Raven's Strike Review

Raven’s Strike

-      Patricia Briggs

Publisher: US - Ace Fantasy

Seraph is among the last of the Travelers, those who strive to destroy the dark magic released by their ancestors' mistakes. Seraph tried to escape her people's duty and live a quiet life, until evil found her...

A new force for darkness called the Shadowed walks the land, feeding on death, destruction and the sleeping Stalker's power. He plans to wake the Stalker, wreaking untold havoc, but he needs those who bear the Travelers' magic to release the dark god..an d he has his sights set of Seraph and her family. Now Seraph must use all her cunning and ability as a Raven mage to track down the Shadowed and strike against him before it is too late...

This is the second of Patricia Briggs Raven Duology. I read the first Raven’s Shadow a couple of months ago (you can read the review here) and quickly purchased this the second book. This books quickly carries on where Raven’s Shadow finishes with Seraph and Tier heading home after rescuing the emperor and exposing the Shadowed conspiracy. However, their problems aren’t behind them – the Shadowed escaped and Memory is still following the emperor.

The book is as easy to read as any of Briggs are and moves at a quick pace. There is a fair bit of action which starts straight away with a fairly creepy attack by a mistwight and continues right to the end. The action is well written and exciting but what I enjoyed most was the mixture of characters. They were all different and had their own worries and quirks but grew throughout the story. Seraph, Tier and their three children were people I could really relate too and I was rooting for them throughout. However, my favourites were the Raven, Hennea and the Emperor, Phoran. The mystery of who Hennea really is was subtlety done and added to the depth of story. However, it was the development of the emperor that I loved – he’s come so far from the spoilt, lost lonely boy we met in the first book and by the end of this novel he is a true hero.

I loved this book and while it isn’t perfect – perhaps the characters are a little too good with little shades of grey and perhaps the answers fall into their hands a little too easily. It was a great place to escape to and I definitely plan to check out more of Brigg’s fantasy novels. Raven's Strike was a faster paced book than Raven's Shadow - there is less setting the scene so the action just

Recommended for fans of Patricia Brigg’s other work and Maria V Snyder’s Study series. 9 out of 10.