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Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1)

Anthony Ryan

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Aug 15, 2013 Arushi rated it really liked it

Shelves: grimdark

I started Blood Song because it came highly recommended from a very good friend and it was totally the kind of book that I love. It is a perfect mixture of the book that you race through because you cannot put it down and the book that you keep thinking about a long time after you finished it because you just cannot let it go.

Blood Song is the story of Vaelin Al Sorna. The son of a Battle Lord, who was born a commoner but rose to his position on his merits as a fighter and a leader, and raised I started Blood Song because it came highly recommended from a very good friend and it was totally the kind of book that I love. It is a perfect mixture of the book that you race through because you cannot put it down and the book that you keep thinking about a long time after you finished it because you just cannot let it go.

Blood Song is the story of Vaelin Al Sorna. The son of a Battle Lord, who was born a commoner but rose to his position on his merits as a fighter and a leader, and raised by the Sixth Order of the Faith from when he was ten. He was raised to be a fighter, a warrior and eventually a leader. He learned to kill and he learned to be extremely efficient about it.

But that is not all that Vaelin is. He is a 'Brother' to those he has grown up with the Order, and a Brother who would do anything for them and has earned the same devotion from them as well. He is a friend and he tries his best to protect rather than destroy.

Yet when the book starts, he is on a voyage to what, for all intents and purposes, will be his execution. It is there, on that ship, that he narrates the story of his life to the man travelling with him, who hates him for killing 'Hope'.

The first book in a trilogy, Blood Song, lays out the pieces and outlines the map on what is promising to be one hell of an epic fantasy. Vaelin makes for an excellent protagonist, complex, brilliant and compassionate when all he should be - is a obeying warrior. The side characters are also very well detailed - from the scribe travelling with Vaelin, to his instructors at the Order, his Brothers who he grows up with, his brother that he takes in, the 'winterbloom' girl and Vaelin's mother whose presence is there even in their absence, Sister Sherin, the Aspects and even those people who show up only a few times. They are all real in a way that is hard to create - and a true pleasure to read.

The world building is done really well and I liked all the different cultures that are shown. The book ends on a somewhat definitive note - but I know I want to read the next one asap - because while it did not end on a cliffhanger, it did really leave me wanting more. ...more

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