White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors (White Raven, #1)

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White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors (White Raven, #1)

by Irina Lopatina, Igor Adasikov (Illustrator), Dmitry Lopatin (Translator)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 26 ratings · 17 reviews

A young hero who must protect the land of his people from evil monsters trying to take over.

In the kingdom of Areya, humans, animals, and the magical creatures that inhabit the Eternal Forest have long coexisted peacefully, but now something is horribly wrong. A terrifying stream of monstrous creatures has begun to emerge from the secret depths of the earth, terrorizing al...more

Paperback, First, 378 pages

Published July 30th 2012 by Light Messages Publishing (first published May 15th 2012)

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Aug 05, 2012 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dead-russians, fantasy, review-copies, speculative-fiction-challenge

The first half of the book was very predictable, but once Vraigo time traveled to the present then the book got a lot more interesting. I loved the illustrations; they complemented the story quite well, especially as the author has her own take on Russian mythology.

For full review, see here:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpr...

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 28, 2012 Marlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Originally published at Reading Reality

There is a fine tradition in epic fantasy of young men with wizardly mentors who go off in search of magic swords. The mentors usually die much too soon, and those swords are necessary to fight off unspeakable evil. Irina Lopatina's debut novel, White Raven adds some wintry new elements to that fine old tradition.

And so she should be. The folk traditions that Ms. Lopatina draws her inspirations from are not the usual Celtic flavor. Ms. Lopatina's tales are...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Anagha rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fantasy lovers

Note: This review may seem a little scattered, but that's because it was originally posted as a co-review on my blog: http://book-spark.blogspot.com/2012/0...

Overview:
As mentioned in the title, this was the first high fantasy novel I had ever read. A few of my friends are big high fantasy as well as manga fans and they had been pushing me to read some high fantasy for quite some time. So when I saw this going on tour, I (after confirming with a friend that it was acceptable) jumped at the chance...more Note: This review may seem a little scattered, but that's because it was originally posted as a co-review on my blog: http://book-spark.blogspot.com/2012/0...

Overview:
As mentioned in the title, this was the first high fantasy novel I had ever read. A few of my friends are big high fantasy as well as manga fans and they had been pushing me to read some high fantasy for quite some time. So when I saw this going on tour, I (after confirming with a friend that it was acceptable) jumped at the chance to read. I'll say this much - I won't be reading anything of this genre for a long time after this book.
This is a DNF review - I've finished about 1/3 of this book.

The Plot:
As usual when my review is DNF, Rachel says stuff that makes the book suddenly seem interesting, because I don't really know what she's talking about. I usually haven't gotten to that part before I give up on the book. I usually love sword fights and magic and good vs. evil, but only when it's grounded in reality. I've realized that high fantasy? Just a little too much awesomeness for me. But this is a completely subjective review - I do believe many fantasy fans will find this fascinating.

The Characters:
It's true - the characters were freaking awesome. Vraigo is such a great protagonist - he's strong, intelligent, a little monosyllabic around people, and very independent. He does what he wants and doesn't let the town's judgment influence him. If I had to keep reading, it would be for him. I thought it was kinda funny how Vraigo's cousins were brave, intelligent, libable people as long as they weren't around Vraigo. When they were, all reason left them and they became whiny and vindictive boys again. I guess all their childhood hatred and jealousy at Vraigo's constantly besting them at sword fights came back?

Overall:
Fun fact - This book was translated to English from Russian! Cool, huh? I couldn't believe it at first. The writing seemed almost poetic and so very descriptive! Usually, translation strips that original "author's voice" but whoever translated this did a great job keeping it intact (if in fact this is how the original "author's voice" is in Russian). The author's experiences have definitely made it a unique book in terms of setting and character personality. However, I am no longer interested in high fantasy. I can see that the author is a truly talented writer, but the plot doesn't agree with me. Totally mea culpa here.

