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A review by midi
The Raven Key by Harper L. Carnes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I was provided this book through NetGalley by Harper L. Carnes and this is my honest review:
For me The Raven Key had a very strong start and the mystery was captivating and the atmosphere was definitely eerie. I wanted to know what happened next and why Seth not only had that tragic past but was also seemingly being followed by all these crows. However as the story progressed and it morphed from a "teen-romance" to an horror story it kept getting more convulsed and too much information was thrown into the mix.
For the amount of pages this book had there were also too many characters, each with their own plotlines which made it hard to cover them all in a satisfactory way for me. As for the romance while there was parts I did enjoy, the age-difference didn't seem to make much sense to me in this case except to later slide in a shocking revelation about Gabriel's past.
Basically the second half of the book wasn't my cup of tea but I do see the potential in it and perhaps in the next book things can be better explained. However I do think some of the faults I found with this book might be because, as far as I'm aware, this is the author's first book and perhaps it just needed some extra editing to make it great. As a side note I did also find a few typos and at one time a full sentence that repeated twice in the same page so perhaps the final draft could still use some revision.
For me The Raven Key had a very strong start and the mystery was captivating and the atmosphere was definitely eerie. I wanted to know what happened next and why Seth not only had that tragic past but was also seemingly being followed by all these crows. However as the story progressed and it morphed from a "teen-romance" to an horror story it kept getting more convulsed and too much information was thrown into the mix.
For the amount of pages this book had there were also too many characters, each with their own plotlines which made it hard to cover them all in a satisfactory way for me. As for the romance while there was parts I did enjoy, the age-difference didn't seem to make much sense to me in this case except to later slide in a shocking revelation about Gabriel's past.
Basically the second half of the book wasn't my cup of tea but I do see the potential in it and perhaps in the next book things can be better explained. However I do think some of the faults I found with this book might be because, as far as I'm aware, this is the author's first book and perhaps it just needed some extra editing to make it great. As a side note I did also find a few typos and at one time a full sentence that repeated twice in the same page so perhaps the final draft could still use some revision.