Raven's Strike (The Raven Duology, Book 2)

I hadn't realized that this was book 2, but I read it and loved it anyway, without the benefit of reading Book 1 first. I can't believe it worked, with such an established alternate world and complex characters. Ms. Briggs has a beautiful way of weaving intriguing plotlines amongst character development that looks seamless. If there was a lot of backstory, it wasn't noticeable to me. I recommend it as a fascinating read.

This book is a worthy sequel to Raven's Shadow. It has more action and provides an enjoyable completion

I liked it. It took me some time to get aquainted with the story line, since it had been some time since I read the first in the series. I ended up spending most of my time trying to remember who was who. I couldn't even remember if the emperor was old or young or in-between until Seraph made a comment about him being only a few years older than Jes. I still liked it, though. Some readers complained about it be repetitious, but if it wasn't somewhat so, I would never have remembered enough of the first to enjoy this second. It's definitely not a stand alone book. The story continues were the first left off. You get to see the budding romance between Jes and Hennea. And a friendship develop between the emperor, Phoran, and little Rinnie. (It makes me think that Rinnie might be the future queen in some later book--once she's old enough.) There is still alot of guessing going on. For example, what is Hennea hiding? Who is the shadowed? Enough to keep you reasing through the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Raven's Strike is the second in a series, it can stand alone, but is better if you read Raven's Shadow first. Seraph is a Raven Mage, a Traveler, in the previous book she was saved by Tier, a soldier, who somehow bares the Order of Owl. There are 6 Orders and Tier is the only one she knows of who is not a traveler. The Travelers were sent out from an ancient city to face the shadows in the world. There were 544 clans of Travelers, but tokens from 224 have made their way to Seraph. Therefore these clans are no more. In some unknown and unexplained way all of Seraph and Tier's children are Ordered. Jes is Eagle or Guardian, Lehr is Hunter, Rinnie is Cormorant or Weather-witch. It is almost impossible for so many orders to be born in one family. Seraph is the last of her clan. Now a shadowed One walks the earth and somehow she and her family and friends must overcome something that has only been defeated once, and that by the most massive human army ever seen. Wonderful story, better than RAven's Shadow and that is an awesome book too. If you like fantasy and romance and magic this one is for you.

Patricia Briggs ends her latest duology spectacularly, with all that you expect to see from her. Mysteries posed in the first book are finally getting some attention, and Seraph also must deal with the dangers her family has been put in. As usual, Briggs puts in a lot of wit and charm in this book, mkaing her characters even more endearing. If you were worried that the romance was going to get to sappy in this book, have no fear- although the love is there, its far from nauseating. The story is adeptly paced, keeping you reading from beginning to end. If you read "Raven's Shadow" a while ago, I recommend rereading it before you pick this up, just to save any early confusion (you don't have to, but it'll take a while to remember everything). If you haven't read this series, or even any of Briggs' books, I highly recommend all of her books. She never seems to disappoint.