Photo Credits: Yuri (Pixabay), Martin (Pixabay), OpenClipart-Vectors (Pixabay) Edited by Vaishali Title: The Raven and the Rush Author: Sarah M. Cradit Series: The Book of All things #1 Publisher: Self-published Year of Publication: 2021 Format: E-book copy/kindle app Genre/Themes: Fantasy Romance/YA/NA Fiction, Review...
A goal for this reading year? Make more time for the well-loved fantasy romance division. And first on the list is Sarah M. Cradit's The Raven and the Rush. I have to say that, in a stroke of two paradigmatic opposites, this was both an anticipated read and yet also the opposite of what I had hoped for in a story that promisingly complements an expansive scape with the appearance of centralising a forbidden romance that looked to be as artful as its own cover copy. Cradit does really well with her knowledge of prose because as swimmingly as the writing carries itself, the prose turns its phrases quite nicely and the character dialogue and inner monologue is thoughtfully messaged. The beginning of the book is rich with purpose and intention as we gather what's about to await a second son who was never supposed to take on the role of leadership and a second daughter who's neither supposed to do the same. The main MCs have very similar paths to follow, albeit divisible from each other, and I was excited to see how the complexity of such roles of responsibility would be navigated. Forbidden fates on a plate, it's like my best meal. I was especially in wait for how the romance would do its dance. There's a heavy sense of expectation, forecasted onus and stolen freedoms as Evra and Rhosyn are expected to wear the fresh roles given to them without notice. But to its own detriment it's the make and manner of story advancement that became the genesis to my conflict with The Raven and the Rush, admittedly. The story was easy enough to follow and the writing has a great standard but I felt abandoned by what I expected to be more of an action/adventure fantasy with a romance that I had hoped would rain its thorns and petals all over me in open skies. With the world-building, I gathered the understanding that we're playing within the borders of a sprawling kingdom, though this is gleaned mostly from the kingdom map, and not through any immersive world description. What results isn't the elaborate building of a world, but hints and comments circulating heritage, cultures, customs and mores in a more vague tactility. Although I was naturally curious, I never felt invested in the cultures Introduced. I also felt this way about the magic system; it ventures more towards shadowy and speculative than knowingly coherent. I was content for the lack of info dumps because the story makes for great ease of movement, albeit movement that's hampered by slim advancement of the story. There were more dialogue sequences, mulling and distraction over action and storyline movement and I can't say I wasn't let down by those interferences. Rhosyn's home, the unreachable Midnight Crest, is shrouded in the veil of mystery for example. We do know that the culture of the Ravenwoods is built upon and perpetuated by learned lies but their history of restricted law, lifestyle and living is fairly nondescript (bar a few big culture differences), which makes the antagonism of the Rendyr's character a little more shallow on the uptake. The Ravenwoods may be matriarchal but it's not an Inspirational culture they lead. All intentional of course but no less undecided in finer appraisal. They have the great powers of magic-wielders but their priestesses are beheld by a noose around their necks, with no real freedoms in their holy hold. It's only really matriarchal by leadership as their people lean into the status quo by long-lived habit and heritage, and that's where Rhosyn's struggle begins and comes from. She's resistant to the path of a high priestess and what will be expected of her by role, ritual and the Ravenwood way. She's outraged and angered by her own powerlessness. The warped, backwards nature of how exactly a woman becomes a high priestess, who she's expected to mate with and how it's implemented is naturally old-age in nature, but could have been better received with censorious clarity to tackle the theme as opposed to it being such an accepted part of the wider world-building picture. The author had clearly intended that this not be a story 'about' the inhuman Ravenwoods which was why they read very backdrop-like; their role isn't a seminal one and neither does Rhosyn have a desire to belong among them, but under the assumption, if it's Rhosyn's fate we're undressing as readers, fielding through the Ravenwood way of life would have opened up the story and perhaps even made me more invested in the character fates than I share I was. Each chapter moves the story forward nicely. I did really appreciate how the unfolding gentles itself to life but I did expect more to follow on the heels of that. The story makes a point of both Evra and Rhosyn being two people beheld