A review by natcat
In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

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

3.0

This book was something of an odd duck. The world building started off fascinating, and then I thought it lagged and also got bizarre. The first two thirds were dark and depressing, and the last third was much more upbeat
(in a murdery spree kind of a way)
and absolutely bonkers. I spent the last third delightedly going
“OH she’s going a-murdering - OH SHE’S TURNED HERSELF INTO A VAMPIRE - HOLY SHIT THEY’RE ALL A MERRY UNDEAD POLYCULE!!!
, it was truly a wild ride. 

I thought the book really missed a trick in not actually engaging with the exploitative scenario it had set up, where Bloodmages are forced to bond to spirits and (as it turns out)
end up getting fed off to sustain the undeath of those spirits, and also that almost everyone who dies in the city either gets eaten by one of these spirits or trapped in a ghastly underworld (long story)
, and instead of really wrestling with that or with Bloodmages oppressing other Bloodmages and perpetuating these abuses, the book boils it down to
this system has been set up by two evil undead kings and they’ve been wrecking everyone’s lives ever since, and things can be fixed by killing them
which I found sort of disappointing as an ending. It was all very exciting and I enjoyed Rovan and co really getting to flip their shit and destroy stuff, but I felt like it left a lot of more interesting questions and consequences completely ignored.

I did love the queerness of it all, and I adored Japha, and loved that all of the main characters were queer
and also the ending for them, personally
. But I did find it overall a little unsatisfying, and I was left with a lot of “but what about - “ and also I think I sympathized with the semi-antagonists
(not the evil undead kings, but the various Skylleans, and the other Bloodmages
a lot more than the book wanted me too. I also didn’t find Ivrilos either compelling or enticing as a love interest, and him becoming all lovey dovey in the last quarter or so made me significantly less interested in his character. Ivrilos the revenge driven asshole kind of worked for me, but that sort of got completely left by the wayside. 

Definitely a curate’s egg of a book!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings