‘A fascinating study of blood-splattered resistance to the inevitable civilisation which will abrogate the lives of the Huron and their beautiful wilderness forever.’

– The Tablet

‘Even-handed and morally complex, melodramatic and keenly felt, it is historical fiction at its best’

– Sunday Telegraph

‘Every time I opened the pages of The Orenda it was like stepping into another world, so vastly different to my own, but so wonderfully rich and evocative that I would feel a sense of dislocation whenever I closed the book and went about my normal life. It is by far the best novel I've read all year.’

– Best books of 2013, We Love This Book

‘A tour-de-force… Boyden's skill in never allowing the point of view of one of his protagonists to become more seductive than the others is remarkable… It is transparent that Boyden has done his historical homework…The author is too good, however, to make that anything but a subtext… Those layers are there to be savoured… to be secondary to the pursuit of a captivating plot.’

– The Herald

‘Brutal, tragic [and] viscerally realistic… What makes it extraordinary and, at times, hard to read or bear, is the way Boyden pulls no punches in conjuring up the horrors of tribal warfare without compromising the enveloping tragedy of the decimation of the Hurons and their way of life… It does not compromise the importance of this serious book, leaving the reader stunned and saddened.' 4 out of 5 stars.

– The Metro

'One of the most powerful novels I’ve ever read.'

– Steven Galloway, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo

'Joseph Boyden writes with muscle and magic in impossible balance... you will read no better book this year.'

– Andrew Davidson, author of The Gargoyle