The Ranger of Marzanna is a fantastic novel from Jon Skovron. It's a well-crafted story with engaging characters, intricate world-building, and a thrilling plot. If you're a fan of epic fantasy novels with a richly detailed world and complex characters, then you won't want to miss The Ranger of Marzanna.
Full review on my YouTube channel

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**


This book gripped me tight and did not let me go even after the last page. I loved the action and the rich characters, I will definitely read this again.

The first novel in the Goddess War fantasy series.
I've not read as much of Skovron's work as I would like. I enjoyed HOPE AND RED, the first book in his previous fantasy trilogy: it was fast-paced, well-realized, populated by interesting characters, and entertaining.

In THE RANGER OF MARZANNA, Skovron introduces us to two siblings, each on the opposite side of an epic struggle: Sonya, the titular ranger, feels betrayed by the empire and wants to set up an resistance to the invading empire. Sebastian, on the other hand, is fighting for the empire as one of its most powerful magicians.

In this new novel, Skovron gives readers much of what made his previous series strong and enjoyable: the writing is well-composed and will pull readers through the story. His characters are well-rounded, realistic and engaging. The Russian inspiration is well-done, and the author has a gift for evoking settings nicely.

If you're a fan of accessible, entertaining fantasy, then I highly recommend this series.

After reading Emily Duncan's book I was quite fascinated with Slavic culture. The first thing you notice is the gorgeous cover. The book itself was nice.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This book was not at all what I had in mind. It was a bit thick and not page wise just long winded in my opinion.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed getting to understand this world. I look forward to more from the author.

My Review: It took me quite a while to get through this book, but it was no fault of the book, it has just been a very busy time and it was hard to focus on an intricate fantasy world. And the world built in this book is intricate with rich religious/mythology systems. I struggled a bit with the terminology, it seems to have a Russian influence and I would have loved an audio book to help with proper pronunciations. The influence also carries over to the setting of the book, it is a dark and cold world filled with snow and forests and frigid tundra; it is a great book to read during the winter months. If you are looking for a darker fantasy that has Death Gods/Goddesses heavily featured, look no further. It includes both the magical influence from the Gods/Goddesses as well as elemental magic. I also really enjoyed the political and cultural push and pull throughout the story, there is definitely a current of unrest and upheaval in this one and it was intriguing to read the shifting views and loyalties. I loved the foreshadowing for the next book that takes place near the end and I cannot wait for book 2 to come out.

My Rating: I struggled a bit to get into this book but once I got going (especially when school started again and the weather cooled off), I really couldn't put this book down. It was an intricate world and magic system but I can see myself really getting invested in these characters. I give it a rating of Four Paws!

This book started off with a bang and just didn't quit! I loved the multiple POV's, and especially the ones outside of the plot line - merely there to give outside perspectives on the situation. I loved it!
I looked this book up on Amazon before starting it and the age range is 13-17 years old. I'm glad I saw that! The writing style is a bit simple and very to the point - perfect for someone of that age range. It painted a well thought out picture of the situation with just enough earnestness to keep you tethered to the storyline without being too gory or over the top.
The characters were painted beautifully and I found myself hoping the plot would swing back to certain characters so I could see how each person was dealing with the situation.
Overall, a great read, and really well written!

The Good:
The world-building was excellent. This is usually my #1 complaint in a fantasy book, be it too much or too little, but it seemed to be just right. The pacing was also very well done. It didn't feel like a trek to get through the 500+ pages and I was very interested in all of the POVs. The ending is also very mysterious and intriguing and instantly made me want to read the sequel.

The Not So Good:
My main complaint is the plot. It was pretty predictable and easy BUT I have a feeling this will be rectified in a 2nd book and we're being fooled with this 1st one. I also would have liked more insight into Sebastian and Sonya's mother but again, I assume this will be addressed in the next book.

Overall, a very solid fantasy read!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I had a few frustrations with The Ranger of Marzanna. There were many things I ought to have enjoyed more than I did – I love the idea of magic coming at a price of your own humanity, for example. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the characters and found the prose to be mediocre at best. The dialogue in particular tended to take me out of the narrative.

That being said, there’s still a relatively solid foundation beneath the top level issues. The book follows two siblings who have been forced to stand at odds against one another by their different political beliefs. Sonya is committed to liberating her homeland, Izmoroz, by any means necessary. She’s pledged herself to Lady Marzanna, goddess of death, in pursuit of this goal. In exchange for the Lady’s gifts, she finds herself being slowly but surely stripped of her humanity. Each boon the Lady grants comes at a price.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t entirely impressed with how that price was presented. While Sonya has a few brief moments of horror at the way her inner, animalistic nature manifests, it does not seem to impede her day to day life much at all. Generally, it actually helps her. It felt less like a price and more like a change, which I found to be less compelling.

