A review by shona_reads_in_devon
The Night Raven by Sarah Painter

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The Night Raven is an urban detective fantasy. Think Ben Aaronovitch without the police procedural. And nowhere near the quality.

This could have been good. Lydia is the niece of a London 'family' - brought up in the suburbs, away from the criminal element of her family she grows up with stories of their legend and history - a history of magic and a truce which maintains the peace between the four feuding magical families of London. After a professional problem has her running away from her job in Aberdeen, Lydia finds herself looking for help from the very family she needs to stay away from.

Sound great, yeah? And it really could have been. The Crowes, Foxes, Silvers and Pearls are the families - literally ripe for cool fantasy storylines. Shame we see almost nothing of any of them. 

These magic powers they all have? On the wane, so we don't see any of that either apart from some ghost whispering, and a bit of persuasive speech. 

But, really strong FMC to carry it all yeah? Ah... No. Lydia is a 27 year old dimwit. For a PI the woman has absolutely no curiosity at all. She can see ghosts, but couldn't be less bothered about understanding why or how to use it. She is a total brat, really rude all the time for no reason and just kind of unpleasant. 

The plot was slow and focused on the most boring things - I don't really care what happened to Maddie. 

Possibly this is all going to be developed as I see this is a full series. But I am struggling to understand how Lydia Crowe could possibly carry the weight of an entire series of novels.