Book Review
Title: Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (Ravenfall Book 1)
Genre: Middle Grade, Paranormal, Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars
I don’t normally read middle grade but this one sounded so interesting and I was so happy to be chosen as part of this blog tour. The opening to Ravenfall was interesting as we are introduced to Ravenfall inn and the family that run it. All the family have powers and Anna is the youngest and she recently got the power of visions but only visions concerning death, at one party she witnesses the murder of a couple and something feels off about the vision and the person who touched her although she doesn’t know who that is. The next day a new guest arrives at the inn in Colin, who is the son of the people Anna saw murdered, his parents kept secrets from him and his older brother, Liam who should have been meeting Colin at Ravenfall but he hasn’t arrived and Colin is worried something has happened to him. I want to know more about Colin and how his family ended up in witness protection and why he was sent to Ravenfall, a place of magic when he doesn’t seem to have any magical abilities himself unless he hasn’t realised them yet.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Anna’s aunt recognises Colin because she knows his parents but didn’t realise that they were dead meaning they were heavily warded. When Anna reveals to Colin that she knows how his parents died and touched one of the men responsible for their death they team up to find answers. Initially, they don’t know where to begin but when the spirits of his parents come to the inn and warn Colin that they are coming, whoever they are, they decide to ask for help. Colin vaguely remembers a logo on one of the men’s clothes and it belongs to a local donut shop and Colin recognises on of the employees when Kara shows him pictures, a man named Kaden Richards. Kara also learns that Kaden isn’t human and he is still in Wick looking for something and discourages Anna and Colin from going after him but they do anyway because if anyone has answers about Colin’s parents then it is Kaden but he could potentially be very dangerous. Learning about the inn which still close to the Shield protecting the human world from the Otherworld was interesting and the question of where Liam has gone still hasn’t been answered. While this does read very middle grade and there isn’t a lot in the way of world building I was enjoying the story and couldn’t wait to see how the mystery was going to unravel.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the pair are finally beginning to get some answers but they only create more questions. Apparently, Kaden has been possessed by a wraith and the possession has been made permanent. The wraith is working with an extremely dangerous being of unknown origin to kill Colin like his parents because he is a Raven, or someone with an extremely strong connection to the Shield like his parents before him and that’s why they were murdered. The wraith lets slip that they will be coming for Colin on Halloween when the barrier between the worlds is at its weakest meaning the wards won’t be as effective as they normally are. The questions I have now are about why Colin’s parents kept his heritage hidden from him and possibly from Liam as well and why he hasn’t been trained when he was clearly a huge target. I believe that Liam might know about what he is and is looking for answers of his own which is why he hasn’t joined Colin at Ravenfall yet or something else might have happened to him. I also liked seeing the different species and creatures that aren’t human and how they co-exist with the human world.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Colin is confirmed to be a Raven by Nora, Anna’s mother and explains that the purpose of the Ravens was to maintain the Shield by drawing power from it and certain creatures. Colin realises that Liam knew about the Ravens and continued hunting even when his parents sent them into hiding and he was the only one that was kept in the dark probably because he is the younger of the two brothers. Once Colin bonds with his mother’s journal, his powers awaken giving him enhanced senses and fighting abilities, his mother was also in possession of a pair of Saint Blades and when Colin uses them he collapses and experiences a vision which might help them. Colin believes from the vision the man he saw fighting and the crest he wore are related to Kaden’s master and they try to find out who he is but they aren’t really getting anywhere and Samhain or Halloween is less than two weeks away and the Shield is weakening quicker than it normal does due to the deaths of several Ravens. I have a feeling that Anna’s powers are going to come into play soon as I think there is more to her than just vision of death, like another level to them that she hasn’t uncovered yet but I could be wrong about this.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Colin is learning to use his various powers with great success but the threats are growing since Kaden is creating more wraiths which are going to be an issues. A few days before the Samhain party they are attacked by one of the wraiths in the costume shop and this wraith has managed to possess a witch but Anna also gets a vision which reveals a lot of things. It seems that Colin is directly related to Fin Varra, the Irish King of the Dead, which is why he can control and create wraiths but he is bound to the Otherworld and like Max, he might not be able to spend large amounts of time in the human world because of the Shield which explains why he is killing the Ravens to weaken it. However, Gran learns that Fin Varra is able to possess Colin without him knowing about it and it was Colin under this possession that killed one of the creatures protecting Ravenfall, letting everyone know that no one is safe as long as Colin is around. It is agreed to move Colin to somewhere else until the threat has passed and the person they need to help now is Anna. Anna’s ability is incredibly rare but it is perfect for finding out what Fin Varra looks like since she only needs to touch him and she will see the death of Colin’s parents revealing to everyone what he looks like so they can deal with him before he is able to kill Colin and weaken the Shield further. However, Anna’s visions of Fin possessing Colin and destroying the Shield are weighing on her and that might come into play in the final section of the novel.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Fin is doing everything he can to see his plan through even at one point possessing Gran and killing a jabberwocky in order to throw Max into chaos but Anna pulls them both out of it. Despite seeing herself as a failure and the weakest of the children, Anna is proving to be one of the strongest at bringing the best out in others and supporting them when they need it. After being released from her possession Gran knows that Fin’s plan is to destroy the barrier and give his people new bodies, he wants to do this because they enter the Otherworld, alive rather than dead, so their bodies withered away leaving only the spirits behind and they want to truly live again. Anna realises that they plan to kill Colin so they quickly get him back to Ravenfall and prepare for the attack that is likely to come the night of the party, Colin isn’t sure if he can kill Fin but he knows he needs to but before that he wants to know what happened to Liam. Elaine conducts a ritual for him and Liam’s spirit is wondering but she doesn’t believe he is dead, she felt his spirit pulling at her while she was pulling it and I think that Liam is trapped in the Otherworld and he might be a hostage that Fin is planning to use against Colin when he attacks. Honestly, I can wait to see how the novel ends as some middle grade books I have read in the past like the Cassidy Blake series can get pretty dark for children’s books.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we get to see the final showdown between Fin and the others including Colin and Anna. The battle was great but it wasn’t the action that really stood out to me it was how the characters came together to overcome something that none of them could defeat alone and the lessons they learnt from it. Middle grade novel tend to have some really important messages buried within them and this one was about loss, the importance of family, finding your own self worth and finding a place to call home which were all really important thing that people need to learn. I must say though I genuinely sobbed at Max’s sacrifice and he was one of my favourite characters in the entire book. Overall, Ravenfall was an amazing middle grade novel and I will definitely be picking up both the sequel, Hollowthorn when it comes out and the Storm Crow duology in the near future. Highly recommended.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Comments