Raven's Shadow (Raven Set, #1)

Oct 21, 2009 Phoebe added it

Shelves: funtasy

Raven's Shadow presents an interesting cast of fantasy characters in its central family of magic-touched farmers. The heroes are middle-aged parents and spouses rather than single twenty-somethings, a unique choice an epic fantasy, but a wise one: it's the relationship between Seraph and Tier that really carries the narrative. In fact, I found the novel's first third, which is concerned with their earlier meeting and union, to be the most compelling part of the book.

Seraph, a Traveler, one of a...more Raven's Shadow presents an interesting cast of fantasy characters in its central family of magic-touched farmers. The heroes are middle-aged parents and spouses rather than single twenty-somethings, a unique choice an epic fantasy, but a wise one: it's the relationship between Seraph and Tier that really carries the narrative. In fact, I found the novel's first third, which is concerned with their earlier meeting and union, to be the most compelling part of the book.

Seraph, a Traveler, one of a dwindling race of mages in this fantasy world, is a saucy, sharp, and determined woman; her husband Tier is, in contrast, warm, easy-going, and good-natured. When Tier disappears, Seraph wastes no time in bundling up her adolescent children and taking them on an adventure across the countryside to save him.

Tier has an unfortunate number of Gary Stu qualities: he's the only magically-gifted non-traveler, has a magically compelling voice and can tell when someone is lying. Though some of these traits are necessary for the development of the plot, it's really too bad--they detract from what is otherwise a very believably written hero.

And unfortunate, as well, was the fact that I never really connected with two of their children, one of whom (the girl, of course) is forced to stay home through most of the story. The oldest, Jes, is well-written, but because of a magical affliction, a bit of an enigma; there's really nothing to say about the others, as they were nearly wholly remarkable.

As was the book's climax. Though I liked Tier and Seraph (and the Phoran, a lively secondary character), I never really felt any urgency as the final battle neared, never really felt any of the villain's malice, never really felt like the stakes were terribly high. The final battle itself felt rushed--one supporting character was offed in a paragraph, and Briggs gave readers no chance to digest it. Hopefully, the second volume in the series gives us a more pressing reason to fear the "Stalker"; though they're endearing, I don't think Tier and Seraph are, alone, reason enough to read another book.(less)

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Jan 13, 2010 Issam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance, magic-sorcery, super-powers, fave-books

This was given to me from a friend, and was my first Patricia Briggs novel. Before beginning, I had assumed that the universe that had been set up in here would be overly complicated and tied at length through several other books, but it wasn't, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to fall into the story, the characters, and the magical world of wizards, travelers, strange creatures, and the Ordered that Patrica Briggs had so believably, and creatively, embedded here in a realistic...more

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Jan 10, 2008 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008, read-since-august-2006, fantasy-sf

Halfway through, I'm surprised by this book. It felt like it was going to head one direction, then it fooled me and went another direction entirely. I'm glad, since the first direction wasn't the way I wanted to head.

This is only the second series I've read by Briggs. Like her Mercy Thompson books, this has some wonderful characterization and very smooth writing. The setting is a much more traditional fantasy one, though.

I'm enjoying it a lot.

Now that I've finished, I stick with the assessment o...more

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Dec 31, 2008 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I was expecting another fantasy coming-of-age novel, but that's not what this is. It turned out to be quite different. There were a lot of unexpected little twists and turns. I think some aspects of the plot could have been more fully explained, but that might have slowed down the story. It was nice to have a story with a family full of characters, rather than a single main character seeking his/her fortune. The number of characters left me wanting a more focused story on each one, but overall I...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Raven's Shadow is a fantasy in the classic style, full of magic, fictional racism, personal confrontations, and creeping evil. But, given that the author is Briggs, the main characters are all strong people in their own rights, male and female. The women have talents and reasons and motivations as much as - if not more than - the men in the story.

Our heroine, Saraph, is the last survivor of her traveling clan of mages and family. Known easily enough as "The Travelers" (no pronounciation games h...more Raven's Shadow is a fantasy in the classic style, full of magic, fictional racism, personal confrontations, and creeping evil. But, given that the author is Briggs, the main characters are all strong people in their own rights, male and female. The women have talents and reasons and motivations as much as - if not more than - the men in the story.

Our heroine, Saraph, is the last survivor of her traveling clan of mages and family. Known easily enough as "The Travelers" (no pronounciation games here), her family had been hunted and burned by ignorant villagers across the lands. Her rescuer, Tier, is a discharged soldier come home again but strongly reluctant to fit back into the mold (ha ha) of being the village baker. The two of them agree to forge a farming family at the foot of the Shadows Fall mountains.

