Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, 1) Paperback – February 3, 2015

There is no other way to put this than to simply come out and say it, Blood Song by Anthony Ryan is simply one of the best books I have ever read period. I will go so far as to say that after completing Blood Song, I have to count it among one of my all time favorites. Surely, that is high praise but it is praise that I feel that this book emphatically deserves. At the behest of sounding like a literary snob, I will confess that I have read a fair number of books this year and although I try to , I rarely feel compelled to voice my thoughts on said books once I have completed it. However, with Blood Song, I feel I have to say something as I truly enjoyed this wonderful book.The beauty of Blood Song is that the concept of the book is borderline simple, and in truth it's basic plot is a well worn cliche/fantasy trope, yet through expert storytelling and characterization , Ryan weaves so much more here. The conceit of the story is simple, boy is young, boy gets dropped off at Warrior academy where he is trained by the most fearsome warriors in his land to be an amazing warrior, boy fights many wars, wins great honor yet discovers secrets about his faith and order than unnerve him. Yada yada, we have all read books like this before, nothing to see here right? Well you would be wrong as wrapped up in this conceit are fully realized characters of amazing depth and a story that strips away all the romantic notions of war that litter most fantasy novels. Intrigue abounds and in place of such notions, the novel is filled with a realism and sadness denoting the destruction brought by war both on the lands that is fought and the soldiers who fight it. Battles are depicted in gruesome detail to further drive home the central theme of the novel that war is hell and those who fight them are irrevocably changed. Our not so merry band of brothers, learn quite quickly that there is no glory to be found on the front lines as they are used and caught up the schemes of a mad king to further his own interest, of which ultimately they are just mere pawns. Yet, out of a sense of honor, and knowing the lies that they are fed, they still fight, knowing that they will die, knowing that the honor that many find in warfare is hollow and from this more than one brother in the novel walks away disillusioned. The novel speaks of the power of religion and faith both for good and ill, the power to heal and enrich but also the power faith can have to induce violence in and destruction in its name. The novel speaks how religious fervor can be manipulated by those in power to drive a populace and a kingdom to do things contrary to the tenets of their faith, all to further selfish and evil aims. All the while the campaigns in the realm are waged , you always get the sense that lurking in the background is an evil that will be revealed at a later date. When the tip of the real conflict is finally revealed, it leaves you wanting more in anticipation for book two.It has been said that Fantasy novels often times sacrifice characterization and development and in exchange focus on world building in an effort to add complexity to a world with shallow and wooden characters. The strength of Blood Song is that Ryan wisely eschews this motif as the growth in this characters is nothing short of amazing. The most immediate example is the character of Nortah, a character who at the beginning of the novel , is quite frankly a spoiled rich kid, however, like a skilled stone mason, Ryan is able to chip away this facade and in the end sculpt a well rounded character. In short, in the hands of Ryan , a character whom the readers immediately detested, transforms into a likable character and by the end of the novel transformed into one of my favorite characters in the book. All of the brothers of the sixth order speak with a distinct voice and each have their own idiosyncrasies and personalities that give the reader an idea about who they are and how a lifetime of warfare has shaped them. It is a triumph that every character speaks with a different voice making each unique in their own right and a credit to the writing skill of Ryan that he was able to successfully populate his world with rich and vibrant characters. From the naïve piousness of Brother Caenis to the cagey King Janus almost every character in this book, no matter how manner simply works. The scenes in particular with King Janus, are the epitome of a mouse attempting to seeking bargains with an owl. Great stuff indeed.I have to make a special note about the women characters in the book as they are strong and well portrayed. Though many are beautiful, you learn quickly that they are not coy damsels in distress but handle themselves with poise,strength and intelligence. The compassionate aggression of Sister Sherin is wonderfully portrayed and handled in the novel and the shrewd portrayal of Princess Lyrna are highlights of the work. These women are not mere bystanders in a world filled with hulking predatory men, but they fill the pages with power and presence in their own right. The scenes between Princess Lyrna and Vaelin are some of the best in the novel , nuff said. These scenes simply pop of the page, with shrewd dialog full of tension and the mental and verbal jujitsu between the two characters is a wonder to behold. I would argue that those scenes are only rivaled by the scenes between King Janus and Vaelin in terms of their calculating and manipulative nature as one can feel the game of supremacy between the main character and the king/princess in these scenes. The growth in Lyrna from casual enemy to guarded ally is also yet another example of character growth in the novel as the change in the relationship between the Princess and Vaelin is both organic and believable. In short, the women of this novel, from Aspect Elera, Sister Sherin, Princess Lyrna, Lady Emeren and even Veliss are well portrayed. Novels of all genres would do well to take Ryan's approach to the characterization of woman.The world building, though muted , is done well. One can tell that the focus of this novel is on the characters that inhabit the world rather than on a world that is inhabited by characters. This story is undoubtedly the story of Vaelin Al Sorna, brother of the Sixth Order, but enough of a groundwork is laid to show the reader that a larger world is out there waiting to be explored by the reader with the author. The nature of the order and their Aspects/motivations are all superbly handled.This book was amazing and as you can tell I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

