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A review by steph01924
Raven Flight by Juliet Marillier
4.0
I was eagerly waiting for this next book as soon as I finished Shadowfell. Aaaand now I’m waiting on the conclusion. Juliet Marillier, stop making your books so easy to devour!
Some thoughts on this second installment:
- It was so short! When I opened the ebook on my Nook, it was only 282 Nook pages (the Goodreads hardcover edition says it’s like 415 pages but…really? It did not feel like it.). Most ‘normal’ sized books are at least over 300 Nook pages. In another perspective, it was 4 whole chapters shorter than the first book. I went through this book waaaay too quickly.
- It was as maddening as a second book in a trilogy normally is – not a lot of meat, very much set-up. I mean, there were some good scenes, but you can tell that Marillier is used to writing more ‘standalone’ plots like her Sevenwaters series. Everything happens to the same cast of characters over a lot of pages in the same book. This just felt too short, like it could’ve been broken up into the first and second books; no need to have a middle. I feel like this caused her to repeat herself quite a bit. I feel like there was more than one occasion where Neryn had to recap her worries about killing Good Folk for the rebellion, recap that what Keldec was doing to Alban was so horrible it needed to be stopped, recap that Tali was extremely anxious to get back to Shadowfell, all in long-winded paragraphs.
- There was not enough Flint! I was expecting a bit more of his own adventures, honestly. I guess there was no cause for that, historically, as the books are written from Neryn’s point of view for the most part, but I was worried that her task of finding the four Guardians was going to cause a lot of traveling filler and that flashing over to Flint’s constant spying danger would alleviate some of that. We only saw his situation in brief, one page snippets, at least until And, as much as I enjoyed my time traveling with Tali and Neryn, there was a bit of the monotony of the road that creeped in (which was a complaint people had with the first book).
- As far as Flint and Neryn’s slow-budding romance,
- Despite the long days of travel, I enjoyed Tali and Neryn’s growing friendship and the reveals (which weren’t very shocking) into Tali’s character. When there was action, it was engaging. Let’s be honest, Marillier could write about making her grocery list and it would be an interesting read. She has a way with words that keeps everything languid and flowing.
- I really enjoyed the whole Summerside chapter. This is what I was hoping for when I wanted to flash over to Flint: seeing more about King Keldec and the inner workings of the court. The games were brutal and vicious and really lent more urgency to the Rebels’ rebellion. It also seems like Queen Varda is pulling many of the strings, and I feel like this is going to come into larger focus in the third book. As for Tali’s
All in all, it’s not going to go down as my favorite book of Marillier’s by itself, but it was a solid continuation of the Shadowfell series. I can’t wait to read the conclusion.
Some thoughts on this second installment:
- It was so short! When I opened the ebook on my Nook, it was only 282 Nook pages (the Goodreads hardcover edition says it’s like 415 pages but…really? It did not feel like it.). Most ‘normal’ sized books are at least over 300 Nook pages. In another perspective, it was 4 whole chapters shorter than the first book. I went through this book waaaay too quickly.
- It was as maddening as a second book in a trilogy normally is – not a lot of meat, very much set-up. I mean, there were some good scenes, but you can tell that Marillier is used to writing more ‘standalone’ plots like her Sevenwaters series. Everything happens to the same cast of characters over a lot of pages in the same book. This just felt too short, like it could’ve been broken up into the first and second books; no need to have a middle. I feel like this caused her to repeat herself quite a bit. I feel like there was more than one occasion where Neryn had to recap her worries about killing Good Folk for the rebellion, recap that what Keldec was doing to Alban was so horrible it needed to be stopped, recap that Tali was extremely anxious to get back to Shadowfell, all in long-winded paragraphs.
- There was not enough Flint! I was expecting a bit more of his own adventures, honestly. I guess there was no cause for that, historically, as the books are written from Neryn’s point of view for the most part, but I was worried that her task of finding the four Guardians was going to cause a lot of traveling filler and that flashing over to Flint’s constant spying danger would alleviate some of that. We only saw his situation in brief, one page snippets, at least until
Spoiler
Neryn showed up at Summerside.- As far as Flint and Neryn’s slow-budding romance,
Spoiler
I thought it was sweet, though some of the exciting tension was gone (now it’s just the worry of, will they ever even have a chance to live their lives together?). We better get some good pay-off in the third book! I want some major swoon.- Despite the long days of travel, I enjoyed Tali and Neryn’s growing friendship and the reveals (which weren’t very shocking) into Tali’s character. When there was action, it was engaging. Let’s be honest, Marillier could write about making her grocery list and it would be an interesting read. She has a way with words that keeps everything languid and flowing.
- I really enjoyed the whole Summerside chapter. This is what I was hoping for when I wanted to flash over to Flint: seeing more about King Keldec and the inner workings of the court. The games were brutal and vicious and really lent more urgency to the Rebels’ rebellion. It also seems like Queen Varda is pulling many of the strings, and I feel like this is going to come into larger focus in the third book. As for Tali’s
Spoiler
capture and subsequent mind-melding, I was as worried as Neryn for a bit there. I figured Flint would be able to fake it and that she would go along with it (in fact, I was thinking it would’ve been very smart for everyone to practice their acting abilities with Flint back in Shadowfell, just in case they were ever in court together for this very possibility), but until Tali said it was safe to talk and Neryn nearly peed herself in relief, I was on edge too. I had wondered if Marillier would sacrifice some Regan’s Rebel we knew well for the dramatic purposes she loves (much like Sorcha’s guard friend whose name is escaping me, in the rock slide) and figured Tali could be a target. But in the end, she went straight to the top to kill off Regan! Better him than Tali, from this reader’s standpoint.)All in all, it’s not going to go down as my favorite book of Marillier’s by itself, but it was a solid continuation of the Shadowfell series. I can’t wait to read the conclusion.