For hundreds of years, the non-Traveler villagers and people of the Empire have been forming a secret Order based on a bastardized version of the Traveler beliefs and the recruitment of younger (disenfranchised) sons of nobility. The few with magic among them have secretly kidnapped and sacrificed Travelers in order to gain what magic they had. Through secrecy and guile, they decide that Tier is their next sacrifice. His capture, and his intelligent manipulation of his captors, is half of the answer to the distruction of the Order and the reintegration of those sons into service of the Emperor. His wife Seraph's late-coming maturity is the other half. Not magical maturity, mind you, but she finally realizes how to deal with groups of people by other than shouting at them.

One of the things that I really enjoyed is that Saraph's sister-in-law never likes her. Ever. Even when they have to work together to rescue Saraph's daughter and brother-in-law, the two women still don't resolve their animosity. I like this lack of resolution because it is in line with both of the women's characters, and keeps the book from feeling too easy.

And thank the gods that the cover had almost nothing to do with the book! With a wild leap of faith, I could say that the cover illustration of a richly-yet-half-dressed sorceress is the main character Seraph and her son, not her sidekick, familiar, or boyfriend.

I picked this book up as a recommendation from a friend of mine. She loaned the series to me way back this spring, and I finally got around to reading it.

I recommend the book to people who like classic fantasy with modern mindsets.
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Mar 10, 2012 Jacey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

Given that there is so much time between writing and publishing a book it’s likely that both Patricia Briggs and Lois McMaster Bujold were working on their respective books Raven’s Shadow and The Beguilement (Sharing Knife #1) at the same time. Having read Beguilement recently my first thought was that there were many similarities between the two books. When I checked, Briggs actually beat Bujold to it by a couple of years, but I seriously doubt anything other than synchronicity caused the paral...more Given that there is so much time between writing and publishing a book it’s likely that both Patricia Briggs and Lois McMaster Bujold were working on their respective books Raven’s Shadow and The Beguilement (Sharing Knife #1) at the same time. Having read Beguilement recently my first thought was that there were many similarities between the two books. When I checked, Briggs actually beat Bujold to it by a couple of years, but I seriously doubt anything other than synchronicity caused the parallels. There must have been something in the air.

In Raven’s Shadow there’s a group of ‘Travellers’ who are the descendants of a (destroyed) city of wizards who have been handed down the task of righting the wizards’ magical wrongs by destroying remnants of a great evil – creatures that are ‘shadowed’. The Travelers (sic) look down of the villagers and the villagers are highly suspicious of the travellers.

In Beguilement there are Lakewalkers who are descended from the minor lords of a civilisation destroyed by magic and their job is to walk the land killing malices – emerging evil entities left over from something bad the ancient mage-lords did in the now-vanished city. The Lakewalkers look down upon the Farmers and the Farmers don’t trust the Lakewalkers.

In both books the female protagonist is young and in need of protection and the male protagonist is older, more experienced – one an old soldier, one an old patroller. In both cases the main protagonists are actually married to each other early in the proceedings. Where they begin to differ is that in Beguilement it’s the old patroller, Dag, who has magic and in Raven’s Shadow it’s Seraph, the young Traveller girl who is a Raven mage. And there, I’m happy to say, the similarities fade into insignificance because these authors are so experienced and have such distinctive voices that the stories couldn’t be more different.

Raven’s Shadow is the more traditional fantasy of the two. While in The Sharing Knife books the ‘enemy’ is largely ignorance and misunderstanding and the evil malices are MacGuffins, Raven’s Shadow involves court intrigue, evil power-hungry wizards, a young emperor trying to prove himself, a kidnap, a rescue, a battle and much strife between humans.

It took me a while to get to like Seraph, not helped by the near twenty-year gap between the end of Chapter Two and the beginning of Chapter Three while the oddly-matched couple raise a family on a marginal farm. Tier, Seraph’s ex-soldier husband, is the more sympathetic of the two characters. It turns out that despite being a non-traveller, Tier has Bardic gifts and is also much better at dealing with people than the spiky and hot-tempered Seraph. It’s these Bardic gifts that both put him in danger and get him out again, though Seraph and the two oldest boys riding to the rescue doesn’t hurt. Of their three ‘gifted’ children, the one who comes over best is Jes, the Guardian, whose power is to protect. Within a slow, somewhat slow-witted exterior, he harbours a volatile, half-mad, shape-changing killer, barely contained at the best of times, but totally unstoppable when any member of his family is threatened.

