Customer Reviews

The Raven Ring: A Lyra Novel (Tor Fantasy)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Raven Ring is one of my favorite books. It was the first book I read in the "Shadows over Lyra" novels, and discovered it was a stand-alone book. This can be your first Patricia C. Wrede book, but it will make you want to read more.

The Raven Ring is about a young woman, Eleret, who goes to visit the city of Ciaron to collect her dead mothers belongings. There, she discovers many people who are interested in the raven ring her mother owned. With the help of her friend, the sly and witty thief Karvonen, and her guide/bodyguard/friend Lord Daner, she solves the mystery of the Raven Ring and finds love along the way.

The Raven Ring is a great book which has just the right amount of mystery, romance, and fun in it. Patricia Wrede is a great author. The Raven Ring is the kind of book you will want to have on your bookshelf to read over and over again.

There's nothing really unique about _The Raven Ring_. It's a simple enough story about a young woman with a supposedly simple mission to complete in an unfamiliar place. She meets friends and enemies alike, and discovers that one of the items she's gone to retrieve is far, far more than it seems.

But if this book isn't strictly unusual in terms of plot or style, it's special because it's really, really good. The level of writing is very impressive for a fantasy novel, and it's perhaps telling that this was Wrede's last high fantasy novel. I'm not sure that she could improve on it (though who knows what she'll come out with next). If you've read the other Lyra books, it's a great addition to the series. If you read this book and enjoy the world, by all means look up the others, which were written much earlier. But there's no doubt that _The Raven Ring_ is the best of the lot, and better than most other fantasy, too. It deserves to be a classic.

I loved the book, the characters were realistic and completly based on people you can like and are amazed by. I loved the fact that the main charater was a girl who was a hugely able person. Most books have men as the warriors, but this one proved that women can be just as adept at anything they try as men can be. I loved that the main characters were not all honourable and that they shaped the story with believable actions. It also showed that people with perfectly good intentions can be as annoying as can be. I rate this five star for excellent characters, believable plot, and overall good writing.

I absolutely adore this book! Eleret is one of my favorite characters in all of literature, and I love her friends too. I have read this book more times than I can count, and highly recomend it too readers of all ages. It has plenty of action, and just the right amount of romance to be believable. I like how Eleret is capeable of taking care of herself in the big city, but is smart enough to realize that she needs a guide to help her, especially with the trouble that seems to be following her. Someone killed her mother, and now that same someone seems to be after her, and the ring that he mother wore. And even worse the someone seems to be a dreaded shadow-born, the soul stealers.

I LOVE this book. The characters are so far from what you would expect, it's refreshing. I read this book after I read the Enchanted Forest Chronicals, but they are incredibly different. The Chronicals are like fairy tales, and are so sweet, but I did think that the characters were slightly cliche. However, The Raven Ring's characters are so unique, and I was totally in love with Karvonen. Looking at things from Eleret's POV was fabulous, too, because she was so different than anyone else. Wonderul. Read it. I have a copy, but there is no way I'm giving it up!

I like this author anyway, and I think this is her best book. It is a murder mystery, a romance, a comedy of manners, and a good fantasy novel, especially as a wonderful example of fantasy/sci-fi's ever-present theme of "culture shock". It is extremely readable, excitingly fast-paced, has a lovely heroine, and does not falter in the details.

I have read this book 5 times and have enjoyed it every time like it was the first! Karvonen is my favorite character because he is a sarcastic, short, brave, and exaggerating little person...he reminds me of me! Eleret is interesting but way too naive to be realistic, and Daner is the archetype of virtually everyone in the world~egotistical yet courageous.

Overall I recommend this book to anyone who can read English~it has everything;action, interesting characters, and a little romance between the two favorites!

(P.S. Ms. Wrede, if you're out there, WE WANT A SEQUEL!)

I adore anything written by Patricia C. Wrede, but this one is even better than average. I had to borrow it from a friend because for some strange reason most of her amazing works are out of print. This book moved so seemlessly that I finished it in less than twenty-four hours. I stayed up many hours past when I was planning on going to bed to read it and after finishing it I simply couldn't sit still! This is a flawless story, it just moves perfectly with Ms. Wrede's beautiful touch.

THE RAVEN RING has some of the best and most unique characters I have ever come across, every single person that comes into the scene has their own picks and pans, which are played out quite well in this great Lyra book.

Another book that I've found that comes close to the intriguing mystery and sexual tension that was found in this book was also discovered in CROWN DUEL and COURT DUEL...both were just as catchy as THE RAVEN RING, and all 3 books are a must in ever fantasy lover's library.

The plot like all wrede books, is engaging, but would be flavorless without the incredibly belivable and uncliched characters; Eleret, deadly, practical, naive, intellegent, with a soldier's discpline and a warrior's honor; Karvonen, my favorite, brilliant, charming, incorigable, contradictory and honorable; Daner, overconfident, honest, selfabsorbed, very obviously noble and used to it. All the other humorous side charactrs, the detailed societies and cultures. One thing I particularly loved was the oaths and phrases the characters used, like "swearing like a kulseth fisherman with a knot in his line," "not on the emperor's backside," "have my hide to patch his mainsail" and any number of references to fish, due to the coastalness of the city' beached, dried, stewing in the sun... It just WORKED really really well

Lizard