Customer Reviews

Ravensoul (Legends of the Raven 4)

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I think glee would be the best word to describe my feelings when I realized The Raven were going to ride again. I didn't really quite understand HOW, having read DemonStorm, and I didn't care. But RavenSoul fell short of my expectations, as no James Barclay book has done before. I wish the story had stopped at DemonStorm, which was a fitting ending for such heroes.

It quite honestly felt like he had written it to get the money, and if there were Raven figurines, I would suspect him of simply promoting them. This lacked the pep and zest of the other novels, with the Raven acting beaten from the beginning, and weighed down with the pain of being dead.

I did enjoy the really fun and familiar dialogue; nearly every time Hirad said something I loved it. The story did not fall short of the epic standards created by the previous six novels.

But the fact is that many Raven members died without ever meeting each other and no good balance could be struck trying to bring them all together. The entire Raven is made up of a dozen people, but only rode as six or seven at a time.

I was disappointed with the portrayal of Diera as a woman who no longer respects her husband; she acted as though she were waiting for her sons to grow up before she dumped the Unknown as a whiner trapped in the past. Denser as basically a traitor to the Raven shocked me and did not fit with the idea of the RavenSoul itself. The bitterness of Sirendor saddened me - we only knew him for a short time in DawnThief, but he was clearly better than RavenSoul portrays him. The complete absence or single mention of some characters bothered me.

I can basically sum up my reaction to the book as "The Raven died. They should have stayed that way." I felt depressed when I finished it, and the feeling hasn't lifted. The Unknown's sacrifice was not satisfactory - he was always meant to come home to his family. Denser staying behind in a world doomed to destruction is somehow worse than having to read about his death. While the Raven appears to live together in death, there are many missing from their numbers who I wanted to see be with them at the end.

I try to see this book as a separate story altogether from the Raven novels - I want to let the Raven die as they did through the series, and rest as they ended up in Demonstorm.

An unexpected addition to Barclay's raven series. I say unexpected because most of them died heroically at the end of his last book.

The Raven is/was a band of mercenaries that have included warriors, mages, Elves and even a shape shifter. As the series progressed through 7 previous books the line-up changed and they morphed from mercenaries to heroes and the land's best hope against all sorts of evil intent. A very enjoyable series which came to a natural and satisfying conclusion with Demonstorm.

So a bit of a shock to find another one pop up, and the author could have taken the easy route of fitting in an extra story set somewhere between the earlier books, but no, this is set some 15 years after Demonstorm. In this story, the dead are coming back into the bodies of the recently deceased. At the same time an ancient and unstoppable enemy is sweeping all before them, including the forest homes of the Elves. Can a Raven consisting of dead souls in new bodies make a final stand? There are a variety of bad guys in this, but the one who turns out to be the main human one will come as a bit of a shock!

This was okay and I like Barclay's writing, especially the easy camaraderie between the Raven and his dialogue in general. The plot and the threat was a little complex and it was harder to get into then I was expecting. Inter-dimensional jumps and links to previous books and characters did cause pause for thought a few times as I had to jog the memory, and this was a bit of a flaw. It feels like you should read this with the other books fresh in your mind, if you have read a lot of books since Demonstorm then it will take a while to refresh. It would have been helpful to have a list of the Raven members at the front and a reminder of which books they were from and how we left them.

It was an interesting concept to bring back the Raven, but I think it took something away from their previous sacrifice and the rounded ending that Demonstorm gave us. I think Barclay's many fans will enjoy seeing their heroes back, but may feel some discomfort at a book, perhaps. too far. It is also not a book for new readers to start with, they need to start at the beginning with the excellent Dawnthief and they have a treat in store. For those of us who have read all the books, I am not sure if this adds anything.

Another great story about those invincible mercenaries The Raven. My only complaint is that it is supposed to be the last story in this series of 7 books but I am forever hoping that James Barclay will see fit to resurrect The Raven again. Thoroughly enjoyable tale, great characters and action abounds. This series of books is a must read for all fantasy/action fans. Ravensoul (Legends of the Raven, Book 4)