Raven - by Nuayma Jeggels. Book Review by Tara - A girl, a coma, a Plague, and an empty grave.

Tara rated it

Shelves: fantasy,

 

Firstly, I’m going to say that overall, I enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to read – it’s one of the longer books I’ve read recently. The characters developed well, and I enjoyed this aspect of the book. Another positive point of this book was the way that locations were distinct – the various planets described were all distinct from one another, as were the people inhabiting them. For example, the Cantchi people, like Chiyo, for me, seemed very similar to the Japanese, and I’d be very surprised if they weren’t modeled on them, and this made them believable and enjoyable.

I feel that the Temple, and those within it were also well developed, with the teacher-student relationship between the Celestials and the Initiates being consistent and authoritative. It was nice that the Celestials weren’t as distant from their pupils as I’d originally worried they would be – it was almost like there was a sense of community within the place, despite the distance that there seems to be within this world between the Celestials and the Mortals.

One thing that did stand out to me, and I don’t know if it was just my opinion or not, but Lord Ichiro sort of stood out to me as Shardaie’s version of Dumbledore – a sort of mentor figure, who is a natural respected leader, and knows more about Shardaie’s life than she herself does. I don’t think this was necessarily a bad thing though.

As for the storyline itself, I mainly enjoyed it. However, at the beginning of the book I quickly found myself confused because the story seems to jump around a lot to begin with. I think this is mainly to introduce the reader quickly to both the characters and the back-story, but I have to admit it left me feeling slightly disorientated, and it took me a little while to get back on track with the story.

This was one of my only criticisms of this book, and whilst it made the start of the book a bit difficult, it doesn’t really impact on anything. One of my only other ones was that it felt towards the end like the gun that is loaded throughout the book (mainly the mystery surrounding Raven’s life) was not going to be fired in this book, and instead the reader would have to wait for subsequent books. However, this turned out not to be the case. The reader finds out some of Raven’s past, as does Raven herself, but enough is left unsaid that there is something left for the next book.

There’s also a good amount of build up for the events in the world – I want to know what happens next because this is something that none of the characters can predict.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a read, but there were some points that I found difficult. That said, it’s another good indie title which I am glad to have had the privilege to have read.

On Amazon: A girl, a coma, a Plague, and an empty grave.

When Shardaie wakes up, she doesn’t know who she is, why she can’t understand emotions, why she has been unconscious for nearly nine of her thirteen years, or why the dead just won’t stay dead. The only clue to her past is a locket, but the Plague, which finally stretches its unnatural hand to her village, forces her to leave and to learn to protect herself. But everything has a cost: the protection against the undead reveals a secret that Shardaie and her classmates just don’t want to accept, and at the end, Shardaie realises that some secrets shouldn’t be revealed. Secrets have the power to destroy, and the power to change her view on humanity for ever.

Review from Goodreads - Here

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