by their fates though the story did seem to sway more towards Evra's path and his development from boyhood to lord and leader. The only difference is that unlike Evra, Rhosyn's imaginings never impede her hold on reality and as outraged and fearful as she is of her future, her strength really is in her ability to face it, even as much as she wishes to take to the skies in raven form and find a new life in her freedom. There's a strength of character in Rhosyn, both in her ability to be real-minded and to stand strong in the face of what she knows she can't change. While the awareness in her choices was really refreshing, my dilemma with characterisation was that I never fully felt invested in character paths and futures. They just happened and I happened to watch over them. The same was experienced with the relationships the protagonists have with fellow side characters. As Evra finds a family with the Frosts, as Rhosyn was said to be the best friend to Morwen and Meira to Evra, I never felt the attachment in those bonds. What could have been interesting supporting characters were short of the dimension needed to fulfill their respective roles in the story. Even Rendyr wasn't the complex protagonist he really could have been, even with the added multiple POVs from supporting characters. I felt more observer to the story more than feeling an arm-linked partner in machination. The collected threads of the narrative never quite reach their depth or their hold. Because my own imaginings had big ideas, I did feel underwhelmed with the storyline destinations and the general path the tale takes. There was a lack of depth comprehensively I would say, and the story hovers somewhere awkwardly between YA and NA with the enveloped feel of both, but without knowing where it wants to sit. I did feel that Rhosyn's potential as a protagonist was overlooked compared to Evra. And speaking of this young, boyish lord, let's give him the next tangent. Evra's every bit the very sidelined, tortured bookish runaway who cast his head down and ran far from the devastation of being son to a cruel, wicked father. He's in a crisis of purpose. Hoping to finally commit his life to the scholar's path, he gets a rude awakening which forces his hand, choiceless but to head home to Longwood Rush, a kingdom ravaged by his tyrant father's hate and bigotry over magical practice. In all his time away he'd built a mind full of knowledge and not quite the wisdom of character. In every way that matters Evra's still the lost, lonely forsaken boy who doesn't really know what he wants or where he belongs. Everyone pushes him to be a man of duty but he's not a man of leadership. Only a boy burdened with it. He doesn't see himself to be the solution nor the saviour to his land and people he's believed to be; even if he does see things differently, would rather do thing differently, he's not a young man free of his own perceptions. For me, principally, The Raven and the Rush captures a story based on Evra's coming of age and coming to age. A crossroads for his transitioning. The story really makes clear of the challenge and reluctance in standing tall in his post and accepting his liability. His ignorance leaves him so very unequipped for the forbidding task at hand. And the embarrassment of his inexperience follows him through every unpracticed move. Evra's very young in every way, not limited to chronological age. It wasn't the author's purpose to hide that however. She highlights it in every moment his tactlessness and misguided comprehension/intervention shows up, which is often. His character has the most self-growth, which is why I felt the story was more geared to his discovery as he finds the way of himself. His transition from young-minded and blundering to actionable (yet uncertain) lord felt realistic compared to the alpha leader who has all the answers as he carves his way to the win. His solutions become more well-judged. When Evra's liberation of his people was such a big theme, it did feel a complete sidestep, though, to bypass the journey he takes to the Sepulchre to find relief for his people. Which again, pulls us away from a felt sense of accomplishment for him and this big led-up to challenge, which happens to be so important that its resolution takes place off page. Again, that didn't do favours for what could have been essential worldbuilding. Navigated situations like that really minimise the sense of tension and challenge in what should be meaningful moments. Another thumbs down moment, sadly. I'd really like to say that the romance between Evra and Rhosyn was the missing piece and the redeeming light that puts it all into power and perspective but, much to my sad sorrow, it really wasn't. I was eager for their crossing of paths and how they'd fit into each other's lives as two people who live worlds apart and geographically so distanced (think North and South). What we're handed though is instant love without a believable development that the rest of the story hangs and hinges