Catalogue copy: Selene Ravenwood, one the heir to House Ravenwood, is now an exile. On the run and free from her family’s destiny, Selene hopes to find the real reason her family was given the gift of dreamwalking. But first she must adapt to her new life as wife to Lord Damien Maris, the man she was originally assigned to kill.
When I began the first in the Ravenwood Saga Mark of the Raven I wasn’t sure I’d actually enjoy it but I did – it was a tremendous read. (In fact, it has just won an INSPY Award, so a lot of bloggers clearly loved it too.) So when I saw the second was due out, I was keen to read it and I think it’s an even better read than the first.
In Mark of the Raven we met Selene Ravenwood and her fierce and dangerous mother Lady Ragna. House Ravenwood appears to outsiders to be a house which has lost its gift and is therefore in decline, but this is far from the truth. As Selene comes into her powers as a dreamwalker she finds herself at the mercy of her mother’s political manoeuvring. Before long she stands in a terrible position and must make a life-changing decision. If you’ve not read the book, I strongly recommend doing so before coming back to read Flight of the Raven.
Without giving away any details of the when, why or how, at the start of Flight of the Raven Selene finds herself abruptly married to a man she barely knows, cut off from her own past and people, and undertaking a dangerous journey with a group who are largely strangers to her.
Despite now being Lady Maris, her Ravenwood gift of dreamwalking is strengthening. But her dreams take her to dark places as well as light, and nightmares fill her sleep. As she learns to adapt to her new situation, the world she has left behind grows in menace and the threat to both Selene and her new people – not to mention the other Great Houses – is growing.
I loved this book. The relationship between Damien and Selene is wonderfully written and develops in a way to please any romance reader. The world which Morgan Busse has created and the powers and people of the various Houses is beautifully detailed and never disappoints. Good and wicked characters are equally well and believably described, and in this world bad things do happen to good people. There’s an element of the fairy story about this series, but not in a cute Disney way. This is a fast-paced read and it can genuinely be referred to as epic. I’m really, REALLY looking forward to the third book in the series, due out next year, and to finding out how Lady Selene fulfils her calling.
A five star recommendation to any lover of fantasy, and an excellent introduction to the genre for anyone looking to widen their fiction reading range.