I read Blood Song in the Kindle edition. I'd purchased it a couple months before actually reading it, having decided to purchase it on the basis of Amazon reviews alone and because so few books in the fantasy genre receive as overwhelmingly positive a set of reviews as this book had received. Then, after purchasing the book, I let it sit on my Kindle for a couple months before I made the time to read it.The first thing I noticed about the book when I began to read it was its incredibly long prologue written entirely in italics. On my Kindle, the prologue came to 14 pages. Prologues are always a dicey subject: usually unnecessary and almost always quickly forgotten as one reads, but seemingly pro forma for most authors of fantasy novels, especially those attempting epic sword-and-sorcery tales. (Similar to the pro forma inclusion of a map. This novel also includes a map. The map has few features--frustratingly few--and is probably unnecessary.) I've read many fantasy novels over the years, so I'm generally forgiving of the useless prologues in many of them. They are a habit for me as a reader; I've read and forgotten so many of them. However, the fact that this prologue was written entirely in italics, for so many pages, was an irritation. One expects italics to be used sparingly; as emphasis, they are used to emphasize something peculiar, making it stand out--and a prologue by its nature already stands out. Also, the fact that by the end of the prologue one learns that it's actually a framing device rather than a prologue, and that it pretty much reveals at the very outset the protagonist's final state after the next 600-or-so pages that will follow....Well, I was very suspicious of the remainder of the book after I realized that so much was being revealed so soon.The author seems to have been slightly confused about what kind of book he wanted.Normal epic fantasy should leave some doubt about its conclusion, which the framing device almost obliterates. Especially coming-of-age stories in which some abandoned youth gradually works his way up from nothingness to epic greatness: part of the tension is the question of "Will he make it?" and "What will he become?" which the framing device answers within the first 14 pages. The majority of the book, occurring in the past, is one huge flashback to the little bits written in italics and scattered throughout the book. I feel no fear of spoiling things for those who have not yet read the book when I say that, after the first 14 pages, you know this protagonist will live to his late twenties. Yes, the rest of the book occurs in the past, proceeding from the time he is ten years old; but the author will have spoiled the "great reveal" of his survival to his late twenties after the first 14 italicized pages. You will also know almost everything about what that 10-year-old will become. Not everything, however.On the other hand, the author seems to have taken some pages out of normal movie or television practices by weaving back and forth between the present (the "framed," extremely lengthy sections all in italics at the beginning of the novel and each "part" of the novel) and that flashback past while also purposely and quite obviously withholding information in either account. Indeed, he leaps about when writing the past events, purposely leaving out some of that narrative in order to have gotcha moments later in which the missing episodes are revealed. In a 2-hour movie or a 1-hour television episode, this is forgivable because so much has to occur within a short time frame; but in a novel of 600+ pages, when one quite naturally reads the narrative as....well, a narrative development, one would be forgiven for feeling that the author has tipped his manipulative hand far too many times. He's not subtle about it. (I did have the impression while reading the novel, on several occasions, of being in the midst of a marathon of episodes of some television show.)He seems trapped between the desire to create a semi-mythical character via episodic flashbacks and to create an epic tale. I think he settled on the former, and I think that is unfortunate. He could have had his mythical, great character without sacrificing narrative cohesion with so many jarring chronological moves and none-too-subtle pulling of the rugs from under our feet.All-in-all however, the above criticisms do not detract much from the entertainment value of the novel. The imaginary lands he describes are intriguing, the cultures intriguing, the histories intriguing. The main protagonist is mostly interesting, although one quickly grows tired of the fact that he incessantly bemoans his own killer nature. The first 3/4 of the novel or thereabout reminded me of a blend of Ender's Game and the classic movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin--with perhaps a little of the movie 300 thrown in, particularly when the protagonist undergoes one particular Test in his training. For those who enjoy the martial arts (by which I mean, the art of war and combat, not necessarily only the Eastern variety), this will be an engaging read. I tore through the book once I began reading it.The worst aspect of the book, by far, is the fact that the author seems to have never learned of the semicolon. I have never in my life read so many run-on sentences. Some are not so bad, but sometimes the grammar is so convoluted by run-on sentences combined with clauses that you have to exit the narrative and try to parse out what he is trying to say. These run-on sentences are not merely oversights or accidents but form a huge portion of the writing throughout the book. It is as if he used his word processor's find-and-replace function to find all the semicolons and replace them with commas. The rest of the writing is actually very arresting--at least, engaging, non-repetitive, descriptive--and I confess to being mystified that the lesson of the semicolon and sentence construction never made a dent on his psyche or inner critic.

Amazing. This book is one of the BEST, IF not the Best fantasy book I have ever read. So greatful to find it

Servizio Amazon sempre perfetto. Consegnato in tempi brevi e libro integro come appena stampato.Acquistare su Amazon è sempre una garanzia.

Eine schöne Fantasy-Saga, die in einer mittelalterlichen Welt spielt. Handwerklich sehr gut gemacht. Die Erzählperspektive wechselt und die gesamte Geschichte ist durch eine Rahmenhandlung spannend aufgebaut.Inhaltlich mit Elementen der Charakterentwicklung, Politik, Intrigen, Kampf und Krieg. Kein High-Fantasy mit Elfen und Zauberern.Für mich persönlich ein schöner Lesegenuss, angenehm erzählt und die ein oder andere Überraschung. Ziemlich zum Ende hin trifft der Hauptcharakter eine echt krasse Entscheidung - Respekt dafür. Hat mich persönlich sehr beeindruckt.Kein Kinderbuch - es geht bisweilen schon sehr rauh und gnadenlos zur Sache.

Compre hace tiempo the waking fire y quise conseguir la primera trilogia de este autor que veo que ha tenido buenas referencias. Fue una fortuna encontrarla.

A tale of friendship, warcraft, fierce bravery, magic and breathtaking complexity. This is a masterpiece. Written in a clipped, matter of fact style that conveys powerful emotions, dedication, adventure and growth.Finished the book over a weekend, closed away from the world. Cannot wait to read the second one!Incredible