**I received a free ARC of this book as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review.**(less)

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Aug 03, 2012 Allison Barron rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was struck by how nicely White Raven translated from Russian into English while still preserving a unique voice. The writing was almost poetic and I loved how it reminded me of J.R.R. Tolkien and fairy tales. The author has created a wonderfully rich world full of enchanting creatures like drevalyankas, pikshas, and yagas--a world full of wonder and magic that is everyday life for Vraigo, the main character.

The story itself is your typical fantasy plot of young man trying to fight back against...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 01, 2012 Mindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dream-reader-dreamer2229-blo

So, my reading for the review was the prologue and Chapter one but I didn’t know that when I started reading. Now I’m totally in to the story and it just ends. I’m like, “What the h***?” Then I realize I don’t have the whole book… I hate that. I get totally into the story and then it ends before I’m done reading. Now I have to add it to my wish list because I’m so excited about the story.

Even with the creatures who I have never heard of (there is a character list at the end with more detailed...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Joanna Liberty rated it 5 of 5 stars

White Raven by Irina Lopatina is intriguing, well-complemented by illustrations in the character guide, and brings to life a whole new world. I'm looking forward to the next installment of this story - it was completely captivating! I also really enjoyed the character guide at the end of the book because it really brought to life some of the characters that I was having a tough time getting my mind around. It makes me wonder how Shakespeare came up with new words without a cheatsheet.

It's a rar...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Laura Hartley rated it 3 of 5 stars

As the author is Russian, this book is a little different from other Young Adult books. This makes the story more unique as the setting and the scenery are inspired by places that Irina has seen in Russia. I liked that a lot of the things were inspired by somewhere other than England where most of the other fantasy books have been set; however, sometimes it was obvious that the author was not English as some phrases just didn’t flow quite as well as they could’ve done.

There is a useful character...more As the author is Russian, this book is a little different from other Young Adult books. This makes the story more unique as the setting and the scenery are inspired by places that Irina has seen in Russia. I liked that a lot of the things were inspired by somewhere other than England where most of the other fantasy books have been set; however, sometimes it was obvious that the author was not English as some phrases just didn’t flow quite as well as they could’ve done.

There is a useful character guide at the back which I referred to frequently. With such strange and fanastical names it can be hard to keep track of who's who all the time so I found this extremely helpful. This guide is illustrated as well so you get an impression of what the author imagined that each of the characters and beasts would look like. In addition, there is a little image at the beginning of each chapter which I thought was a nice touch. Usually I like to be left to my own devices and imagine things to be how I want them to be; however, with so many mythical and made-up creatures and people, I found the illustrations to be a great aid.

I didn’t find myself particularly attached to any of the characters which was a shame. For some reason, the main character, Vraigo, just didn’t speak out to me and neither did his friends Nik and Lera. That said, I still found the story and their quest really interesting.

This book is really descriptive and I found it really easy to conjure up images of the world the characters lived in in my mind. However, I also found the book a bit dense and hard to get through. This definitely isn't one of those books that you whizz through; instead it's one that requires quite an intense amount of concentration to figure out who's doing what when and why. There were a lot of plot twists that I wasn’t expecting at all, namely, a little trip to the 21st century. I found this passage to be a bit weird and was not as gripping as the rest of the novel which was a disappointment.

White Raven is the first in a new trilogy by Irina Lopatina so I expected there to be lots of twists and turns with a big cliffhanger on the end; however, instead, everything seems to be unresolved, so I’m not really sure what to expect from the next two books at all. As a stand alone novel, White Raven is a fairly good story; however, with so many lose ends, I was a bit frustrated at the end. Hopefully, once the next two books have been released, everything will be cleared up to make this a fantastic series. Personally, I found the cover of White Raven to be a little scary and weird which didn’t encourage me to read this novel. Don’t let the cover put you off because this really is a great fantasy book!(less)

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Jun 02, 2012 Somewhatbent rated it 3 of 5 stars

White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors by Irina Lopatina, Illustrations by Igor Adasikov
(377 pages) Trade Paper ARC ©2012 Light Messages Publishing

Disclosure: This book was received as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program.

