THE RAVENS by Kass Morgan & Danielle Paige
5 Stars
Verdict: Is it too early to call my favourite book of the year?
When Vivi joins Westerly College, she discovers the sorority known as the Ravens are actually a secret coven of witches. In her pledge to join, she quickly gets on the wrong side of Scarlett, a legacy Raven, who desperately wants to be voted president to meet her mother's unreasonable expectations. Although the dark events of last year are catching up with Scarlett, putting the whole sorority in danger.
For me, this will go down as one of my favourites of all time. It has everything I loved about 90s Charmed combined with everything I adore in YA fiction. It's fast paced, full of complex family history and teen drama, and had enough magic and mystery to keep me enthralled throughout. It has a darker edge to it too, like the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, plus a couple of lines of humour, and tons of mystery.
The story is told through third person dual POV, and both Vivi and Scarlett grow a lot throughout the book. Vivi starts out as a lost lamb, and is very much the outsider which helps introduce us to the magic system alongside her. She's naïve but her heart is the right place. Scarlett is self-assured and ambitious, although haunted by the terrible event that happened during her previous year at Westerly. To me, she was the more intriguing character as the events of the year before drip into this year and show that Scarlett is not the same person who initially joined the Ravens.
It's worth noting that while this book is set in a sorority, the target age still feels firmly in young adult territory, rather than awkwardly straddling the new adult category as many YA fantasy books do. I expected it to be older in tone because of the college setting, but nope. The romances feel very much like first crushes, and the main themes are around found sisterhood. I really loved that this book focuses more on friendship than romance.
The prose is also a brilliant example of strong, clean writing full of voice and emotion. It's not lyrical in the slightest, and instead keeps the pace, leaving some of the magical mechanics to the imagination. This is where it felt very Charmed-esk. The magic in this is linked to a mix of rhyming, emotions, and ingredients for heightening spells, which is a style of magic I've always quite liked and felt was executed well here.
One small note: There's an attempt to include diversity that felt...iffy. It seems as we encourage more inclusive representation from our authors, so comes those who mean well but aren't sure how to handle it yet, and that's what it felt like here. Another slight criticism would be that the book takes a while to wrap up after the main shebang. The ending ticks all the boxes more thoroughly than necessary, although it helps the book feel complete - so maybe that's not actually a criticism. It doesn't end of a cliff hanger, and I massively respect that.
It might be the first book I've read this year, but it's set my expectations very high. Is it too early to call your favourite book of the year?
Glad you enjoyed the book.
ReplyDeleteNeither YA or witches are my genres but glad you enjoyed this. I can sense your joy
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this one thoroughly too!
ReplyDeleteWhile I love YA, haven't read too many of this genre, but this one has been intriguing me since i saw it
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