There are a few plot holes that I’m not used to from Patricia Briggs. Why, for instance, does the secret society that has kidnapped Tier allow him almost free-run of their secret underground HQ? Even though he can’t escape (due to being – literally – spellbound) it allows him to influence and befriend some of the young acolytes of their order. Also the Emperor, making a bid to wrest control away from his council, just happens to a) know the secret passageways that give him access to the Bad-Guy HQ and b) just happens to have been lucky/unlucky enough to have been snacked on by a spirit-vampire ‘The Memory’ who leads him to Tier, who is, of course, easily accessible because – hey – his cell door isn’t locked. And no one notices the Emperor’s several visits to Tier for the purposes of hatching a plan – at least no one who counts.

This is the first time I’ve noticed less than elegant plotting from Briggs, who remains one of my current favourite authors. Maybe some of my doubts will be eliminated by the second book. This feels, to me, like there’s one story in two books with a convenient half-way stopping point. The story does resolve happily, but the second story picks up right where the first leaves off with a continuing threat.
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Aug 30, 2011 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Overall, this story doesn't match the quality of world building and story depth the same author created for the Mercy series.
Bottom Line: Try before you buy
I've read all of the book in the Mercy series by Briggs. So, I ordered this book, along with Briggs 'Steal the Dragon' because I figure you find an author you like, order their other works...can't go wrong, right?
Wrong. I found the quality of writing and quality of story somewhat lacking in this series, compared directly to the Mercy series.
I...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Naiya rated it 2 of 5 stars

Raven's Shadow takes a different, epic approach to fantasy, following characters over the course of years. Seraph is a Raven mage, one of the few who are born to fight against the dark remnants of an apocalypse long ago. Instead, she falls in love with Tier, a soldier, and settles down--something unheard of among her ("Traveler") kin. But when, years later, Tier is killed, Seraph is forced to face what she is to protect her children.

Though Raven's Shadow is also told in third person, the narrati...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Lilli Perspice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lilli by: Flail Around

Shelves: reviewed, fantasy

I found this to be good fantasy, but I wouldn't call it brain-scorchingly great fantasy. I actually started reading it three separate times, but the first two I ended up putting it aside for something more intriguing. I am glad that this third time I stuck with it through the whole ride. I am already into the first pages of book two.

This is written in third person point of view, following the lives of mainly one family, though there are sections from others. This is not my favorite writing style...more I found this to be good fantasy, but I wouldn't call it brain-scorchingly great fantasy. I actually started reading it three separate times, but the first two I ended up putting it aside for something more intriguing. I am glad that this third time I stuck with it through the whole ride. I am already into the first pages of book two.

This is written in third person point of view, following the lives of mainly one family, though there are sections from others. This is not my favorite writing style, unless your name is George R.R. Martin, but I was able to cozy up to the characters after awhile, my favorite being Phoran, the Emperor. It was nice to see his growth as both a man and a person of power in the world Patricia Briggs has created.

Though I enjoyed finding out about this world (and look forward to finding out more about Colossae in book two), I was disappointed in the vagueness of how magic really works, especially for Ravens (read=mages). There do not seem to be any defined limitations on what Seraph, a Raven and one of the main characters, can do. There's just some mental throwing around of magic, maybe some hand-waving, and what she wanted happens (or doesn't, if her emotions get the better of her). The other "magic classes" seemed to have more clearly delineated gifts, and I would have liked to see that for her as well.

After a twenty-year marriage, three kids, and time spent together farming an unforgiving land, you would think that Tier and Seraph (our two main characters and parents of three of the other points of view) would have worked out whether they really loved each other or not. I found the author even putting this to the question annoying as all get-out, a way basically just to provide some romantic angst when such really should not have existed from what was, by all accounts, a stable and happy relationship.

Also, I'm still waiting for the bad guys to be truly menacing and further developed (or maybe that's too much to ask for this kind of fantasy, just dark-robed figures performing obscure magical spells that involve blood and death? I dunno. I found Darken Rahl of the Sword of Truth series to be pretty damn freaky, and he was of the dark-robed, magical blood and death rites variety too). Maybe book two will offer more of their motives, so I am willing to be patient for this.

Despite these small hiccups, I would probably recommend it to an avid fantasy reader, but I wouldn't to a newbie to the genre to entice them over to the dark side. There's just not enough awesomesauce to be tempting to someone whose palate is not already accustomed to fantasy.

