Reviews

The Tower of Ravens by Kate Forsyth

anna_hepworth's review

I'm just not engaging with this. I can see that something interesting fantasy wise is being done, and I've met two main characters, and I couldn't care less. I suspect I'm not in the right head space for it, and some time later will have another go. But I'm reading a library ebook, and there is another person waiting for it, so rather than hold on and hope I'll get the energy, I'm returning it instead. 

therearenobadbooks's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mousie_books's review against another edition

4.0

Nina and Iven service the crown by finding and escorting prospective Theurgia students to Lucescere. On this particular journey, they are accompanied by the chief protagonists of the series: Lewen, son of Lilanthe and Niall, returning from a visit home and Rhiannon, a feral, half-satyricorn thigearna, who recently escaped execution at the hands of her herd for failing to develop horns on maturity. News of the murder of a Yeoman causes the group to take a shortcut through lands rumored to be haunted by ghosts and the walking dead, where they uncover an evil plot.

I read The Witches of Eileanan two years ago, and loved the series. I knew Rhiannon's Ride was set in the same universe, but I was happily surprised to find that it involved many of the same characters (mostly in the latter two books -- only Nina and Iven feature in the first, with a brief appearance by Lilanthe and Niall). The Tower of Ravens takes place ~20 years after the events in The Fathomless Caves. I liked The Witches of Eileanan better because it was more epic in scope, but the characters and plot in The Tower of Ravens were solid although the storyline advanced slower than I would have liked. I couldn't wait to read the next book when I had finished.

oanh_1's review against another edition

3.0

While I read this quite quickly and found it engaging and enjoyable (despite everyone speaking in a Scottish brogue, which I just read translated into English), and I've put the effort into knowing about the world, I'm not sure I'll read the rest of the trilogy. If I had them, I probably would have started and finished but I don't; and I don't care enough to find them.

vaderbird's review against another edition

3.0

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

whisper88's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

tipsytarsier's review against another edition

1.0

Nah, not going to finish this one. It's a pretty standard plot, which wouldn't be bad, but she writes in acccent! Augh, the Scots brogue is driving me crazy!! I got 70-some pages in and just had to say no, no more.

brynnecarys's review against another edition

3.0

I want to start off saying that I really liked this specific book. I thought the world was interesting and beautiful, and I really enjoyed the complexity and the perspectives of the main characters. That being said this book is no where near a stand alone novel and I have to view it in it's complete form. There trilogy itself i find extremely frustrating, because as beautiful as the world is and as much as I truly wanted to learn more and follow Rhiannon and her adventures and with her discover this world we are not given that opportunity rather we are given a meandering plot that feels only half thought out and in dire need of editing. The first book is an awful lot of walking, which I don't mind but it gives us no conclusion I would rather it have ended with them arriving at their destination. I am about to go into spoiler territory, so if you do not wish to know skip down to the asterisks. The second book the main character spends all but the last few chapters in jail and the plot is stale it was about half way through the book I started skipping large sections (and i didn't miss any of the plot of the second, I did end up missing a large section of plot on the third and I could still follow along easily), The problem being as the third book puts to hone that there are many strands of plot and the author, kate Forsyth fails to engage the reader in each and juggle them all. I read all of these in a few days so by the time I reached the third book, and saw there was a detailed plot summery of all that had happened I was very irritated and very much wishing I had never spent the money on the (pointless) second book. The third book, i will grant you is better, but a rather messy end to the series, there are moments where the characters I love show themselves to be exceptional, but by an large it failed to redeem the series for me. The ending for me fell flat and the subplot which took over more than half of the book, which involved time travel and a completely separate sprit who wished to be raised…

******All in all I am very disappointed with this series, and I think it is because I really wished to travel on an adventure with Rhiannon, and for a book trilogy (which is really just one book) it lost sight of its namesake in the second book, and only hints at conclusion and growth of the character and knowledge of her father in the last. I do not regret reading it because I did find a world which I could hold in my mind's eye which is a rare occurrence of late, and I did become very attached to Rhiannon, but i would start with the third novel, and then read the first skipping the second all together. I cannot recommend this series unless the author choses to take Rhiannon or another of these characters on an adventure because there is not enough here to warrant buying the books. I skipped a lot of the plot and I think the trilogy should have been edited down to one rather long novel. I did very much enjoy the first part of the first book. And I will most likely pick up and read parts of this tale again, but I will never again go through the frustration of trying to read this story again in entirety it is not worth my time, the trilogy gives very little satisfaction in the end and has the air of one book and would have been better if it had continued on in another.

For those who are drawn to this series I recommend reading the truly excellent castings trilogy by Pamela Freeman. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/334443.Pamela_Freeman. Who weaves a fine tale out of many threads, and who also gives the reader a fierce female rider.

leeshacourtney's review against another edition

4.0

I started reading this book without any background, without even residing the back cover - simply off the notion that there is some kind of flying unicorn and a girl (based of the cover).

I wasn’t expecting such a mystical, magical ride!

Sure, there were some passages that were repetitive or could have been more succinctly described, I loved the ability to immerse myself in the scots tongue and learn about their mythology come true.

Loved the characters in the book, in particular the romantic in me adored Lewen, although the general character development explored throughout this book was beautiful.

A page-turning read that crossed into a dystopian world, without feeling to detached from our current reality.

jasmeralia's review against another edition

4.0

This series, which is set in the same world as the Witches of Eilennan sextet, follows directly on the heels of the previous series, only 25 years later. Most of the major players are still in the game, though the new players are the prime focus of this book.

Devoured this in two sittings-- and only because I had to sleep before work the first round through. Lovely writing, one of the best uses of Celtic brogue and mythology I've seen to date.