Petty grudges are an excellent spur to action.
― Antonia Hodgson, The Raven Scholar“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.
― Antonia Hodgson, The Raven Scholar
Neema Kraa is happy with her job as an imperial junior archivist and calligrapher. She is proud of how much she has achieved on her own. That’s what people say when they learn of her humble background growing up in Scartown. She is perfectly content to toil away and focus on her research instead of ruminating on her lack of friends or allies even among fellow scholars in the Raven palace. The one exception, other than her family, is her on-again-off-again boyfriend Cain.
When Neema is tapped by the emperor to write a decree of exile for an accused traitor, Neema does as her emperor commands, no questions asked. Cain rails against this as exile is a painful, drawn-out death. The emperor can ask someone else, Cain says, to write up this punishment. But Neema proceeds as asked, and loses Cain as a result.
Eight years later, Neema is now High Scholar and is a direct advisor to the Emperor Bersun and his right-hand man, Vabras. Neema is responsible for organizing the trials that will determine the next emperor as the prescribed twenty-four-year reign of the current one is drawing to an end. Although she has immense power, and perhaps because of it, Neema has few friends. She is still as pedantic and prickly as ever, and she does her job with austere efficiency. She misses Cain and wonders what her life would have been like if she’d refused the emperor. But she does not dwell on the past. She looks forward to the coming months when she will retire alongside the Emperor Bersun and focus on her true passion: researching ancient folklore and rituals of the empire’s peoples.
This plan is derailed when one of the contenders is found dead on the morning of the first trial. Neema is required by Bersun to investigate the death as well as participate in the trials as a replacement contender. As a scholar and introvert, Neema has no desire to rule. To make things even more complicated, Cain is a rival contender.
Despite how high she has risen, Neema must prove herself again while maintaining her cool in front of the kingdom and, more importantly, her ex.
Alternative titles I had for this review were, “The hype is real,” or “This is the good shit.” The Raven Scholar takes the tropes of the reluctant hero and the battle for the crown and molds them into a fresh and hilarious perspective of a seemingly-unlikeable nerd who manages to solve the mysteries and keep herself alive while accepting help from and endearing herself to the similarly stubborn and passionate people around her. Additionally, there is a supernatural component that she refuses to acknowledge until Cain and other fellow skeptics start having similar experiences.
This book was a page-turner, and that is saying something as it is a honking 660 page tome. I read it on my e-reader and after everything that had happened by the 30% point, I wondered why this was a single book instead of a duology or trilogy. It turns out that it IS a multi-volume story, but that each installment is of the 600-800 page variety. FML. As this book came out last year, I have no idea when we’ll get the sequel. As much as I like to complain about reading long books, I’m tempted to reread it as it is a book worth savoring. The dialogue is top-notch. The world building is rich but accessible, and Neema, Cain, and Sol are so damn lovable.
I expected dark academia and secret family histories and came away with found family and a thrilling and tender story.
My main gripes are the length and that there is no collector’s edition hardback with foil inlay and sprayed edges. Come on Orbit Books! Take my money!