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Dec 30, 2010 Karissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first book in the Raven Duology by Patricia Briggs. It was an okay book. I liked the world and the magic system but thought that the pacing throughout the book was a bit erratic. I have also read Briggs Mercy Thompson series (which I thought was okay, but lacking in character development); this series is much different from the Mercy Thompson series. This series is written in a more traditional fantasy style, with less humor, and a slower pace.

Seraph is the last of her Traveler Clan....more This is the first book in the Raven Duology by Patricia Briggs. It was an okay book. I liked the world and the magic system but thought that the pacing throughout the book was a bit erratic. I have also read Briggs Mercy Thompson series (which I thought was okay, but lacking in character development); this series is much different from the Mercy Thompson series. This series is written in a more traditional fantasy style, with less humor, and a slower pace.

Seraph is the last of her Traveler Clan. She thinks her and her husband have settled down for a life of farming when they find out a greater evil is targeting both the Travelers and the land as a whole. Seraph and her family are drawn into the very conflict that Seraph tried to avoid when she was younger.

The first part of this book was really slow for me. I had to really, really push through it. I tried to be patient and remember that sometimes good fantasies take a while to set up. It doesn't help that I recently read Warbreaker (Sci Fi Essential Books) which was an amazing book. A lot of time was spent dealing with the past when Seraph met her husband, and I really thought this probably wasn't needed and made the story take a lot longer than necessary to get going.

Once the story did get going though I really enjoyed some of the other characters; mainly Teir, Jes, and the Emperor. The plot was well done and the end of the book was action packed and fast-paced. I never did care much about Seraph. I was also disappointed that Seraph's younger daughter (the weather witch) was left at home; she was a great character and she got shuffled out of the story.

The magic system was very interesting as was the structure of the clans. If the second book keeps up the pace of the last third of the first book; then the second book will be a great book. I would buy both books at once if I was going to read this series. Although the first book concludes a major plot point there are many loose ends left hanging that have yet to be wrapped up. Also keep in mind these books are very different from the Mercy Thompson series both in character-type and writing style.

Personally I liked The Tower of Ravens (Rhiannon's Ride, Book 1) and Warbreaker (Sci Fi Essential Books) much better than this book when it comes to your traditional fantasy type of book. (less)

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Mar 14, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pure-fantasy

This was so good! I wasn't really sure what to expect. I have read Briggs' later, urban fantasy series Mercy Thompson - and loved it - but this was my first of her fantasy novels. I should have known it would be characterized by her strengths - primarily amazing characters. In this story, Seraph, a teenage orphan mage from a tribe of gypsy-like people called the Travelers, is rescued by a young soldier returning home from war. They marry and fall in love, have children, who all grow up... and th...more This was so good! I wasn't really sure what to expect. I have read Briggs' later, urban fantasy series Mercy Thompson - and loved it - but this was my first of her fantasy novels. I should have known it would be characterized by her strengths - primarily amazing characters. In this story, Seraph, a teenage orphan mage from a tribe of gypsy-like people called the Travelers, is rescued by a young soldier returning home from war. They marry and fall in love, have children, who all grow up... and then they all go on an adventure, to save the realm from the "shadowed", which is what happens when magic is used without any checks and balances.

The worldbuilding here was solid. Was it entirely original? No. However, I didn't go into this expecting a world that is entirely new. It is a fantasy novel, and it sits clearly within the standard fantasy novel conventions. However, I felt the whole time that I did understand the setting and its place in the story. Briggs also has a masterful pace, revealing enough of the world's backstory at just the right moments. This is a trait I should have expected from her as it's in the Mercy books too. This was a very slim volume, for a fantasy novel. Fantasy authors are so often so interested in explaining everything about their world and what makes it unique - which is great when well-done and when it doesn't drag on and lose any semblance of dramatic tension. But there is no dragging on in this book. Briggs tells a tight story. Once I picked it up and dug in, I really couldn't put it down. There was nothing here that felt like fluff to me.

Again, the strength of this novel was the characters. Of course the very best character is Tair, the young soldier who grows into a Bard, and who is a born leader that sways everyone to his cause. He sees the truth in everyone and he is so very easy to love! I really enjoyed Seraph as well, and found them great foils to each other. Seraph is the young Traveler mage - The "Raven" of clan Isolde - who marries Tair and bears his children. She is terse, direct, and rather prickly. In short, Tier has all the people skills of the pair. I enjoyed that. Their children, Jes and Lehr, are also interesting, although Jes is probably the most interesting, as he has a kind of a magically imposed split personality disorder. I loved reading about this family and felt their relationships very strongly. I also enjoyed Phoran, the young emperor seeking his power. My complaint would be that most secondary characters, including the villains, are not very well-drawn. However, in such a short, action-packed book, it's probably not feasible to give them too much depth.

