I came to this book only gradually realising it was book two in a series. It has the most convoluted and muddled magical system I have ever come across and in the first half characters actually deliver long explanations of various aspects and the exceptions etc to other characters which is never a good sign. In fact the book was heading for a 2 star review when it picked up in the second half once the character of the Emperor was introduced. He was far more engaging and the book then switched to becoming more of an action based story, plus some of the confusion was eventually sorted out and proved to be due to the machinations of the chief villain.

I did like the fact that the two main protagonists are a mature couple with children although there are also adolescents with unusual powers and a more than usual struggle with the issues of growing up, but given the confusion is the first half can only award this 3 stars. ( )

I loved Raven's Shadow and mostly loved this sequel, Raven's Strike. I always fall in love with Patricia Briggs' characters, and there was still a wonderful combination of romance, wit and action here. I absolutely love Jes, and I wish she had written more books with him and the whole family. It would have been great to see Rinnie grow up and maybe end up tangled up in a romance with Phoran. Oh well, I guess Patricia Briggs can't be expected to write more than two series at once, and I do enjoy the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series. My only complaint with this book is that the passages explaining the magic and the history of the Orders felt a bit too long to me, and I wondered if she felt (or some editor felt) that they needed to be that lengthy in case someone picked up the second book without reading the first. That was the only thing that bothered me, and I still highly recommend this duology to fantasy fans. ( )

This is a very satisfying ending to the story that begin in the novel 'raven's shadow.' I have to confess that I normally get a bit bored when we get to the 'exciting' climax and resolution of a fantasy novel, or any other depends on a fight between good and evil. I was very pleasantly surprised that Briggs does not depend on that, in fact, and that there is as much new and interesting interaction and revelation in the later parts of the book as in the earlier parts, and in the first novel. Bloody well done. ( )

Second book of the travelers of Colossae. ( )

This duology is a delightful read. The first book [b:Raven's Shadow|285207|Raven's Shadow (Raven, #1)|Patricia Briggs|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388246155s/285207.jpg|276705] stands alone, and the second is a fulfillment of it. It's rare that I read a duology and hope the author doesn't write any more, but this story is so definitively complete that adding anything else would undermine it, even though there are threads left open that could be picked up on.

Strong points are characters, relationships, worldbuilding, religionbuilding, and bardic magic. It's a much more interesting couple of books than the back-cover blurbs made it sound, at least to me. ( )