From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

Wow! This book is cracking! Seriously, it is SO good! That’s it, that’s the review.

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Okay. Joking aside. The Raven Scholar is an incredibly fascinating fantasy world, with rich worldbuilding, court intrigue and twisty twists. It brings a great level of excitement and kept yours truly engaged and excited throughout. It’s a truly enjoyable read that will appeal to lovers of fantasy and other genres. It’s simply that approachable with a little bit of mystery, a whole pile of fun and superb writing.

There were many things Neema might do, in an emergency. Stealing from a library was not one of them.

The main reason I liked The Raven Scholar is that it puts the nerd into spotlight. Neema is a kindred spirit and such a total librarian nerd. The fact that as a Raven, she simply had to correct the facts or state them with every important detail offered me as much endless joy as it annoyed the characters in the book. I am so glad Hodgson found a way to pull some spotlight to knowledge being cool in a very cool manner, and maybe also by making fun of it a bit. In a loving way. In a Foxy kind of way… ^^ She is the current High Scholar for the current emperor and although her position is of high standing, it hasn’t been easy on her. At all. Some reviews seemed to imply that Neema was of the self-pitying type, but I would argue against such statements. I think she is a great character with enough pride in her backbone when needed. And she’s bloody clever.

‘Fascinating,’ the emperor said, rubbing his mouth as he took in her appearance. Fascinating was another of those court words, like astonishing, and remarkable, but even worse. Never fascinate an emperor.

Aside from the murder mystery element, there is also the change of the emperor looming about the, well, empire. A new emperor is chosen from seven contenders, each representing a different animal, a different way of life, a different set of skills. Gaida is a Raven, Cain is Fox, Tala is Ox, Ruko is Tiger, Katsan is Bear, Shal Worthy is Hound, Havoc is Monkey, and there is also a Dragon representative. It’s sort of a “hunger games” for who gets to be the new emperor, except I found it way more intriguing all in all. And, can you see now that the worldbuilding is rich and varied? The different animal contenders have their own vibes, completely, their own trials for the contenders and it just makes their particular best parts of themselves shine.

So we have a murder mystery, political intrigue, tension crackling between the contenders (trust me, that friction is electric!) and a nerdy librarian type (come on, what’s not to love?!). The Ravens behave exactly as Ravens should, the other animal representatives are equally on brand, and Cain… well, Cain is a riot. Fox energy at its most accurate and funny finest! But, my point is – there is a LOT happening in the book and it all just mixes together so well. For those who like their fantasy on the lighter side, or not so grim, then give this one a chance, for sure. You’ll get your fantasy-fill without feeling squeamish.

Despite the elements of guilt, grief, copious amounts of accusations, and some epic twists woven through the narrative, The Raven Scholar still manages to charm with the adorable lighter, funnier parts. Also, perhaps even a little bit of magic? Yees? Like the sound of that?

So Neema created a new list – Six Ways Bears Keep Cool – and told it to the walls, because she had to tell someone.

I am SO glad I decided to jump into this novel – for some reason I thought it would just be the same-old, same-old and we’ve all been there/done that, but I was so wrong (oh, how wrong!). It was the best 600+ pages read in a long time, in the fastest time. I would most directly suggest you drop whatever it is you are doing and/or reading and dive into The Raven Scholar. Now. 🙂 That is all.