So, I loved it and couldn't put it down. There appears to be a sequel about the continued fight with the Shadowed, and I will definitely pick that one up.(less)

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Jan 28, 2009 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, kindle, ebook

I devoured this book - it was absolutely great and so much fun to read. Engaging characters, solid world building and just a good story. The kind of book that makes me excited about fantasy.

It's the first of two books, but tells a self-contained story - refreshing in this age of epic series that never end and trilogies that leave you hanging.

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Sep 05, 2012 Cornerofmadness rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This one is one that I might not have finished had I not already known I like Patricia Briggs. I have a fifty page rule. If I’m not really excited by then I’m done (unless of course 1) it’s awful and I quit faster 2) I paid cash for it). But knowing I like Briggs’s Urban Fantasy and Fantasy (this is the latter) I hung in there. It took 53 pages to get past part one but unfortunately the back blurb ruined that so you knew how it would turn out sucking all the excitement out of it. Even if it hadn...more This one is one that I might not have finished had I not already known I like Patricia Briggs. I have a fifty page rule. If I’m not really excited by then I’m done (unless of course 1) it’s awful and I quit faster 2) I paid cash for it). But knowing I like Briggs’s Urban Fantasy and Fantasy (this is the latter) I hung in there. It took 53 pages to get past part one but unfortunately the back blurb ruined that so you knew how it would turn out sucking all the excitement out of it. Even if it hadn’t it was still fairly dry. It took over 100 pages before the book really got interesting which is a bit sad when you think about it.

Tier is a retiring (at a young age) soldier, on his way back home to his home town that he left a decade ago to go fight a war. He’s not overly thrilled to go back to being a baker but it pays well and it is the family business. On the way there he meets a young Traveler girl about to be sold, raped, killed what have you at an inn. They’ve already burned her brother at the stake. Travelers remind me of Gypsies, feared, unwanted and with a bit of magic in the Travelers’ case. Tier rescues her and take Seraph with him. It’s not really the homecoming he was hoping for.

Fast forward about twenty years (and on to part 2), Tier has been out trapping all winter because he traded the pay and security of being a baker for the crap pay and risk taking of farming bad land. Seraph is left with their two sons, Jes and Lehr and their young daughter, Rinnie. Tensions begin to rise but the next 50 pages still feel like prologue as they deal with the farm, distrustful townies and a new and badly influential priest.

Things finally pick up when Tier is reported dead but a young Traveler woman appears and suggests that not only is Tier not dead that he and other people with Traveler magic (Tier isn’t a Traveler except maybe distantly) are disappearing and their magic stolen along with their lives. Now with a goal in mind, Seraph clues in the readers as to the magical abilities of her children and they all, except the youngest, head off to rescue Tier.

This finally brought us back to Tier and his captors and a new character, Emperor Phoran, who was groomed to be a drunken foppish figurehead but he’s waking up to this fact and to his own intelligence and desire to do good.

Once we get about 130 pages in, the story is fascinating and I do know there is a sequel (since they were side by side in the library). Once it got going, it was a solid three stars but the beginning was more like 2.
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Mar 21, 2013 Renee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have had this sitting around the house for a while now and decided to give it another shot (I'd dipped a toe in months ago and wasn't grabbed, but I so enjoy her other books I didn't want to let this go without another shot). So glad I did, because this time the world grabbed me a sucked me in faster than a Memory (ha. little joke for readers of the book). I really enjoyed the characters and although I still find some of the world-building a little clunky (lots and lots of exposition) I was im...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy lovers.

Recommended to Gina by: Karen

Shelves: own, pen-pal-read, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A terrific read from an incredible story-teller!

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After ten years of battle and war, Tier is finally on his way home. Coming to a village a few days from home, thoughts of a warm meal and comfortable bed are waylaid when he passes a pyre on fire - with a dead Traveler in the center of the blaze. Thoughts of leaving are reinforced when he walks into the local inn only to...more A terrific read from an incredible story-teller!

