Unfortunately I regret to say that I don't believe this book was the right fit for me. I was looking forward to reading it and found it to be quite intriguing.

However the writing style was quite difficult to follow along with and I found the story not gripping my attention.

Again I am really upset as I was looking forward to enjoying this book, but just didn't do it for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book in advance. I appreciate it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Hodderscape for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: child death, violence, war, injury, murder, blood

After twenty four years of peace following a series of brutal wars and rebellions, the Emperor of Orssun Bersun the Brusque must step down. His replacement, one of seven from each of the tribes- Fox, Monkey, Bear, Raven, Ox, Hound, Tiger- will be chosen after a series of trials, all aimed to challenge the contenders in everything needed to successfully rule. The responsibility for organising the entire Festival has fallen onto Neema Kraa, Bersun’s High Scholar and a black sheep member of the Raven faction, as her final act before the two of them go into retirement- something Neema is looking forward to. When a contender is murdered, Neema becomes everyone’s favourite suspect. Forced by Bersun to find the murderer before a new Emperor is chosen, Neema is made to take part in the trials that everyone else has spent their lives preparing for. Reuniting with her former lover, the sneaky Fox, Cain, and meeting the reviled Tiger contender Ruko, Neema has to untangle a conspiracy stretching back generations while fighting for her life- and sanity- against six legendary warriors all with their own history and motivations to win. Neema thinks she is alone but little does she know, the gods- particularly the Raven- are watching and interfering.

This is an absolutely incredible book, combining everything I love about epic fantasy into a thrilling journey that mixes multiple perspectives, responsibility, magic, a massive amount of politics, squabbling animal gods and a unique sense of humour. I was obsessed with it from the first page, it really didn’t feel as if I’d been reading 600+ pages when I finished. Neema is a brilliant main character, she’s so intelligent and resilient even when she thinks she’s not capable- her unique position in the court, and everyone’s dislike of her for one huge past mistake, really impact her confidence and lead her to forget just how good she is. I adored the character of Cain, Neema’s ex, and his inconsistent behaviour perfectly in line with the Fox he follows. Their relationship ended on a sour note and I really liked how they gradually came back to each other throughout the book, even if they’re on opposite sides in something much bigger than them. There’s a twist midway I wasn’t expecting and I’m obsessed with it. I have to talk about Ruko, the stoic and hated Tiger candidate, because this whole story is in part triggered by an action he made as a child. His scenes are powerful and deeply significant, I enjoyed how he slowly seemed to realise that his whole purpose can’t be defined by one thing and am deeply curious to where he might go in the sequel. I also adored the character of Sol, the piece of the Raven haunting Neema, because he’s an absolute delight, injecting humour and companionship into the darkest of moments. The second book can’t come soon enough!

The Raven Scholar was exactly the type of fantasy novel I was looking for: addictive, with a wonderful world-building, fantastic characters, and beautifully-written.

The story is witty and funny, told by a narrator who tells the story with humor and boldness, and there is political intrigue, murder mystery, and a deadly competition to become the next emperor that kept me on the edge of my seat.

At the center of the story there is Neema Kraa, a Raven Scholar who spends more time among books than people and then suddenly finds herself thrown into the competition. She is not prepared for the tournament and no one wants to see her win. Also, the current emperor tasks her in solving the murder of another contestant, everyone is keeping secrets, and there is a sentient raven who won’t leave her alone. I really liked the character of Neema: socially awkward, often lonely, and too smart for her own good, I found her relatable and compelling. The secondary characters are also very interesting: Cain is charming and entertaining, Benna is quite overenthusiastic, Bersun is not what I expected, and even Ruko is still a mystery, so I am looking forward to seeing more of him in the sequel!

The story is very well-plotted and the writing kept me glued to the pages: there are intrigue, twists and mystery, there are malevolent gods and interfering ravens, and there is also some romance that it’s not central to the story, but still kept me intrigued. The ending was explosive and unexpected and left me looking forward to reading the sequel!

It may have taken a little settling into, but by the time I was in, I was well and truly in. The Raven Scholar is a delightfully original and engaging bit of fantasy, but it meets mystery right in the middle, a healthy swathe of political machinations dressing the whole affair. Neema was a delightfully flawed, funny and enjoyable protagonist, but not the only storyteller as you’ll find. Hodgson’s writing drew me into her world and held me hostage through every twist and turn until I was left at the last page, tottering on the hopeful precipice of knowing there’s another book coming!

(I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review - it’s been a pleasure to give one!)

This book is a brilliant blend of murder mystery and epic fantasy that had me hooked from the very first page. The magical contest at the heart of the story is so riveting, featuring representatives from eight unique and sacred magical animals. It’s cutthroat, with plenty of political intrigue and imperial deceit to keep things interesting!

The characters are incredibly complex and flawed, which made me feel for them even more as they navigate their tangled family dramas. Speaking of which, this family is seriously messed up in the best way possible. You can't help but get drawn into their secrets and struggles. The magical system is creatively crafted, adding depth to the already rich world that the author has built.

The twists and turns kept me on my toes. High stakes made every moment feel intense—my heart was racing during those competitions! The vibrant, immersive world is filled with details that make it feel alive and real.

