A review by mkw1lson
The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Look - these books are absolutely soap operas, but I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean that in the best way, which is that the plot and the characters are unhinged and addicting. Just embrace the ridiculousness and move on - it'll be worth it. Like the first book, there are issues with the book structurally - the pacing is a bit off and there's quite a bit left unexplained that maybe could have used more details (ie. wtf is Andrew medicated for and why exactly is everyone like - yeah, just go into withdrawal to play goalie). However, I think that the rest of the book makes up for that.

The games are exciting, Neil is coming into his own and accepting that he wants to be with the Foxes, that this life is something he wants and will fight for, for as long as he can. We get to know the team much better than we did in the first book, we get to know more about the enemies in the Raven's, Riko, and the Moriyama's. We also learn much more about Andrew and see how his relationship with Neil slowly grows
to the point that Andrew actually trusts Neil and Neil happily hands himself over to Riko to protect Andrew.
We also get much more Kevin and the dynamic between Neil and Kevin, and their shared past. The book doesn't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but enough of one that I was starting the third book immediately after finishing this one.

Like the last book, heed the warnings - there are a lot of heavy topics.
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