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After ten years of battle and war, Tier is finally on his way home. Coming to a village a few days from home, thoughts of a warm meal and comfortable bed are waylaid when he passes a pyre on fire - with a dead Traveler in the center of the blaze. Thoughts of leaving are reinforced when he walks into the local inn only to come upon the "trial" of the dead traveler's sixteen year-old sister, Seraph, also a Traveler, a Raven of the Clan of Isolda the Silent. He feels her magic stirring when she becomes furious, for the innkeeper believes she cannot pay the outrage sum against her. She is now being sold to whomsoever will pay the wage. Tier comes to her rescue, and they quickly leave the village. But the nobleman who had intended on buying Seraph for himself has every intention of taking her back... And loses.

Tier has every intention of helping her find her another Traveler family, bought plans are waylaid again when he gets home to find his mother abed and sick. He has the bakery to run, even though his sister and brother-in-law had been doing just fine. He's asked to stay a few weeks at least, so spend time with his mother before her passing, but the more time he spends at home, the more he wants to get out. Restless after so many years of battle, the thought of a monotonous life is too much to bear. And he comes to Seraph's rescue once again. After yet more harrassement from Tier's sister, Seraph's anger gets the better of her and unleashes a wave of destruction in the front room of the bakery, breaking everything. Once they were married, he buys a plot of land believed to be of little value, and becomes a farmer.

Twenty years and three children later, Seraph is happy, even though the guilt of eschewing her people's responsibility ways on her, even through her little family's having rough times. Tier has gone on another winter's hunting trip, and he's late in returning home. When a hunter arrives, bringing news that he believes Tier to be dead, Seraph is getting the feeling that something is most definitely not right. Now she must tell her children what exactly they are. There are 5 Orders of the Travelers; her children were all born into different Orders. Something that had never before happened.

Unearthing the bones, Seraph is sure that the bones do not belong to her husband. Another Raven, Hennea, finds them and explains what she believes is happening. Rinnie, her youngest child and only daughter, gets kidnapped, and all four: Seraph, her son's Jes and Lehr and Raven Hennea, discover where she is and get her back, leaving her with Tier's sister. Seraph believes that Tier has been kidnapped much for the same reason: for his magic. While Tier wasn't born of the Order, he is a Bard: he can keep people calm with his voice, he can absolve an argument, and his songs can create pictures with his words. Travelers are dying. The Masters of the Secret Path are stealing magic with every intention of unleashing the Stalker. And as a Raven of the Order, Seraph cannot let that happen.

Patricia Briggs is a Master Story-teller. She weaves a suspenseful mystery plot with excellent characters, great action scenes, and feelings. You can feel the inner battles of the main characters, from Seraph and Tier to Lehr and especially Jes. Every word pops the picture in your mind and you can swear you're right along with each character, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel. What I also really liked wsa the ending of the book. Even though this is the first book in her Raven duology, it doesn't leave this huge cliffhanger ending. While the book can be read as a stand-alone, only a couple of the plot lines are left unresolved, which does leave you wondering, but not frustrated. If you like fantasy novels, you will definitely like this one.(less)

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Nov 15, 2012 Whitley Birks rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Not bad. It felt more like three very short books that got rolled into one, as opposed to a single flowing narrative, but I enjoyed all three parts, so it was only minorly annoying. The writing was decent, the worldbuilding was fun, if not very detailed, and the characters were passable. Very standard and unsurprising, but nothing objectionable. There were a few points that made me side-eye, like when Tier quite clearly forces a kiss on Seraph, and it's presented as a "well, of course guys have...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

If I understand correctly, this is a book Briggs wrote before she became well known, but it was only published recently. I can tell that Briggs has grown as an author a lot since writing this book. Not that it was bad (although I'm not a fan of skipping twenty years in the middle of a book), but the execution didn't live up to the promise of the synopsis --- a farmer's wife and her passel of kids go to rescue dad from evil sorcerers.

I also think that Briggs' female characters are much better in...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

Raven's Shadow is clearly not up to the standard of Briggs' later works. She was still coming into her own as a writer when this was written, and it shows. Also, it suffers from a severe lack of proofreading or editing. I certainly hope it's not anyone's introduction to the fantasy genre...

That said, it is a good book. The story is interesting and well told, the characters... the characters I'm not sure about. I didn't feel particularly emotionally invested in them (about what you'd feel for any...more Raven's Shadow is clearly not up to the standard of Briggs' later works. She was still coming into her own as a writer when this was written, and it shows. Also, it suffers from a severe lack of proofreading or editing. I certainly hope it's not anyone's introduction to the fantasy genre...