on. The love element was supposed to support the theme of Evra's coming of age as he navigates the do's and don'ts of what that love does to him (in the good and the bad) and how he learns through error to make the shifts In character. The lack of a developed foundation in his 'love' for Rhosyn makes what commences a little more unconvincing, his feelings for her especially. For all its escalation and quickness, the love felt could have been a boyish overreaction to a beautiful enigma. In that sense, what they have feels performative. It didn't have a believable basis. Evra seems more lovelorn over the love lost for Rhosyn than he does over his kingdom and people. I would have loved to see a more balanced, all-encompassing sense of affectation and loyalty for his family, friends and those in his charge. But this really brings home the lack of complexity the characters expose. The story often felt much bigger than them and what they could handle, the character motivations more single-minded, and there's a lot of inaction on the parts of the entire cast. Maybe the theme of love not conquering all but solidarity, togetherness and equitable reason - the sacrifice in lending it in ways you never thought you would and fighting to be the courage the other needs - would have been believable had the love itself felt believable. The pivotal moments of change and transition in the book are too swift and immediate to take hold in a meaningful way. After Initially enjoying the story, the plot did lose its pull and the intrigue didn't quite pull through. The storyline outcomes read quite hollow and the author plays to big themes without the depth to see them through at times. Just to add on, the ending was a bit too picture perfect and resolved in my opinion. It felt like the quintessential happy ever after, leaving all darkness and trepidation behind, the defeat of an enemy forgotten, with only beautiful things to come for Rhosyn, Evra, and their union, which negates the authenticity in what's left hanging. From the nurtured cultural passivity of the societies around them, the story takes itself to a place that doesn't quite hum with focussed intention, sits in places for too long, dabbles where it doesn't always need to and furthers away from invested outcomes. The character connections don't always hold expressively. I did love that Evra was guided by female sagacity by way of the women in his family, his sister and Meira, though it does take this young lord quite the while to catch up and find his alignment with that. He was very Peter Pan in nature but a brooding Peter Pan who's forced to act the man in charge and leave the fantasy behind. Maybe he needed a mini Tinkerbell on his wee little shoulder. Casually speaking I would say The Raven and the Rush is enjoyable. I would also say that the plot is fairly predictable and feels more fit to ease along with as opposed to expecting the unexpected in challenging developments. I did feel that pull we all love to feel when we first begin reading a book. The interest was definitely there and the author is splendidly talented so I do keep a casual eye on Cradit's creative portfolio of work. Not the tremendously immersive experience I was hoping for but a competently passable read for curious readers both interested and motivated to give this a go. And who enjoy fantasy fluent prose. Also, can I say how much I loved the stylistic choice of using beautiful character art to divide up the sections of the story? That was a well-adored touch. Evra falls from a path only to enter another, and soon enough he realises his learnings from a book aren't the same as the ones he'll need outside of it. Where he once dropped his duty and replaced it with a set of books, having escaped to Oldcastle not just to outrun the ravages of his father and the condemnatory legacy he was born to, he's now forced to fall heir to the struggle of a disturbed kingdom. Ties left In the dust, Evra has a fraught relationship with the homeland he abandoned and the man who ruled it to ruin, none too eager to call the Westerlands his home of origin where Oldcastle was his home of choice. Sickness, death and destruction still reign superior. The Westerlands created a horrific name for themselves, and not that Evra would ever follow in his father's footsteps and slaughter all magic-wielders, but he's not immune to the same fear that had his father so quick to wreck his land and murder his own people to be rid of the ethereal force. He wants no part in spreading his father's darkness but how does a boyish new lord who'd rather drop the cloak of his new position undo what has been done, compete with the madness and violence of tradition, become the changemaking influence needed to challenge his father's frenzy and modify the problem without thinking, feeling nor acting the leader he's supposed to be? The task of where he should take the heritage of his people is no less clear, not even with the guidance of his childhood friend. He's still a boy with his