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A review by iam
Liam Davis & The Raven by Anyta Sunday
5.0
Omg I adored this.
Liam Davis & The Raven starts out very unassuming and a bit weird, but very soon I was thoroughly charmed by it.
Read this review and more on the blog.
Content warnings include: violence and homophobia (mostly combined), hate crime, assault, disability after assault, sex on-page, ableism, bullying, death threat, dysfunctional parent-child relationship.
It's far from perfect - some parts are a bit confusing (like the whole Freddy Krueger thing at the beginning) and the plot isn't airtight, but it's extremely enjoyable.
Liam is the protagonist, he's blunt and extremely goal-focussed, he has few (if any) friends and comes off as standoffish - and honestly a little creepy when that gets combined with his obsession to observe and take notes all the time for his newspaper. He seriously has no shame when it comes to recording his impressions as a journalist. At first I thought his traits were exaggerations, almost comical, but I soon found him to be painfully relateable in many of the things he does - often rationally, perfectly reasonable and without any ill intent, and yet not exactly socially accepted.
I loved the way he tended to step back to evaluate his emotions and ascertain that he is absolutely sure of his decision before he makes it - not just for his own sake, but to do right by his friends. I admired the way he was able to step back from what he felt and focus on his work.
In many ways, Liam is who I wish I were, and it made me sad that he is seen and perceived as friendless and cold.
The side characters Shannon, Quinn, Hunter, Mitch, Hannah and even Jill are wonderful, though their personalities aren't always explored in the depth I was hoping for.
My favourite character by far was Hunter. He is incredible, fun, flirty, with great quips and great life advice and out of all the friends Liam makes over the course of the book he is the one who truly makes a difference.
Hunter is also paralyzed from the waist down as the result of an assault. I cannot speak about the disability rep with confidence - for the most part it seemed fine, except the term differently-abled is used more than once, and I've been told to not use it.
The plot is made up of two big points and their consequences:
1. To "grow as a writer" Liam has to write the party page for the school newspaper and thus start attending parties
2. In the beginning, Liam gets assaulted when he walks home from a party, but a hooded vigilante called The Raven intervenes. But The Raven has enemies too, and Liam wants to protect his protector by figuring out The Raven's identity and sending a warning.
Closely tied to that comes Liam stepping out of his comfort zone (not in the sense that he is easily uncomfortable - Liam is just very in tune with his routine) in various ways with subplots about friendships, dating, (un-)realistic expectations, first impressions and frequently about writing the best possible article.
Partly over the top yet still handling very serious topics, the book somehow made me thing of the Mean Girls movie - I did not expect to like it and somehow it's ridiculous, but I absolutely adored it in the end, and turned way more personal than anticipated.
Interestingly, while it isn’t brought up at all in this book, the sequel in the series, Marc Jillson & The GazeboMarc Jillson & The Gazebo, mentions that Liam is on the autism spectrum.
Liam Davis & The Raven starts out very unassuming and a bit weird, but very soon I was thoroughly charmed by it.
Read this review and more on the blog.
Content warnings include: violence and homophobia (mostly combined), hate crime, assault, disability after assault, sex on-page, ableism, bullying, death threat, dysfunctional parent-child relationship.
It's far from perfect - some parts are a bit confusing (like the whole Freddy Krueger thing at the beginning) and the plot isn't airtight, but it's extremely enjoyable.
Liam is the protagonist, he's blunt and extremely goal-focussed, he has few (if any) friends and comes off as standoffish - and honestly a little creepy when that gets combined with his obsession to observe and take notes all the time for his newspaper. He seriously has no shame when it comes to recording his impressions as a journalist. At first I thought his traits were exaggerations, almost comical, but I soon found him to be painfully relateable in many of the things he does - often rationally, perfectly reasonable and without any ill intent, and yet not exactly socially accepted.
I loved the way he tended to step back to evaluate his emotions and ascertain that he is absolutely sure of his decision before he makes it - not just for his own sake, but to do right by his friends. I admired the way he was able to step back from what he felt and focus on his work.
In many ways, Liam is who I wish I were, and it made me sad that he is seen and perceived as friendless and cold.
The side characters Shannon, Quinn, Hunter, Mitch, Hannah and even Jill are wonderful, though their personalities aren't always explored in the depth I was hoping for.
My favourite character by far was Hunter. He is incredible, fun, flirty, with great quips and great life advice and out of all the friends Liam makes over the course of the book he is the one who truly makes a difference.
Hunter is also paralyzed from the waist down as the result of an assault. I cannot speak about the disability rep with confidence - for the most part it seemed fine, except the term differently-abled is used more than once, and I've been told to not use it.
The plot is made up of two big points and their consequences:
1. To "grow as a writer" Liam has to write the party page for the school newspaper and thus start attending parties
2. In the beginning, Liam gets assaulted when he walks home from a party, but a hooded vigilante called The Raven intervenes. But The Raven has enemies too, and Liam wants to protect his protector by figuring out The Raven's identity and sending a warning.
Closely tied to that comes Liam stepping out of his comfort zone (not in the sense that he is easily uncomfortable - Liam is just very in tune with his routine) in various ways with subplots about friendships, dating, (un-)realistic expectations, first impressions and frequently about writing the best possible article.
Partly over the top yet still handling very serious topics, the book somehow made me thing of the Mean Girls movie - I did not expect to like it and somehow it's ridiculous, but I absolutely adored it in the end, and turned way more personal than anticipated.
Interestingly, while it isn’t brought up at all in this book, the sequel in the series, Marc Jillson & The GazeboMarc Jillson & The Gazebo, mentions that Liam is on the autism spectrum.