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A review by thekibbs101
Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
3.0
I love the premise but I don’t think every page should be focused on the same tone/theme. Every page the characters are either sad, scared, dealing with grief or violence. I wish it were more lighthearted and in general I don’t think a book is great if it doesn’t have more balance. There are lighthearted touches of whimsy and magic but it’s 98% about a murder mystery and battling violent creatures. Starting on page 3 every scene talks about the murder, or Colin’s missing brother, or the evil creatures. It needs to be more balanced with lighthearted or just different scenes as well. And a magical inn is what made me want to read the book, that and it seemed perfect for Halloween time because of the book leading up to Halloween. I love the whimsical magical moments like, “The house brings us mugs of hot chocolate and maple sugar cookies while we work, and Max alternates between lying on out books and knocking our pens off the table. A fire springs up in the hearth to ward off the morning chill.” It just seems like such a cozy fun Halloween setting and I just wish it focused less on the murder. Those cozy moments are extremely brief and I just think there needs to be more.
I’m also just not a fan of books less than 300 pages because they usually wrap everything up at the end so quickly and I feel like there just needed to be more to the story I know figuring out how to stop the murderer is important and time sensitive but I don’t think it’s good for every single page of a book to focus on the same theme/conflict and talk about the same thing. I really like the house because it does cozy nice things. Also it surprises me how dark and violent middle grade books are, I would guess and want them to be more lighthearted and not as dark as young adult books. There are descriptions of violence multiple times in here that really surprise me. I don’t like reading violence so I wish that what looks like a nice cozy fall book would just be that. It’s also a strange mix to have cozy mixed with violence and death.
“The air grows crisper, the lawn blanketed with crunchy golden leaves. Wisps dance through the trees and crows gather in the grass and on the branches, scattering with angry caws when Max goes bounding through them.
We drink hot apple cider and sit wrapped in knitted blankets in the library as Roy regales us with stories from Ireland.” I loved parts like this but it would only ever be like 1 or 2 paragraphs or less of this type of writing, sometimes only one sentence and then it would change to the stress of dealing with the evil creatures for pages and pages.
The small instances where they were just sitting drinking cider and having cookies were written so nicely and it makes me want to read a cozy book with much more of that. I would want to read more from the author since she shows this type of writing but it would hopefully be less dark. It was still a good read for fall/spooky season and Halloween. I enjoyed reading the Halloween descriptions and vibes but just didn’t care for the fighting and violence. “The ballroom is in top form tonight. I've never seen Halloween decorations look so elegant. Orange paper lanterns hang from the ceiling among the teardrop lights, and the tables are draped with shimmering cloths. Jack-o'-lanterns with intricate designs sit next to autumn wreaths and red apples.”
I’m also just not a fan of books less than 300 pages because they usually wrap everything up at the end so quickly and I feel like there just needed to be more to the story I know figuring out how to stop the murderer is important and time sensitive but I don’t think it’s good for every single page of a book to focus on the same theme/conflict and talk about the same thing. I really like the house because it does cozy nice things. Also it surprises me how dark and violent middle grade books are, I would guess and want them to be more lighthearted and not as dark as young adult books. There are descriptions of violence multiple times in here that really surprise me. I don’t like reading violence so I wish that what looks like a nice cozy fall book would just be that. It’s also a strange mix to have cozy mixed with violence and death.
“The air grows crisper, the lawn blanketed with crunchy golden leaves. Wisps dance through the trees and crows gather in the grass and on the branches, scattering with angry caws when Max goes bounding through them.
We drink hot apple cider and sit wrapped in knitted blankets in the library as Roy regales us with stories from Ireland.” I loved parts like this but it would only ever be like 1 or 2 paragraphs or less of this type of writing, sometimes only one sentence and then it would change to the stress of dealing with the evil creatures for pages and pages.
The small instances where they were just sitting drinking cider and having cookies were written so nicely and it makes me want to read a cozy book with much more of that. I would want to read more from the author since she shows this type of writing but it would hopefully be less dark. It was still a good read for fall/spooky season and Halloween. I enjoyed reading the Halloween descriptions and vibes but just didn’t care for the fighting and violence. “The ballroom is in top form tonight. I've never seen Halloween decorations look so elegant. Orange paper lanterns hang from the ceiling among the teardrop lights, and the tables are draped with shimmering cloths. Jack-o'-lanterns with intricate designs sit next to autumn wreaths and red apples.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder