Raven Duo by Patricia Briggs
Feb. 24th, 2020 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really liked this duo. Very old school fantasy.
+ I loved that the truth about the past wasn't actually what the Traveller's knew. That everyone was wrong because honestly it's been so long of course everything would've gone through a game of telephone. I especially liked that the sin that the Traveller's were really paying for wasn't the killing of Eagle and what inevitably followed but of them making the mermori to save their libraries and how that created an opening to allow people access to the Stalker. They inadvertently caused the the existence of the Shadowed to happen so of course it would be up to their descendants to stop them.
One hanging thread at the the end was actually the mermori and the hole in the veil. Once the truth came up I kept waiting for someone to bring up how to close the hole, perhaps by returning all the mermori to where they belonged. I could almost see a scene of Seraph putting Isolde the Silent's mermori stick into the ground of her missing home and the illusion popping up. And then the implication that she and Hennea were going to collect all the mermori and seal up Colossae for good. It felt very weird it was never addressed. If the hole is closed than more Shadowed will eventually come!
+ I liked the reveal that Hennea was Alhennea the Raven, Goddess of Magic. I didn't see that coming! I was wondering where they were going with the age thing but I'd assumed that she was actually one of the original wizards of Colossae though that didn't make complete sense with her POV chapters. De-powered and amnesia'd former Goddess, yeah. I actually wasn't completely sold at first but the Hennea and Jes, and Raven/Eagle, romance did it for me. I really enjoyed that aspect. I love that they found their way to each other again, that this is why Jes found Hennea so calming and easy to be around, the way both Raven and Guardian's memories exist in only fragments
+ I liked Seraph/Tier. I thought their relationship was really lovely.
+ I liked how powerful being a Bard was in this story. In many ways Tier was the most powerful of all of them and I found that neat. Him taking the Passerine's from the Path and his mentoring of Phoran were great.
+ I liked how much Seraph's care for Phoran, and welcoming him into her family, affected him. I liked that even though Tier was the one better with people she gets these moments too. Also her moving past her anger in order to connect with Benroln (aka manipulate him) to get what she wanted.
+ I liked the reveal about Mehalla. It was really sad, and her being slowly killed as a toddler was heartbreaking, but the lack of a Lark did bother me and there being a missing child made so much sense. I loved her being in the tiger's eye gem and helping her mother to save her father, and then later helping her mother to be the Lark in the final confrontation.
+ I liked that it was a combination of Lark and Raven powers that allowed Seraph to save Kissel and Gura.
+ I guess that Willon was the Shadowed based on Strike’s prologue. He was the only character that made sense to me. I wonder if a surprise reveal later in the book would have been better but knowing did give the first part of the book a lot more tension.
+ I liked Phoran a lot in the first book but I really loved him by the end of the second. Him working his way through Willon's illusion, saving Rinnie by himself, his refusal to leave Gura for dead all really endeared him to me. I also loved his dramatic choice of how to deal with the Septs. I would 100% read a sequel book about him fixing the Empire and regaining his power.
+ How things played out with the Memory was great. I liked that he had such a big role in defeating Willon.
+ I was a little annoyed that Rinnie was left home and thus off-screen for most of the first book even the reasoning made complete sense so her being a part of the adventure in the second book was great. I enjoyed her friendship with Phoran a lot and I loved that she got to fly and save him.
+ I wish the last line had been "Tieragan and Seraph took their family home" because this was equally about them, the lines before we're about how the farm was in fact just as much Seraph's home and just they were always in this together as a pair and that's how the last line should have gone.
+ A question I was left with - is there only ever one Guardian at a time? I had thought there were several but like the Lark they were fairly rare but with the reveal of Eagle the God of War and what happened to him that makes no sense? The dead God was bound up in his Order and I can't see them splitting him? So Jes/Guardian is the only Eagle, yes? I feel like this was actually answered but I can't remember.
+ I loved that the truth about the past wasn't actually what the Traveller's knew. That everyone was wrong because honestly it's been so long of course everything would've gone through a game of telephone. I especially liked that the sin that the Traveller's were really paying for wasn't the killing of Eagle and what inevitably followed but of them making the mermori to save their libraries and how that created an opening to allow people access to the Stalker. They inadvertently caused the the existence of the Shadowed to happen so of course it would be up to their descendants to stop them.
One hanging thread at the the end was actually the mermori and the hole in the veil. Once the truth came up I kept waiting for someone to bring up how to close the hole, perhaps by returning all the mermori to where they belonged. I could almost see a scene of Seraph putting Isolde the Silent's mermori stick into the ground of her missing home and the illusion popping up. And then the implication that she and Hennea were going to collect all the mermori and seal up Colossae for good. It felt very weird it was never addressed. If the hole is closed than more Shadowed will eventually come!
+ I liked the reveal that Hennea was Alhennea the Raven, Goddess of Magic. I didn't see that coming! I was wondering where they were going with the age thing but I'd assumed that she was actually one of the original wizards of Colossae though that didn't make complete sense with her POV chapters. De-powered and amnesia'd former Goddess, yeah. I actually wasn't completely sold at first but the Hennea and Jes, and Raven/Eagle, romance did it for me. I really enjoyed that aspect. I love that they found their way to each other again, that this is why Jes found Hennea so calming and easy to be around, the way both Raven and Guardian's memories exist in only fragments
+ I liked Seraph/Tier. I thought their relationship was really lovely.
+ I liked how powerful being a Bard was in this story. In many ways Tier was the most powerful of all of them and I found that neat. Him taking the Passerine's from the Path and his mentoring of Phoran were great.
+ I liked how much Seraph's care for Phoran, and welcoming him into her family, affected him. I liked that even though Tier was the one better with people she gets these moments too. Also her moving past her anger in order to connect with Benroln (aka manipulate him) to get what she wanted.
+ I liked the reveal about Mehalla. It was really sad, and her being slowly killed as a toddler was heartbreaking, but the lack of a Lark did bother me and there being a missing child made so much sense. I loved her being in the tiger's eye gem and helping her mother to save her father, and then later helping her mother to be the Lark in the final confrontation.
+ I liked that it was a combination of Lark and Raven powers that allowed Seraph to save Kissel and Gura.
+ I guess that Willon was the Shadowed based on Strike’s prologue. He was the only character that made sense to me. I wonder if a surprise reveal later in the book would have been better but knowing did give the first part of the book a lot more tension.
+ I liked Phoran a lot in the first book but I really loved him by the end of the second. Him working his way through Willon's illusion, saving Rinnie by himself, his refusal to leave Gura for dead all really endeared him to me. I also loved his dramatic choice of how to deal with the Septs. I would 100% read a sequel book about him fixing the Empire and regaining his power.
+ How things played out with the Memory was great. I liked that he had such a big role in defeating Willon.
+ I was a little annoyed that Rinnie was left home and thus off-screen for most of the first book even the reasoning made complete sense so her being a part of the adventure in the second book was great. I enjoyed her friendship with Phoran a lot and I loved that she got to fly and save him.
+ I wish the last line had been "Tieragan and Seraph took their family home" because this was equally about them, the lines before we're about how the farm was in fact just as much Seraph's home and just they were always in this together as a pair and that's how the last line should have gone.
+ A question I was left with - is there only ever one Guardian at a time? I had thought there were several but like the Lark they were fairly rare but with the reveal of Eagle the God of War and what happened to him that makes no sense? The dead God was bound up in his Order and I can't see them splitting him? So Jes/Guardian is the only Eagle, yes? I feel like this was actually answered but I can't remember.
