My 19th read of the year was The Raven Scholar, the first book in the Eternal Path trilogy. This was recommended by my favourite booktuber Lexi Aka Newlynova repeatedly and I decided to give the audio a go as I’ve been a slow reader of book-books this year, but I could listen to this while commuting.
A summary attempt
In this world there are eight Gods, represented by animals, and at 16 people declare which of the God’s they will follow and train within the discipline of. So Raven’s are scholar, monkey’s are artists, Oxen are the builders etc etc. Also, King’s only rule for 24 years, to prevent dynasties and tyrants from happening again, at the end of 24 years there is a tournament where each monastry selects a representative to fight for the crown.
The book opens with twins, Ruco and Ynara Valet (I only heard the names, so forgive the spelling), being escorted to see the King. Their father lead a failed rebellion 16 years ago and now they are ‘of age’, their protected status as children is over. The king reveals their father bought only Ynara a place to train at one of the monasteries, which would give her the chance to compete in the tournament and win the thrown her father died for. Devastated that his dream would be taken by his sister, Ruco does the unthinkable (no spoilers, that’s all I’ll say).
Our MC, Neema Kraa, plays a pivotal role in the legal documents involved in Ruco’s betrayal and in doing so, is raised up to being the Raven Scholar for the King. Neema doesn’t love court politics, nor is she popular at court, and once the tournament is over she supposed to be free of her duties and can go back to her research. Except, her childhood rival and the Raven contender in the tournament, pulls a stunt at the opening feast that embarrasses Neema and gets her fired. Before she can flee the palace island, she is poisoned and a contender is murdered. Somehow, Neema is a suspect, so she offers herself to investigate to clear her own name. Except, she’s also forced to take part in the tournament.
As she investigates, she reconnects with her childhood best friend and love, who couldn’t forgive her for the part she part she played in Ruco’s betrayal. At the same time, Neema starts to discover the Gods are much more than stories and that they interfere in human affairs more than she knew. There are plots afoot with Ynara’s and Ruco’s mother, who was moved onto palace grounds when her youngest become mysteriously ill. It seems someone discovered something about the King, which plays a role in the events that occur, but someone is also trying to pin the blame for these events on Ruco, or Neema, or other contenders.
Neema’s investigation won’t just save her own life, it might just be that she has the fate of humanity on her hands. As the world of myths a real life plots start to blend, can she discover the truth behind the plots and prevent the end of days?
My thoughts
Once again, I think I’ve given away how much I enjoyed this book by the length of the summary.
I’m not exaggerating, this is the best fanatasy book I’ve read in years.
I loved Neema, as someone herself whose maybe been found unlikeable without really doing anything mean or rude, I related to her a lot. She’s such a reluctant hero in this story and it adds lots of funny moments, I really enjoyed the journey she went on. Plus I really enjoyed the Raven.
The world building is fantastic, so rich and real feeling, with it’s own language surrounding the Gods that doesn’t feel like that icky fantasy thing where they replace everyday words with ‘fantasy’ ones.
It’s devastating that the opening narrator never gets to narrate again, and it feels very much like a Greek tragedy in that Ruco is the agent of his own downfall in that one moment when he’s 16, and then again and again through the choices he makes in the present.
There are incredible twists in this book that I did not see coming but the seeds are planted throughout the book once you know about them.
I can’t wait for the next one, this SUCH a good book. I was never bored, or impatient, it was entertaining from start to finish and so unlike other books coming out in the fantasy sphere right now, whilst still keeping those fantasy things I love.
Antonia Bernardin 