Her brother, Sebastian, has a very different view of how Izmoroz should be run. He’s embraced the empire that conquered them, and has joined their army as a sorcerer. He wields powerful elemental magic. Where Sonya loses her humanity through her magic, Sebastian loses his piece by piece as the empire demands ever more heinous acts from him.

Within the writing, the two characters are differentiated primarily by their mode of speech. Sebastian exists within the upper echelons of society, rubbing elbows with the nobles and upper crust. Their speech is flowery, purple, and frankly feels awkward and forced. I was not a fan. It felt… juvenile. He’s supposedly smart, well-read, and intellectual, but repeatedly ignore the subtext of actions and words in real life.

"His sister’s actions had made reconciliation impossible. But he reminded himself that even if he had lost his sister, and barely recognized his mother in looks or speech, he had a new family: the noble Commander Vittorio, the wily General Zaniolo, the stalwart Rykov, his loyal men, and of course the beautiful and gentle Galina Odeyevtseva, who comforted him when the burdens of leadership grew heavy."

Sebastian’s fiancee, Galina, was arguably the most compelling character in the novel. As it progressed, I was pleased to see her get additional screen time. She and her father have been dedicated to preserving Izmorozian culture for ages; although she’s not a native resident, she recognizes the horrors of imperialism that have been inflicted on the land. Initially, she views Sebastian as an opportunity to take their conquerers down from the inside with him by her side. Gradually, these hopes are dashed… and she resolves to use her connection with him to betray the empire and support the Izmorozian uprising. She manipulates the other members of the army, hiding behind a facade of feminine naiveté.

“And to what do we owe the rare pleasure of your feminine charms?” he asked.

“Merely a longing to see my beloved. He has just returned from a mission that took him away from me for several days and I simply could not wait until supper to see him. You know how weak willed and impetuous womenfolk can be, General.”

Sonya, in contrast with both Sebastian and Galina, spends most of her time among small, rural villages. She’s committed to working alongside the people. Her dialogue is peppered with modern slang and phrases. In text, it’s made clear that this is meant to represent peasant vernacular. For me, though, it felt jarring and out of place. It was a lot like how I speak to my friends. It’s not a way of speaking that I associate with a fantasy world.

If I had been more invested in the characters and better understood their motivations, I think I would have enjoyed their rivalry much more. As it was, it seemed to lack soul. I didn’t really have a particular reason to care much about Izmoroz, didn’t really understand what motivated Sonya, and Sebestian often just seemed like he was awful for the sake of it. This could have been interesting and compelling if the author had dug a little deeper and done something a bit more original than a black-and-white imperialists-vs-natives story.

The Ranger of Marzanna needed a little more depth and a little more polish. It has some great elements, but I regret to say that they don’t quite live up to their potential. On the whole, the book was aggressively mediocre.

I received an e-ARC of this book from Jon Skovron and Orbit Books through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Fantasy novels are often hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed reading this book. I love that the ending left so many possibilities for the second book, which I will read as I need to see what happens to the Portinari siblings. I loved that each time you receive a boon from Lady Marzanna a little more of the person is replaced with a beast. It leaves the character receiving the boon with the moral quandary of figuring out if the boon and the desired result is worth the cost they will pay. It will be interesting to see if Sonya accepts more boons from the Lady in the second book.

The Ranger of Marzanna was a highly anticipated read for me. The back-of-the-book blurb, referencing ancient sects of warriors, siblings on opposite sides of a conflict, and powerful sorcerers, is basically everything that could get me excited. Couple this with a Russia-inspired setting, and it has all the ingredients for a book that I’m highly likely to enjoy. Unfortunately, in the end, those elements didn’t come together for me.

Even in a novel that didn’t end up working for me in the end, there are often elements that I did enjoy and that—for others—might make all the difference. For The Ranger of Marzanna those elements that I enjoyed are headlined by the world building. Not only is the world building interesting, and inspired by a real world setting that doesn’t get as much attention in fantasy as it might, but the prose and descriptions are used wonderful effect. This is a wintery, cold world—though there are scenes where that isn’t the case, and Skovron’s descriptions made me feel cold as I read, or warm alternatively. This part of the story was extremely well done. I also thoroughly enjoyed the magic. While it is primarily an elemental based magic system, there were interesting twists and costs to the magic and I appreciated those touches. For me, the magic system hung together well and I wouldn’t have minded even more of it.

