Ravencry by Ed McDonald – An Audio Book Review {My 100th Post}

I don’t really go in for post celebrations, so this is as celebratory as I am likely to get. But I am genuinely shocked that I have managed to keep going for 100 posts what with how busy my working life often gets. And, I’m happy to say, I am feeling far hungrier as far as reading and blogging goes. So Hopefully I’ll keep popping the posts out long into the future.

Thanks to everyone that has followed, viewed, liked and commented over the past 100 posts. It is always much appreciated.

 

Blurb:

For Ryhalt Galharrow, working for Crowfoot as a Blackwing captain is about as bad as it gets – especially when his orders are garbled, or incoherent, or impossible to carry out.

The Deep Kings are hurling fire from the sky, a ghost in the light known only as the Bright Lady had begun to manifest in visions across the city, and the cult that worship her grasp for power while the city burns around them.

Galharrow may not be able to do much about the cult – or about strange orders from the Nameless – but when Crowfoot’s arcane vault is breached and an object of terrible power is stolen, he’s propelled into a race against time to recover it. Only to do that, he needs answers, and finding them means travelling into nightmare: to the very heart of the Misery.

 

Author: Ed McDonald

Narrator: Colin Mace

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Run Time: 14 hrs 9 min

Audio Release Date: 28/06/2018

My Rating of Rvaencry: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Audible UK, Audible US, Amazon UK, Amazon US

 

Review

Ravencry, for me, was a joy from start to finish. I like my fantasy grim, dark and full of misery. This ticked all of those boxes. Ryhalt Galharrow, captain of the Blackwing is one of the toughest men walking and throughout this book you can almost feel even he is at his breaking point. Ravencry shows us far more of the world built in the first novel and gives a bit more insight into some of the creatures that inhabit it.

Colin Mace’s voice and gritty way of reading it really brings the character of Galharrow to life. I know it’s a bit cliche, but he really is perfect for this narration and I can’t imagine anyone else doing it nearly so well.

I never thought I’d think it, but the addition of a talking raven made this book so much more enjoyable than perhaps it would have been. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable without that. It was. Galharrow’s trademark morose one liners and grim observations of the world around him and the people that inhabit it are back in full force. Only once before have I experienced a man try to be so miserable and dreary and end up being so much fun to read about (that once being Warden from Daniel Polansky’s Low Town series).

The style of writing is made more enjoyable by the first person perspective. This perspective has fast become a favourite of mine and seems to make even the slowest parts easier to absorb. It also makes the more vivid parts far more …vivid. Almost as if seeing through your own eyes rather than being told what happened to someone else by someone else who had seen it.

You feel a range of emotions alongside Galharrow in this as he succeeds in places and loses heavily in others. For anyone who was intrigued by the Misery in book one and wanted to learn more about that hellish environment, this book ticks those boxes. My favourite little critters (Gillings) make an appearance as do so many other strange oddments and oddities from Ed McDonald’s world.

The pacing of the novel was not rapid, but not ponderously slow either. It felt like it moved at a pace that suited the overall telling and kept steady at it throughout. It also boasted some great characters (both returning and new).

Really enjoyed this one and am eager for the third instalment.