I would strongly recommend reading book one, Blood Song, as its story stands well on its own. This actually made it difficult for me to get through book three, even though all the strong elements I mentioned earlier were still there.Īll in all, Raven’s Shadow is a decent series.
It felt way too forced, as though there was a fourth book waiting in the wings and then it was chosen to just cram it all in to the third. And the last, but by no means least, of my gripes is the finale. Additionally, after book one’s threat is resolved, the escalated threat become too far removed from some of the characters. As often happens with this style, there are characters and story arcs you find more interesting and it can be frustrating when you have to wait to get back to them. In the following books, we are given the classic multiple POV with each chapter jumping between characters. This was due to the close, single POV with Vaelin. The drive from book one was so gritty, so real, that you couldn’t help but be enthralled. Where this series falls down is the dreaded sequelitis. Instead, the author finds that sweet spot wherein he can drop information on the reader during meaningful downtime and then ramp up the conflict to keep the story moving along beautifully. There are no huge info-dumps, no unbearably slow scenes and yet neither is it an edge-of-the-seat adrenaline rush that leaves you exhausted. Not only that, but the books just read really well. The author’s abilities to get me to connect with the characters, and make them feel like people, is what drove me to continue past the first book. This is definitely the standout of the series. The series features some very strong characters, ones that you pull you into their lives and make you revel in their victories and wince at their losses. However, as the stakes are raised, we are introduced to the world-ending threat that ultimately drives the story. With its grimdark leanings, you are shown the “real” side of war, without glorification and sometimes, without meaning.
Political intrigue drives most of the plot early on, leading to large scale, intercontinental warfare. There are strong coming of age elements here, without detracting from the adventure you expect in an epic fantasy. Raven’s Shadow initially follows one main character, Vaelin, who, as a young boy, is forced into a militaristic religious order. Unfortunately, for me at least, I felt that books two and three were not quite up to the level of the first, for reasons I’ll go into later. It’s so well paced that you’ll be hard-pressed to put it down. The first book, Blood Song, is fantastic. Written on the slightly darker side of fantasy, Anthony Ryan’s Raven’s Shadow series starts of strongly.
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