head in the clouds and that has always been Evra's flaw. Neither he nor a silver-haired Ravenwood were supposed to be held responsible for furthering of their lineages but unexpected paths are life's best boardgame. With themes of culture domination, culturally accepted norms, power cravings, ambition, challenging practiced tradition, forbidden love, duty, found relationships and power seekers who'll always be motivated to do life their way, pressure, burden and responsibility permeate the inner struggle of this story's leading Lord and leading Ravenwood. Secret desires, confessions unshared, love turned to complacency, it's a cruel twist of love as Rhosyn and Evra are lost to the threshold of fated reckoning and fidelity. In spite of the teachings, wisdom and counsel of those quick to drop him a knowing reflection, it's Evra who has to take his own path and find the purpose in it, and to then discover what that means of his character. The Raven and the Rush is part of the author's low heat series, though I think this one could have done without its few, brief intimate scenes for all they impacted and added to the story. Of the two universes Sarah M. Cradit writes in and the multiple series' she already has out in the bookish wild, this fantasy romance is the first standalone instalment in her The Book of All Things series. Written in her Kingdom of the White Sea universe I think. For quizzical readers, she's got a big backlog of books so there's plenty of material to be the fancy to your needs, if, like me, this one didn't quite collaborate the ingredients to hallow this the utmost. Although I didn't love it, I did admire this opener to The Book of All Things in its moments. I gave this book 2.5/3 stars -Character Art! Pretty art at your service... Note: the author used these images to break up the stages and divisions of the story. I included these beautiful pieces of graphic art purely for enjoyment value, and to share the spectacular art! Hopefully I can locate the name of the graphic designer to credit them. Content Warning/Listing: Mentions a side character's multiple miscarriages. Incest. Quick, brief non-explicit fade to black bedroom scenes. Mentions a past whipping. Mentions past deaths by burning and fire. General warnings for violence. ___________________________ M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read ___________________________ EXTRA THOUGHTS: 1) The power system (as in who has what powers and what powers certain cultures sport) can be confusing. There's a hint to humans possessing preternatural abilities as well (not quite Ravenwood style, though even their magic isn't clearly detailed bar their healing gifts and some mention of manipulating elements). Evra's sister has visions, for example, and certain characters are suggestive about seeing things ahead. But there's also so much speculation that can arise from the lack of clarity. Then there's also the magic-wielders we don't actually get to meet, who apparently live in every kingdom, the ones Evra's father wiped from his own grounds - what magic do they have? Is it discriminatory? Who gets these gifts? - “You can summon energy itself,” Naryssa whispered. “That’s how you did it. You pulled your magic from the light of the world, and you immobilized his.” - this explanation made little sense to me. This is a passage from a pivotal moment that basically describes Rhosyn using some unnamed enigmatic magic to break through an unbreakable spell. But this is really the limit to what we're told about what it was and why it happened. Just an example to evidence the confusion I'd often come across, because to rationalise that something was pulled from the light of the world is really a nondescript way to go. 2) I read romance so naturally I enjoy bedroom scenes. But with this read, I admit that the story would have had the same influence without the few included. They weren't great and I confess that I'd have had the same feelings for the story had the one or two intimate situations been there or not. 3) I honestly felt floored and agitated that Rendyr was allowed to get away with so much. I don't understand how it can be out of Rhosyn's mother's control to let him get away with as much as he did. If a high priestess can't claim that kind of power, or someone of their kind can't be punished for their crimes, even though he's so openly hostile about his motivations, their laws need some serious overhaul. 4) There was something unquantifiable about Evra being a studied scholar who's already accumulated so much knowledge about the realm and to not know anything at all about the Ravenwoods and their society. Would it stand to reason that he'd know some things about them at the very least? It seemed so naive on his part. 5) Speaking of the Ravenwoods, just a quick quote that comments on the ritualistic mating ceremony the high priestess has to have where she's expected to have sex with multiple partners in a night, whoever wishes to 'cast their vote' to become her high priest. But it was little snippets like these that puts their heritage into perspective and highlights how very against women this matriarchy is. As troubling as it is I think what bothered me most is that messaging such as this is just dropped in without critical explanation and accepted as the norm when it's obviously an abuse. The lack of elaboration really hurts the story. 