Reviews with content warning for Death - The Raven Tower

A very slow burn. Things didn't really get moving until 80% of the way through - and at first flipping between the narrator and "you" was very disconcerting.
Once I got the hang of how it was written.... I still struggled. The entire book is backstory & build up to book two.
There are many gods in this land, typically they focus on a specific thing (weapons, food, weather, etc) but others are more broad (the Forest protects the town from sickness)
This story follows Strength & Patience of the Hill, who is a rock god & her story over time.

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mpbookreviews's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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lanid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I read this because it's based on Hamlet but I almost feel like it could have contained less Hamlet. The strongest aspects are the mysterious 2nd person POV and the flashbacks to the time of gods in the North. I feel like the original pitch was Hamlet and as it developed it could have been cut more instead of hitting beats for the sake of hitting them. I did really like Eolo and The Strength and Patience of the Hill. I feel like Eolo and Mawat and Eolo and Tikaz's relationships could have developed more. The Hamlet cast felt a little flat, relying on what we know about them instead of who they are in this story. The Gods and mythollogy was so interesting and I loved the world building. The ending was rushed. I kind of wanted to see what would happen after.

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rowancaskey's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I absolutely adore The Raven Tower. Like all good novels written in the second-person point of view, the disparity between the "you" and the "I", the disparity between "you think this" and "I believe you think this", is excellently utilized; in fact, it is not just a consequence of the pronouns to use, but a pointed feature of the narrative.

I don't imagine I have much insight into the specifics of why this book worked for me beyond that, outside of a single spoiler which I will mention below. I enjoy Shakespeare, dark fantasy, trans characters, and grim stories-- a dark fantasy retelling of Hamlet was likely always going to end up being near and dear to my heart.

It delights me that, without dwelling on Eolo's transness (not that you would have caught me complaining if we did) and without the grace of knowing his thoughts during key scenes, Eolo's relationship with gender is given an unexpected nuance from the very first scene: Mawat good-naturedly attempts to offer Eolo what amounts to magical instant gender-affirming surgery, which Eolo declines. I firmly believe that this moment, this first perception of Eolo, is what saves him when Patience brings down the tower in the final pages. If it's not obvious from my tone, I found this bookend extremely compelling and a wonderful take on the character.

On a much shorter note, I particularly enjoyed the fast ramp-up of drama at the end, and the plummeting realization that despite Patience seeming truly unconditionally positive towards Eolo, Eolo is much more afraid of Patience than we, the reader, could have intuited before the final act.

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szuum's review

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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evelphysicist's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really enjoyed this book for its premise, plot and the unusual narration style. The story is engaging and I was eager to know what happened. The last quarter of the book in particular was tense and fast paced. The story is really good and told for a unique perspective and Ann Leckie brings in some unusual premises that drive the plot in an interesting way.

I’m unsure how I feel about the queer representation in the book, but I’m also quite new to queer fantasy. i thought the issues and identities were written in a very hamfisted way that was quite jarring given that there is little to no character development or relationships in the book. I would have preferred for there to have been a more natural feel to how this was approached if the author isn’t going to delve into queer experiences.

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