fair bit about birds which made the "basic info about birds" parts boring).
The book itself is an interesting mix of Skaife's own history and military career, his observations of the ravens and their habits, and stories of the tower of London. It's like a very, very long series of anecdotes. Well told to be sure, but listening to this in essentially one chunk was a little much. Favorite stories were Skaife's research into where the legend of the ravens actually comes from, and his stories of personal interactions with the ravens.
Would recommend this for someone with a little more patience than me, maybe someone who is more the "read a chapter before bed" type, and also someone who knows less than me about birds (I know a fair bit about birds which made the "basic info about birds" parts boring).
I really enjoyed this book. Though parts of it made me cry, it was really well written.
A quick and fascinating read! Really lovely writing style and the love he has for the ravens really shines through. As a history nerd who also likes birds, this one got 5 stars from me!