Without looking at the author notes in the back of the book it was clear from the beginning that this was originally not an English-language book. I suspected this based on how some of the early character interactions were structured. Editorially, it tightens u...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 23, 2012 Elizabeth Turnbull rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: published-by-light-messages, fantasy

White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors is Irina Lopatina's debut novel and the first in the White Raven trilogy. Inspired by the pristine, ancient forests of Irina's native Siberia, the landscape and characters of White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors come to life throughout the text. It's easy for the reader to hear the wise drevalyanka's thoughts or to loathe the irksome pikshas while forming a tenuous friendship with Kenush, the beautiful but dangerous werewolf. This epic fantasy...more

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2012 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

Sadly, I did not finish White Raven. I read about 100 pages, but couldn’t get into the novel. I didn’t really connect with the characters. It could have been my mood. Sometimes I have not been able to finish a book in the past, and then have picked it up a couple of years later only to wonder why I didn’t appreciate it in the first place.

White Raven is a fantasy novel. Vraigo is a prince that loves to hang out in the forest with the mystical creatures that abound there. Strange beings start to a...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Rachel at theJeepDiva rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review

I am curious to see where this trilogy goes. I will read the next in the series but I like my fantasy stories to stay in the more medieval times with the storyline as opposed to present day. I give the story 3.5 stars.

Plot - I love fantasy especially if there is sword play involved, magic and evil creatures. That being said I really liked the first part of the story even though it was somewhat predictable, however what slowed me down was when the main character Vraigo ended up in the 21st centur...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Irina Lopatina’s White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors is an epic fantasy, like The Lord of the Rings, and was thoroughly impressed with it.

The novel begins with a prologue that introduces Vraigo, the White Raven, and his cousins when they are boys. The prologue also serves to introduce Agar, a magician and mentor to Vraigo who is killed, and some other creatures found in Areya. Then we get into the meat of the story, which is broken into two parts.

Part 1 takes place in Areya. Vraigo and...more Irina Lopatina’s White Raven: The Sword of Northern Ancestors is an epic fantasy, like The Lord of the Rings, and was thoroughly impressed with it.

The novel begins with a prologue that introduces Vraigo, the White Raven, and his cousins when they are boys. The prologue also serves to introduce Agar, a magician and mentor to Vraigo who is killed, and some other creatures found in Areya. Then we get into the meat of the story, which is broken into two parts.

Part 1 takes place in Areya. Vraigo and his cousins are essentially grown up (no age is given so I don’t know exactly how old they are) and are making their place in the world. But, Areya is being threatened by monsters from other worlds thanks to an evil wizard called a koschei, and Vraigo and his family are charged with saving the land. Since Vraigo is a magician, he is often misunderstood, especially by his uncle, Dike Vlady, and his cousins Targas and Seles. When Vraigo realizes he must be the person to defeat the koschei, his family thinks that he is afraid to take part in the battle with the monsters. Even though it is against his uncle’s wishes, Vraigo goes out to discover more about the koschei so he can decide the bet way to defeat it. The Duke and his commanders plan for a battle at the place where the monsters are slipping into their world. The koschei steals the Duke’s magically-endowed sword, Urart, while Vraigo is away, basically leaving the Areyans with no chance of winning. When Vraigo returns and learns of the theft, he immediately sets out to find Urart. He search leads him to a community of dwarves living under a mountain and under the threat of the Tanars, who stole Urart from the dwarves. Part 1 ends with a cliff hanger that sets us up for Part 2.

In an interesting twist, Lopatina has Vraigo enter modern times in Part 2. It seems that Urart has made its way to present day Europe and Vraigo must track it down and return to Areya. Luckily, he is befriended by a cave diver named Nik, who helps him get acclimated (as much as he can anyway) and find where Urart could have ended up. The ending of the story is a bit abrupt, but that is because it will be continued in the second book of the series. This part of the story sounded a bit hokey in the description, but it actually flowed into the rest of the plot seamlessly.