That said, it is a good book. The story is interesting and well told, the characters... the characters I'm not sure about. I didn't feel particularly emotionally invested in them (about what you'd feel for any forgettable summer-action-movie hero), but after less than four and half chapters (and that was less than half a chapter into the ordeal) I couldn't stand the stress of worrying about what had happened to one of them, and had to flip to the end of the book to see if he was still around (and I almost never do that). I think that's more because I was engrossed in the story, and wanted the story to turn out well, rather than because I was concerned with the characters, but either way, I don't usually get pulled into a book like that. In any case, the characters were at least likable, if not engrossing.

The only real problem with he book was as I mentioned: editing. As long as you can stand the occasional "WTF?" moment when two consecutive sentences just do not go together, and you can shrug that off and move on, it shouldn't be a problem

(it was often enough that the editor really needs to be fired, but not often enough for me to put down the book -- any book, much less one that had pulled me in like this one. In all fairness though, the editor can only do so much, and the root of the problem was Briggs' relative inexperience as a writer when she wrote this.)

Usually it's a point of view change without a paragraph break or other indicator. One moment he is thinking one thing, and the very next sentence she is making some observation of her own, and it's really annoying. If it wasn't for those moments, the book would have come across as a great story I'd have recommended to anyone. Instead I'd say that if you're a fan of Briggs, or even fantasy in general, you should probably read this as a second tier book, after you've finished the ones you're really dieing to get to. For anyone who's not necessarily a fan of fantasy, I'd skip this one until you become a fan.

P.S. Now that I've read the second Raven book, I can say that this review applies to it as well.(less)

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Dec 02, 2010 Anne Ardeur rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

As a romance reader as well as a fantasy reader, I enjoyed the relationship between the main characters, Tier and Seraph; even though they spent most of the book apart, they were never far from each other's thoughts.

The overall interaction and relationships between the character was extremely well-written, and the world they were set in was detailed and interesting. While some secondary characters felt like name placeholders, the more important and frequently-seen were well fleshed-out and engag...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, series

This is the first in a series. I adore Briggs' series about the shapeshifter coyote/woman/mechanic, but I may love this more. So I'm getting back into fantasy after all of these years.

I read the second in this series first by accident. I enjoyed that so much that I had to go back and read this too.

Seraph and others like her are Travelers, people with special witch-like abilities to fight evil and darkness. They are hated and feared by the population they protect. However, their ancestors unleas...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In a world full of natural and learned magic our anti-hero Tier is on his way home from war to resume his work in the family bakery. Under unusual circumstances the retired soldier meets a young traveller mage who he falls in love with, becomes farmer, father, prisoner of dark powers, leader and advisor of emperors in only a few hundred pages.

The story might start a bit slow but the steady pace gives you opportunity to accompany the development of the characters and their motives. You get up in...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Marsha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Let me start by saying I'm a huge Patricia Briggs fan. She is a master weaver of strange/wondrous worlds and no one can script characters with such detail that they feel more like acquaintances than fiction. While I truly enjoyed Raven's Shadow, it was not my favorite of her novels. Don't get me wrong, the Raven's world and the characters were crafted with her usual beautiful style, this just wasn't 4 starts for me. I will go on to read Raven's Strike and the Dragon Bones series. However, before...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Jwales42 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have read almost all of Patricia Briggs books. I was thoroughly surprised by this book. Many who have just read the Mercy Thompson books may not like these for the very reason most of us love the Mercy books.

This book does not offer the sexy sassy characters built around action and touching enough on romance to keep people clinging to the edge of their seats.

Instead it offers a family. A Warrior who is a husband and a father. A mother and wife who wields great magic. Three great children gro...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Kateri rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my first experience with one of Briggs's high fantasy books, as opposed to her urban fantasy Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series. I was not disappointed. I immediately fell in love with Tier, from the moment the book began and he was talking to his horse. When I got to part 2, and thought Seraph would be narrating the entire rest of the book, I almost gave up. I love how easy it is to relate to Briggs's characters. For example, Tier gives Seraph his shirt to blow her nose. Freaking...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Jacob Proffitt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, fantasy

I had some issues with the beginning of Raven's Shadow—things that felt awkward or that frustrated me. Around the middle, though, those issues dropped away and I was able to enjoy a wonderful story about a family caught up in events much larger than themselves.

There are two problems with the beginning. First, we see Seraph and Tier before they're married and then take a 20 year jump in time where they have three kids and a struggling farm. That's a big jump and more than a little disconcerting....more I had some issues with the beginning of Raven's Shadow—things that felt awkward or that frustrated me. Around the middle, though, those issues dropped away and I was able to enjoy a wonderful story about a family caught up in events much larger than themselves.