As for what didn’t work for me, that list is a bit longer and also more integral to the book. To begin, the characters—especially the two main characters—ended up being entirely unlikeable for me. For some readers this won’t be an issue, but when I’m reading I feel like I need at least someone I connect with in some way. Even if I don’t agree with their actions, I need to understand and empathize with them at some level. These characters were not only unlikeable to me, but I never really understood their motivations. This frustrated me to no end as I was reading. Sonya was perhaps a bit more understandable than Sebastian. But she had an added complication of feeling like an incredible, perhaps almost super human warrior in some scenes and then in others normal, even bordering on ineffectual. I could not discern any reason for the difference beyond perhaps plot expedience. For me, characters are one of the most important aspects of any story, and not understanding their motivations, not liking them, and finding one inconsistently powerful resulted in a disappointing reading experience. Added to that, many of the side characters felt almost completely forgettable to me. The plot, while interesting, suffered from the lack of clear character motivations. It made it hard for me to care what was really going on. There were also times when the dialog felt stilted, or perhaps overly formal. At other times it included too much explanation to the point where it felt unnatural.

The Ranger of Marzanna had a lot of potential. For me, it didn’t live up to it. However, others may find that their mileage varies. Interesting world building and cool magic wasn’t enough to make up for the significant flaws in this one.

4.5/10

2.25/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing

This book was so good! It was everything I wanted it to be! Our main character Sonya is written so amazingly. I loved following her. The world and politics in this book were well explored and I really appreciated that. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley & the Publisher for giving me an advanced copy to review!

This was a great read, that I think is going to be held down by the fact it is a series instead of a one off. Which sounds weird, but with the way everything is wrapped up, I just don't know if I think it is possible to stretch out for another book. Like almost everything wrapped up nicely up until the very end, so it just made the ending not feel like it was the "right" one.

Besides that, I did really enjoy it since I basically read 80% of the novel in one sitting so I can't say I wasn't enraptured by the world given. Lady Marzanna was so cool and I loved all the bits of lore we got about her and the various other religious beliefs.

The characters were also a lot of fun and I felt like I connected to most of them and enjoyed reading their POVs. Most because the two characters I couldn't connect with were the brother and the mother. I just don't see why they would make the choices that they do and it just feels like the brother acts this way to spite his sister instead of having a real reason for it. I was more interested in Galina's POV than either of theirs.

The first section is a bit slow and with how fast POVs shift it is hard to get connected early on. But once Part 2 started, I felt a lot more connected and involved in everything going on.

I really wish this was a standalone, just because it would've been great to have such a good standalone novel. But like I said, I just have no idea how things can be drawn out for another book and not have it feel repetitive. Especially given the fact the buildup the end gives us, feels like its going to be a very typical twist and not something new.

This book gave me so many ideas for my campaigns. The goddess Marzanna made me think a lot about the Raven Queen, and it only made me want to play D&D again even more than normal. Anyway, the siblings in this story are a ranger and a sorcerer, and they are both amazingly and terrifyingly powerful.

Seriously, the action in this book starts in the very first chapter. I could tell from the first couple pages that I was going to be in love with this story. Sonya is a great archer and horse rider, and it is easy to see how the Rangers of Marzanna have earned their fearsome reputation. The villages and the common people still revere these fabled warriors as well.

The culture and world-building and phrasing and beliefs of this world were captivating to me. I love that we’re starting to get more books with a Slavic influence. I’d love to continue seeing us get more stories from cultures that aren’t Western European or American in inspiration.

Oh, and also, there is so much going on in this book. There is action and adventure and friendship and romance and political machinations and war and life/death and religion. It was utterly fantastic. Honestly the chemistry between characters, no matter the relationship between them, is why I selected this book for the Calendar Girls Springtime Whirl prompt: Fireworks (read a book you think has the best chemistry in it).

I could go on and on gushing about how much I enjoyed this book. I could talk about how I was so invested in the lives of the characters. It was fascinating to see the different perspectives and twists on events depending on which side of the conflict the characters were on. Sonya very obviously saw the Empire in one way, while Sebastian’s opinions were very heavily based on the words and wisdom of the nobles and officers of the Empire surrounding him. Then when you throw in Galina and Jorge and Irina as POV characters as well, you see even more points of view and more perspective and experiences and opinions. It is so deeply complex and intense and wonderful.

I absolutely loved reading this book and cannot wait to pick up the sequel, The Queen of Izmoroz.

Before getting into my thoughts on the book itself, I have to mention the gorgeous cover. Before even reading the blurb, I was interested in this book, based on the amazing artwork. The blurb made me want to read it all the more.

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. The idea was a great one: two siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of a war, told from their points of view. The Slavic influences were intriguing, and I really enjoyed the wintry feel of the world in general. As far as fantasy settings go, I dug this one.

The main characters are Sonya and her brother Sebastian. Sonya is the last surviving member of the Rangers of Marzanna, an elite warrior group. She has special gifts that are given to the rangers, which made her a pretty hardcore fighter. She was rather underdeveloped as a character, though, and I struggled reading about her. There was so much potential to her, but it wasn’t fully realized. Yet. She may become more three dimensional in the following installment.

