A. C. Andrews

I'm surprised I'm rating this one at four stars.

First, the author did a very good job of building and explaining his fantasy world. There was a rich mythology and enough of a history that it made the world feel real, that it wasn't designed just to tell this one tale.

The story is well paced. It never bogs down and also doesn't feel like it is rocketing past important plot points.

The characters are okay. Rio and Turi are slightly fleshed out, but not exceptionally so. The rest of the characters are a bit shallow. Not terrible, but his characterization could use some help. The main romance in the book was unconvincing. It was useful for the story, but it showed.

My biggest downside was the lack of description. Though the world was laid out very well, descriptions of the buildings/land/characters/etc. were sorely lacking. This is a story set in an imaginary world. What do the cities/towns look like? I don't need blueprints of every building. But is the capital, Tyr, made up of stone buildings? Log cabins? Grass huts? Were the streets paved? I dunno.

You could say these details don't matter, but you would be wrong.

Remember how the Dragonlance Chronicles started in Solace, a village built up in the branches of the trees of a forest? Or Bilbo's home in the Shire, with its gentle hills and homes built into them, with round doors?

Of course you remember these places, because the authors provided you with enough details that your mind was able to picture these places. That made them memorable.

That's missing from Descent of Ravens. The overall world is neat. But I'm not certain what the island of Trosika is like. Is it a tropical island, like Gilligan's? I'm sure the author pictured all this in his head. He just needs to be able to share enough with a reader so we are on the same page.

The same goes for the characters. I have a vague idea of what the prince looks like, and the brothers. But what does the main character Rio look like? Is he tall? Short? Slim? Muscular? Hair down to his shoulders? Ass? Or does he have a crew cut? Are his eyes blue? Green? Purple? You guess is as good as mine. It's all just too sketchy.

I did enjoy seeing such a breadth of orientations and genders represented and tying them in to the mythology of their gods and goddesses.

My last grumble is that the characters seemed too modern in their speech. Not every fantasy novel needs to be written in fake 'ye olde tymey English.' And I don't mind a shout of 'fuck' here and there. But several times characters lapse into modern day slang that I think will age the book and also feels out of place by tying the use of language of this imaginary world too closely to modern day American English.

Sheesh! Over half of my review is griping. Like I said, I'm surprised I rated this one four stars. But in the end, for the problems I had with the book, it did tell an entertaining story. Three and a half stars would be more accurate, but I'm so happy to have gay characters leading the quest that I bumped up my rating. I will pick up the just published sequel.

If you are looking for a fantasy yarn that incorporates gay characters, you could do a lot worse. I do think the book is an enjoyable fantasy read even if you aren't seeking it out for it's inclusive characters. Give it a shot.… (más)