There are two problems with the beginning. First, we see Seraph and Tier before they're married and then take a 20 year jump in time where they have three kids and a struggling farm. That's a big jump and more than a little disconcerting. I would like to say that we didn't need that early part of the novel, but key parts of the story are established there and I'm not sure how those could be better communicated and they’re crucial to the story so removing them wouldn’t work, either. So I'm torn. On the one hand, it was off-putting. On the other, I don't know how it could have been done better.

Second, Tier disappears early after that 20-year jump even though he's the only viewpoint we had up to that point. So we spend a bunch of time with Seraph and the kids trying to find out what happened and dealing with local persecution (Seraph was an outsider to begin with and now that Tier is gone, she has little local support and not a little local antagonism). Tier is supposed to be dead (a body was found), but there's enough "off" about it that you just know there's more to the story. It's not only a viewpoint jump, but we stick with Seraph and kids long enough that it feels like this is where the story is headed. And then at a critically tense moment with SaK whammo we shift to a new perspective and then, finally we're back with Tier. I practically got whiplash at the shift and that took me completely out of the story.

Once past that second (third?) big jump, things settled down much more reasonably. After that point, no new perspectives were introduced and the transitions are much less brutal. From there it was smooth sailing and I was able to enjoy what turns out to be an excellent story about magic, family, leadership, and responsibility.

One reason those early jumps were so disconcerting is because I just liked Tier so much. He's a veteran looking to settle down, intimately familiar with the foibles of those around him, but willing to look at their potential as well. He's kind and forgiving and willing to work with whatever someone else is willing to give him. It was no surprise to me that he started subverting his captors almost before they'd finished locking him up. That he did so with deliberation and forethought (and was so effective at it) bore out my earlier attachment to him and was, frankly, fun to experience.

I wasn't as attached to Seraph, but then, that's part of what makes her work as an interesting character. Her honest love and devotion for Tier was enough to attach my affections and her growth as she accepted her trials and overcame them was a great part of the climax of the book. You knew from the start that she could, and would, fight for her own but it was rewarding to see that she could, and would, negotiate, compromise, wheedle and cajole for it as well. That she turned out to be a competent leader was an unlooked for, but gratifying, development.

Lastly, it was a pleasant surprise (given some of my last few books) for a book that is part of a duology to end so gracefully. There are no stupid cliff-hangers and no cheesy manipulation designed to make you impatient for the next novel. It would have been easy to end this book in a tense place and save the resolution for later. Kudos to Patricia Briggs for resisting that temptation.(less)

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May 13, 2010 Aili rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, clean-romance

Patricia Briggs is my hero. I am constantly amazed at her characters and the relationships they have with each other. Briggs has a great, healthy perspective on individuality, love, family, and romance. Because her characters don't fit into the traditional fantasy mold, her plots can't be predictable. Have you ever read another book where the hero/heroine takes their whole family along for the adventure and each person's skills are necessary for the resolution? The cast of fully-developed charac...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Tim added it

I do like this lady's writing. When I originally began the book I didn't like it as much as her books about Mercy but I think I know the reason. In the other series there is more time to develop each character, even giving entire books over to more character development, other that just Mercu so the entire universe become deeper and richer. With this series being just a duology character development gets a little in the way of the story and vice versa. Makes me wonder why not just make it a sing...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Yvette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I am a Patricia Briggs fan. I love her books because she always has strong female characters with realistic quirks. A fun read for a rainy day!

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Jun 01, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m, c, love-this-book

I loved this book!!!! It had enough adventure and danger with characters that are well developed and loved/Hated by the reader. The characters are smart, strong and capable. They demonstrate love for each other as well as individuals in general. It moves right along and does not drag anywhere. The magic in this world takes on different forms, each person with a different ability emphasizing individuality and the need and advantage of working together.

There is enough left open ended for the seque...more

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Jan 15, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

I have put off reading this for a while. I really love Briggs but I'm not so into high fantasy and her early books looked very high fantasy. I was wrong though. Raven's Shadow is fantasy but not so intense that I don't like it. Her writing was solid and the story good. The thing I liked the most though was that a mother was the hero. She is a typically strong Brigg's character. What is interesting though is that, as I said, she's a mother. I really liked how that was done. I was on the fence abo...more

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Raven's Shadow (Raven Duology #1)

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