"Packed with insight and anecdote, [The Ravenmaster ] brings the Tower ravens to vivid life, each bird with a personality of its own. I've been fortunate enough to tour the Tower and meet the ravens a few times in years past; after reading this book, I cannot wait to go back." —George R.R. Martin Petra Mayer, NPR The Ravenmaster , as well as tragedy, obsession, and a rare tenderness toward Skaife’s avian charges . . . Skaife is doing us, I think, a small political service by introducing us to the quirks and histories of every bird in his care; he is letting us love them in a way that makes them more than mere symbols . . . Marvelous." —Helen MacDonald, The Atlantic —PD Smith, The Guardian —Peter Lewis, The Boston Globe David Pitt, Booklist [starred review] —Ian Thomson, Evening Standard — Publisher's Weekly —Kirkus —Jennifer Ackerman, author of the New York Times bestselling The Genius of Birds . The Ravenmaster ." —Caitlin Doughty, author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes —Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art The Ravenmaster will enable the public see ravens not simply as a memorial to days of yore, but every bit as much a part of history as monarchs and politicians. Christopher Skaife's tales contain not only comedy but also tragedy, frustration, love, hubris, fear, foolishness, compassion and uncertainty. Keeping the ravens requires constant negotiation with them, in which, as Skaife repeatedly observes, we learn not only about corvids but also our own role as human beings." —Boria Sax, author of The City of Ravens
Ultimately, Skaife's enthusiasm is contagious. He is entirely likable, and…the corner of British history that he lives, breathes and embodies is illuminated by his efforts.
The New York Times Book Review - Emma L. McAleavy
07/16/2018
Christopher Skaife’s tales contain not only comedy but also tragedy, frustration, love, hubris, fear, foolishness, compassion, and uncertainty. Keeping the ravens requires constant negotiation with them, in which, as Skaife repeatedly observes, we learn not only about corvids but also our own role as human beings.
author of City of Ravens Borix Sax
Christopher Skaife adores his birds with every fiber of his being. His knowledge and love of the ravens fly off the page in The Ravenmaster .
A delightful read from a masterful—and very funny—storyteller. [The ravens are] much like us: brave, silly, ruthless, charming, unpredictable, brilliant, lovable, and complex.
A natural storyteller, Skaife writes with affection and insight about these powerful, unpredictable and highly intelligent birds.
A riveting read . . . witty and bewitching.
This is a charmer! Life with the legendary ravens at the Tower of London! Chock full of wild things you didn’t know.
Christopher Skaife is both a ravenmaster and a master storyteller. Compulsively readable—I devoured the book in a single sitting!
[Skaife is] a born storyteller with a gift for banter . . . . beguiling, fascinating, and highly amusing.
What a terrific book. . . I learned so much about ravens, and even things I didn’t know about the Tower. It’s like spending a long evening with a bottle of whisky as a wise Ravenmaster tells you everything you need to know.
Author and narrator Christopher Skaife is a Yeoman Warder, otherwise known as a Beefeater, at the Tower of London. Those titles might sound a bit formal or even posh, but Skaife is definitely not either. His natural storyteller’s charm results in a performance that is conversational, funny, and self-deprecating. Skaife describes his raven charges with obvious affection. He has most closely bonded with Merlina, and he demonstrates their conversations in “ravenish”—a definite benefit to being a listener. As Skaife outlines his responsibilities as ravenmaster, he blends in ornithological anecdotes about ravens, his former military service (a required qualification for the job), and experiences of living in the tower. Skaife even saw a ghost once, although he prefers to call them “echoes of the past.” RAVENMASTER is a joyful listening experience. A.B. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
2018-08-13
When the ravens disappear from the Tower of London, the tale goes, then England will fall—good reason to keep someone on staff to keep the birds happy.
What's the difference between a raven and a crow? No, it's not that one's for the crockpot and one for the oven. There's much more to it than that, and one of the best people to tell you about the matter is "Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife, of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and member of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary," as the author identifies himself. Rather more informally, he's the Ravenmaster, the fellow who looks after the resident raven population at the famed Tower of London. This is no easy job; Skaife writes with rueful authority of having to overcome his understandable fears of being put in a cage to study, up close, a bird that for all purposes might as well have been a condor at first glance. His affection for the birds has evolved, though, and he writes movingly of the many ways in which harm can come to them—including, strangely enough, being hurt in a fall. "These days," he writes, "if a raven dies unexpectedly at the Tower and I'm not sure of the cause of death, I take it to the vets at the London Zoo for a post-mortem." As for the legend, supposedly dating to the time of Charles II, that the health of the birds is correlated to the health of the Crown, Skaife does a nice bit of historical archaeology to dig up evidence for the legend, which turns out to be more modern than advertised. It's no H Is for Hawk as a literary achievement, but Skaife's account delivers a pleasing set of anecdotes that will appeal to the Atlas Obscura -reading crowd, to say nothing of corvid fans.
For those seeking the secrets of the Tower of London without actually being imprisoned there, this is just the thing.