'The Feast of the Langenacht was the last time she’d consume any food at all for another three days, when at last the Langenacht celebrations had ended. No one would explain this strange tradition of starving the High Priestess, but Rhosyn understood well enough. If she was too weak to fight, she wouldn’t' SOME FAVOURITE QUOTES! When she was a girl, some of her fondest memories were of nestling into a plush pile of their silver coats as her mother perched on the throne, lost to the one place a High Priestess could be alone with their thoughts. That had led to her first hard lesson. Thoughts were dangerous. Words were worse. “Did As take you into the fields, then? To see the pyres?” “I didn’t need to see them, Edriss. I can smell them. I could leave tomorrow and fifty years from now I’d still smell them.” Her head fell to the side as she smiled at him. “Be grateful you have not lived through so much of it that you no longer even notice. The lavender in the halls makes it worse, not better. I’ll have forgotten for one blessed moment, and then that sharp floral barrage stings my nostrils, bringing me back. But I suppose men have always laid roses on corpses, haven’t they?” “Does nothing but bring attention to the problem.” “I don’t...” Evra winced. His eyes stayed closed. “I really don’t know. I spent my entire life in search of knowledge, only to discover I know nothing at all. Nothing that matters.” “You can trust Alise, brother. I sometimes imagine a world where she had been the mistress of Longwood Rush and not our father. Where gardens were still gardens, and the full heat of the sun still shined down upon us, not obscured by smoke and ash.” There was no point in explaining the dangers of trust to his sister. She deserved some contentment. “Astarian thinks I’m going to be wed soon.” “Kindra Bristol. She’s very pretty, Evra. You could do worse.” “Why do people say that, hoping it brings comfort? It could be worse? Well, why couldn’t we just expect better for once?” “I know nothing, as my council is all too quick to point out.” “You know more than you’d like others to think you do, for then it would mean you might actually have to be good at leading, wouldn’t it?” Evra’s dreams that night were filled with women. Edriss. Seven. Aunt Alise. Meira. Grandmother Meldred. In a world ruled by men, it had been the women he’d taken his wisdom from. The women who understood what must be done, even if they possessed nothing greater than the desire for change. Rhosyn held her at arm’s length. For herself. For Morwen. If she could not be strong for herself, Rhosyn would have to do it. “We’re women now. There is no going back. Wishing for that, for what can never be, only wounds us. There’s enough in this world to hurt us. Let’s not hurt ourselves, if we can help it.” Morwen’s splotched face gaped back at her. Her sobs turned to small, shuddering gasps. “I love you, Rhosyn. I would set this kingdom on fire from sea to sea for you. And yet, when you need me most, I can do nothing but watch, helpless, and then be dragged away to a place where I cannot even reach you with my comfort.” Rhosyn’s flesh tingled with her grief. There would be time to address it later. Morwen had only moments left in Midwinter Rest. “Then do this one final thing for me.” “What?” “Be brave.” Rhosyn kissed her mouth. “Be brave and embrace your future with the happiness it deserves. For all endings are also beginnings, are they not? Just as midwinter will eventually fade to springtide, so the season of our youth passes. There are only two choices from here. To collapse under the weight of it, or to soar in the promise. And I, Morwen, want nothing more than to watch my sister soar.” “I know that what we say and what we mean are always at odds.” “You’re exhausting, Rhosyn.” Naryssa approached her daughter with a weary look. “Yet I adore you, more than a mother should.” “A Ravenwood mother, perhaps,” Rhosyn said, her tone cutting but her heart sad. “I’ve seen how the women of the kingdom are allowed to love their children.” Naryssa scoffed. “In return, they are cursed to be men and women. Even the great ones are not meant for true greatness. Not like us.” “Do you truly define greatness as this gilded castle high in the mountains that we cannot stray far from or risk our lives? As a world where the women are revered with one hand and subjugated with the other?” I love interacting with fellow readers, reviewers, bloggers and writers. Hearing about reader opinion is the fuel to my reader appetite, so get in touch and comment below! SHARE ON FACEBOOK Leave a comment and let's talk about |
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