Raven’s Strike

Raven’s Strike (2005) Patricia Briggs

The sequel to Raven’s Shadow, Raven’s Strike picks up where Raven’s Shadow left off. Tier and Seraph, and their children Lier and Jes are headed back from Taela. They are still traveling with the clan of Rongier the Librarian, and Hennea, who was separated from her clan when she was kidnapped by Volis .

Like the first book, Raven’s Strike has an interesting story and characters. And my favorite: strong female characters. However, that doesn’t mean the men are weak. In fact I again think Tier is the most interesting character in the story, although the focus is less upon him in this book than in the previous book. However, the complexity that Jes develops in this story makes up for it.

There were again a couple things in the story that bothered me–one of which made me look up from the book and say, “That’s ridiculous!” I’m sorry, but the Emperor just doesn’t show up at a peasant’s house and stay for a few days, sleeping in the barn. And my desbelief was exacerbated by the fact that the emperor appeared without any warning, which stressed how unlikely the situation was. Even more frustrating, in the following chapters she did a good job of explaining why the emperor had to leave, and why he wanted to search out Tier. Perhaps if this part of the story had been presented first, I would not have found the Emperor’s arrival so jarring, and might have been able to overlook how unrealistic the situation was. But was things were written, I ended up pulled abruptly from the story, which is a bad thing.

Also, towards the end of the story (and I’m going to try to be vague here) I did not understand the resolution of Tier’s problem. I kept waiting for an explanation, and none ever came, which was rather frustrating. The way the problem was solved was entirely too much “then a miracle happens” to sit well with me.

However, despite these weaknesses, Raven’s Strike was still a good and enjoyable book, and its many strengths were enough to overcome its flaws. I really liked the explanation of the mermori. I found them fascinating. I also liked learning more about Phoran’s Memory.

Though, as much as I liked the cover of Raven’s Shadow, I hate to cover of Raven’s Strike. Seraph no longer looks like a mature woman, but isntead looks like a badly dressed teen. (And the dress she’s wearing? Ugh. And it is repeatedly mentioned how Seraph keeps wearing herTraveler’s pants, instead of going back to a dress like a proper Rederni woman. And what is the dog like creature supposed to be? Because it certainly isn’t Jes. (Nor is it any species of canine known to man.)

I’m glad this was the second book in the series, because covers like this are enough to keep me from purchasing books by new authors. (I don’t need look like even more of a geek than I already am, when I pull out books to read while I’m waiting for the PRT.)

If you enjoyed Raven’s Shadow, then you’ll definitely want to read Raven’s Strike. If you have not read Raven’s Shadow, the story is written so that you should be able to read the story without missing anything. But to me, Raven’s Shadow is the stronger of the two books, so you’ll really want to read that first.
Rating: 7/10

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