This review is for the complete Raven's Shadow trilogy , by Anthony Ryan (Blood Song; Tower Lord; Queen of Fire).

I enjoyed it a lot...

The first book is a coming of age story told from the point of view of Vaelin al Sorna, as he grows up as a brother of the Sixth Order. That's an order of warriors monks who serve the Faith and the Realm, in that order. It's a training novel, and the training is absolutely brutal, resulting in the death of a good number of the young trainees. Vaelin himself grows up to be an extraordinary warrior with a mystical ability. You have to understand that this is a heroic story, and the main characters are extremely skilled. However, he does not seem overpowered because the challenges he faces always keep him as the underdog. the novel is very readable and the supernatural elements are intriguing and original.

Then, in the second and third books, the style changes to multiple points of view. Three new point of view characters are introduced, with the story told from the perspective of one of them in each chapter. I have seen that the reviews are mixed for these books. The first one met with almost universal acclaim, while the second and particularly the third got mixed reviews. I think that this is somewhat unfair. People liked Vaelin and wanted more of him, but the storylines of the other three point of view characters are quite interesting too. But it's true that some of the style and personality of the first book gets diluted into a more generic epic fantasy. I think that many readers found the sudden change from single to multiple points of view a bit jarring. Also, the author makes the choice to keep Vaelin away from many of the greatest battles. In a story like this, we want our greatest hero kicking ass, but a lot of the time, particularly in the third book, Vaelin is involved in a quest that is equally important but removes him from the war.

Anyway, the supernatural enemies are original and menacing, and the story is epic, even if the final war in the third book is sometimes anticlimactic. ( )

643pg
guerra vinta, alleato sconfitto
alcuni muoiono, ogni sopravvissuto torna a casa sua ( )

REREAD: 10/10/2016: Finished for the second time. I was not ready to leave that world yet. Here's hoping that there are some shortstories in this series. I'm off to look.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: This was one of those series that I will go back to again and again. I wanted to start it all over as soon as I was done.

I really liked that although there was no HEA, all the 'ends' were fitting to the story, world and character.

Great job by Mr. Ryan. ( )

I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with how this entire series ended on such a flat note. I'm still madly in love with the characters, but only mildly in love with their stories.

One of the things that bothered me so much was how predictable the plot was. Every epic fantasy wants to end with an epic battle between good and evil, but even the most basic fantasy writers try to find a way to make that battle exciting - in this case, it was literally good vs. evil and when all was said and done, I didn't really care. ( )

What a great ending! I enjoyed the world, the magic, the characters and the way it was written.
I was scared that Lyrna and Vaelin would rule together, but it didn't happen. Good, because it would have been too easy an ending to this story. ( )