As for her brother, Sebastian…have you seen The Force Awakens? There’s a scene where Kylo Ren throws a temper tantrum and the stormtroopers that were heading his way just turn and walk away. Reading about Sebastian felt like watching Kylo Ren’s tantrum. He really needed someone to put him on timeout. The two of them together…oy vey.

However, the other characters were fantastic. They made up for the less than stellar main characters, and each brought their own brand of extra something to the book. My favorite was Jorge, an apothecary who ends up involved through a strange set of circumstances.

While I didn’t love the book, I liked it enough to be curious about the next book. Sometimes a series improves as it goes on and the author gets their groove. I’m hoping that will be the case for this book.

I found this novel quick to get into and I was fascinate by the brother and sister to see what kind of magic is to revealed and how they are going to change the world. The world building was done in a way that you can just image the scenes in your head. The writing style was well written and it kept my attention from the beginning to the end. The only thing that was a little off… was some of the “conversations”. They seemed a little bit too modern for the time period and didn’t flow with the book.

I received an ARC of this book from Orbit Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.

All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Content Warning: Profanity, Death, War, Adult sexual content, Gore

"Hunters might strike with efficiency, thereby sparing their prey undo pain and suffering, but creatures of the wild did not take into account such things. And certainly Lady Marzanna, Goddess of Winter and Death, was not a creature that could ever be tamed."

In a Russian-inspired fantasy world of cold tundra and warring nations, The Ranger of Marzanna brings an action-packed, complex story about the ultimate sibling rivalry.
She was doing the work she had vowed to do as a Ranger, protecting the people of Izmoroz and undermining the empire that had outlawed the worship of the great Lady Marzanna.

The kingdom of Izmoroz is a diverse one, full of rich culture and people. Since it was overthrown and became part of the Empire, it has been the goal of many to return it to its original state. Multiple forces working singularly discover that many collectively work towards restoring Izmoroz, Sonya being one of them.

One of the last Rangers of Marzanna, Sonya has been trained in combat to serve and protect the people of her nation. The Rangers are an unusual lot. They serve the Lady Marzanna, and in return, she gives each “gifts” slowly turn them into something other than human. Sadly, the Rangers were mostly killed off in battle. Crafty Sonya still found her way to Lady Marzanna through a family servant who disguised his identity in order to elude the Empire after the war.

Sonya’s father, ironically, was one of the most renowned warriors in the Empire’s army but didn’t exactly discourage Sonya’s path. He did, however, not allow Sonya’s younger brother Sebastian, to enlist in the army as he had. Sebastian possesses elemental magic, a rare ability in the realm. It is soon apparent that he is sought out by the Empire when his father is killed in a raid on their home one night.

After Sonya discovers her family’s home ransacked and her father’s body, she decides to go after her mother and brother to free them. She breaks into a garrison, only to find out that both her mother and brother have come to terms with their position, and even embrace it. Her mother, a woman from a long line of nobility, is comfortable back in court. Sebastian is immediately enlisted into the Empire’s army. Desiring more knowledge and freedom with his abilities, he quickly gains the approval of this commander and is placed in a position of power.

Sonya and Sebastian find themselves sitting on the opposite sides of the bank--one, desiring for the freedom of her homeland. The other--enjoying his station of power, despite its downfalls.

"What a terrible thing was love. What a dreadful weapon it could become."

With the siblings at odds, each finds their own allies amongst the ranks of their enemies. Sonya seeks out the clan of undead warriors and enemies of the Empire. Her journey to them is daunting, and she loses more of herself along the way. Despite her transformation, Sonya started out lacking in character since her life is driven by the Lady Marzanna’s plans. I’m curious to see at what cost her lack of humanity will lead her in the future.

Not unlike his sister, Sebastian also sacrifices his innocence and eventually his betrothed for esteem and power. Called to kill his own people with his powers forces him to make “examples” of wrongdoers and elicit fear to those trying to thwart the Empire.

”Just as the fate of all snow is tho melt, the fate of all mortals is to die.”

Atmospheric, complex, yet slow-paced, The Ranger of Marzanna is an enthralling read and a promising start to this series. (I must add that I wish Sonya's loyal horse Peppercorn had a bigger role than he ended up with. But, that's my personal preference.)

Vulgarity: Markedly.
Sexual content: Moderate.
Violence: Markedly.

My Rating: ★★★★

The writing and world building was atmospheric and amazing. I found myself drawn into the characters, but there was something missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Overall though, I definitely enjoyed it!

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book pretty solid. It’s not the best book out there but it definitely had me intrigued enough to finish. The storyline held my attention as well as the characters. I think I’ll be willing to check out the next book when it comes out.