Book Review: The Raven Scholar is Perfect for those Looking for Non-Western Epic Fantasy, Political Intrigue, and Complex Characters

I went into The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson completely blind, and I’m honestly glad I did. All I knew was this stunning Illumicrate fantasy book showed up in my monthly box, and I dropped everything to read it. And it’s a chonker, a door stop, a tome. Could it have been a tighter story with 100 less pages? Yes. However, the story itself was great, and while slower paced, I did enjoy the writing. This is a story filled with non-Western mythology, political intrigue, and deadly trials. If these are things you love in your fantasy books, you’re pretty much guaranteed to enjoy this book. There’s also a small romantic subplot that I enjoyed as well. I felt like it teetered between YA and New Adult with the maturity of the characters, and the content of the book itself. It does get rather gruesome in moments. Oh, and did I mention there’s also a murder mystery? There’s A LOT going on in this story, and a huge cast of characters, so you definitely have to pay attention to keep all the characters and guardians straight. There’s also some breaking of the fourth wall by a cheeky character that I also enjoyed. A big part of this book is taken up by various trials contenders for the throne must survive. Who will make it through to the end? You’ll just have to read to find out.

Things to Know:

• Book one of an unfinished series

• Non-Western Mythology

• Diverse cast of characters

• Romantic subplot

• Political intrigue

• Trials

• Murder Mystery

• TW: death, child murder

***MINOR SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT—YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!***

The beginning of this book was so shocking. I was convinced when I started this book that Yana was the main character. Alas, she was not. Our story centers around Neema Kraa, our title character who was pretty insufferable at first. I ended up liking her, but she also frustrated me at times with her terrible decision making skills. She makes a decision that catapults her into the inner circle of the current emperor, and it does NOT make her popular. If anything, she feels like an outcast. If you’ve read Blood Over Bright Haven, she reminds me a lot of that FMC, where her decisions can be super selfish, and to get ahead, but she’s also super talented at what she does.

Cain was a fantastic opposite to Neema, and I adored him. Ruko you absolutely loathe, but he is a complex character, and I loved how the author didn’t make him super one-dimensional and boring. There were some, in my opinion, super convenient things that happened. For example, why are you putting a murder suspect in charge of the murder investigation. The emperor honestly felt like a yo-yo changing his mind constantly. So some of the plotting could have been a little cleaner. But overall, the story, worldbuilding, and characters are all fantastic.

There’s also subtle and not-to-subtle commentary on elitism and reforms that give access to opportunities by underprivileged groups. Plus, who stands to benefit from the status quo. It was pretty seamlessly woven in. Power is also a huge part of this story. Who craves it? Who will do anything to keep it. Who doesn’t want it. Who has the best intentions. It gets messy really fast with all of the contenders to the throne.

And the nod to The Man in the Iron Mask?! Amazing. Classics fans will love that little nugget.

I have to say, the twist got me. I was not expecting it because I definitely thought I had it figured out. So that was super well done. There’s also a ton of humor packed into this book, which feels reminiscent of old school epic fantasy.

Many thanks to Libro.fm for the ALC, which I listened to, while reading my physical copy. The narrator does a fantastic job with all the different voices—especially the guardians, and it fully immersed me in the world. I’ll definitely look forward to the next installment! I need to know what happens! Would absolutely recommend this book if you’re okay with a slower paced story that still has a lot of action, but centers around political machinations and manipulation.

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