This was a great story, although I had a hard time getting into it initially. I thought the prologue was a little hard to get through, but after that, I was reading through with ease. Some of the writing was a little choppy in areas, but I think that may be part of the interpretation. The novel was originally written in Russian and translated into English. The publisher, Light Messages, has tightened the text and translation errors after printing the ARCs though, so that issue should be resolved when you read the final copy.

The book has a LOT of action; it is not a plot that moves by character’s feelings and thoughts. My summary above is really a fraction of what actually takes place. The main characters are well-developed, however, so you understand them and why the plot moves along as it does. There was not a lick of romance, and I didn’t miss it. At all. In fact, I found it to be a bit refreshing.

I liked the parts of the story set in Areya better than those in our modern-day world, although I did enjoy that part of the novel. It just seemed that in current times, Vraigo and Nik spend more time fumbling and blundering around (think Braveheart in the city), while the parts in Areya seem more relevant, suspenseful, and to further the plot more. Since White Raven is part of a series, this section may play a larger part in setting up one of the later parts of the series.

Lopatina provides good descriptions of this unfamiliar world. She is not overly wordy, but still gives a clear picture of Areya and its inhabitants. She also uses familiar beasts in other ways. For example, when I think of a basilisk, I think of a big snake (i.e. Harry Potter), but in White Raven a basilisk is part rooster and part toad (though it still kills you if you look into its eyes).

Even with all of the unfamiliar creatures, it is not hard to keep track of who is who and what each creature is. Lopatina has kept her cast of characters fairly small and without an extensive history so it is pretty easy to keep track of everything. There is also a very helpful illustrated Character Guide at the end of the book. The main characters and unusual creatures are listed alphabetically with a drawing and short description. A map in the beginning of the book helps you figure out the layout of Areya.

If you are looking for a action-packed, gripping fantasy novel, White Raven should be on your short list.(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Jim C rated it 4 of 5 stars

I won this as a giveaway I as pleasantly surprised by this book. This is a first book of a trilogy and I am looking forward to the next one. The action starts right away in this fantasy novel and it keeps a nice pace. The author does a good job portraying all kinds of creatures and there was an index with illustrations of the various creatures. The plot is that the main character has to recover a special sword that would defeat the monsters that are invading. I know this has been a repeated them...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Joan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Please continue the series quickly! The story captured my imagination with characters and a setting you could easily see and follow. The story just got better with each chapter. Even a trip from one parallel universe to another flowed smoothly and believably. The ending left you wondering if the time will be the same if and when Vraigo gets back to his universe and if and when he may meet the characters from either universe, again. The story presents the challenges of relationships with family a...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Maria Martin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I've recently started getting more into fantasy novels. And while this book had the markings of a great fantasy: compelling main characters, inventive world, epic adventure, I just found something lacking. I wasn't drawn into the story as much as I wanted to be. Vraigo "White Raven" was a very interesting and fascinating main character. He was every bit the hero and not the typical prince. While I really enjoyed his character I wish I could have been more interested in his adventure. Because of...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not certain how to review this without giving spoilers... it's an interesting world she's created, and one I'd like to explore a bit more. The end was a bit too contrived though...

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Jul 30, 2012 Nazish Ahmed (Nazish Reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-tours, books-i-got-for-review, own

As always, i will write the review later, first on my blog (http://www.nazishreads.net), and then on here.

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Shelves: fantasy

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About Irina Lopatina

Irina Lopatina lives and works in Siberia, Russia, but her homeland has an even more wonderful and exotic name: Altai. It is a unique place where old Altai Mountains rise high up to the sky, centuries-old forests stretch out as in ages past, and mighty Siberian rivers flow along the plains. Altai is one of the few places in the world where huge, densely populated cities coexist with pristine wild...more

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