The Raven Scholar is a thrilling journey full of surprises and memorable moments. I loved the found family aspect, too, which added a lot of warmth amidst the chaos. If you enjoy clever plots with engaging characters in a beautifully crafted setting, it's definitely worth checking out!

An intriguing concept that did so well with conveying the different personalities and purposes of the animal-themed groups.

This is an amazing start to an epic fantasy series.
This story has everything I love in a fantasy story - dark academia vibes, trials, a murder mystery and plenty of political intrigue.
The twists and turns were wonderful and I can't get over the ending - I need book 2 asap!!
I enjoyed the changes in POVs and I adored Neema.

🌑 𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓵𝓼, 𝓢𝓮𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓡𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼 🦅

A murder mystery wrapped in imperial politics, layered trials, and cryptic birds, The Raven Scholar is a sharp and twisty fantasy debut that challenges your brain and rewards your patience.

In the empire of Orrun, seven contenders compete to replace the emperor. They're the strongest minds and fiercest warriors the land has to offer. Until one of them ends up dead. The task of uncovering the killer falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s eccentric and brilliant High Scholar, who must solve the mystery while still competing herself. Her only allies? A chorus of watchful, razor-tongued ravens who might be more than they seem.

“We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.”

Let me start by saying: the ravens were magnificent. Sassy, sharp, and occasionally cryptic, they were easily my favorite part of the book. Their presence added a layer of myth and mystery that made the whole world feel alive. I loved their commentary, equal parts eerie and hilarious.

The story is ambitious and rich with world-building. The political intrigue and interwoven secrets kept me invested, and Neema is a wonderfully relatable main character, witty, stubborn, and constantly questioning everything around her. There’s a really clever narrative voice at play here too. At times, it felt like the story was talking directly to me, not just unfolding for me to observe.

That said, the book is definitely dense. Between the political maneuverings, many named characters, and layered backstories, I sometimes had to pause and retrace my steps to keep things straight. And while I found it to be fairly fast-paced, there were moments when the complexity combined with the length made it a bit overwhelming. This isn’t a light read, it’s one you sink into, slowly but fully.

Still, the payoff was worth it. The twists in the last third had me stunned, and I’m incredibly excited to see where the story goes next. If you’re a fan of clever heroines, high-stakes trials, and morally murky power plays, this one’s for you.

📅 The Raven Scholar was released on April 15, 2025.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Antonia Hodgson, and Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

I requested this after receiving a sample chapter at an event in Waterstones Liverpool and BOY was I not disappointed

This is beautifully written fantasy, the plot is rich and the twists and turns are effective. The time jumps took a little bit of adjustment but once I got my head around it I flew through the book

Definitely recommend for the more adventurous fantasy reader

This is genuinely one of the best fantasy books I've read in a long, long time.
I went into this completely blind, no expectations, no clue, just loving the cover and the title and the blurb. I didn't know that I would become completely obsessed within like, ten pages.

<i>The Raven Scholar</i> tells the story of Neema, the titular Raven Scholar who wants nothing more than to do scholarly things in peace. Unfortunately for her, the Emperor has to retire and in order to find his successor, a competition is held with seven contenders fighting for the throne. When the Raven contender is murdered, Neema is named to take her place, even though it's the last thing she would ever want to do.
There is so much going on in this novel and I loved every second of it. It's spectacularly told with a unique narrative voice and perspective that provides an equally unique tone. There a lot of humour in here and it's exactly the kind of humour I adore, and I don't think I've laughed out loudly as much in a long time. But as much as the humour is an integral part of the writing style, there are narrative gut punches and deeply emotionally evocative moments that truly haunt the characters in the story.
And the characters! Chef's kiss, let me tell you. Every character is complex, with their own morals and convictions. Neema is genuinely one of the best protagonists I've ever had the pleasure of reading about, and I very much enjoyed her romance with Cain, the flippant Fox contender that could have easily turned into a complete stereotype (and there are instances of it - he <i>is</i> yet another witty bisexual character revelling in promiscuity and enjoying orgies) but is given enough depth and complexity to steer him away from that. The side characters are enjoyable, even the ones I learned to loathe with every fiver of my being. Just fantastic character work (and development) all around.
The story is exciting, with twists and turns and revelations while never straying to far from its main threads. The very first chapter of the book informs so much of the following narrative and the characters and relationships, and it's just masterfully done. There is one twist that a lot of people might finds a little predictable, but it didn't take away from the enjoyment.

There is genuinely nothing I don't like in this book. Amazing characters, great story, exciting moments, clever twists and just so many unique ideas - add to that the simply fantastic writing style, humour and unique narrative voice and <i>The Raven Scholar</i> turns out to be an absolute gem of the fantasy genre. A masterfully crafted beginning to a new trilogy. I'm already seated for the sequel and cannot wait.

Wow! this was a long read, but I loved it.
Every twist and turn felt right and kept the story progressing. The characters are fantastic! I need more

The j you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this earc!

I sadly had to DNF because I felt the jumps in time weren’t for me. I couldn’t stay focused on it and I didn’t love the writing sadly!

The story was really interesting and the characters were very multi-layered and the writing is very good. The twists and turns were very clever and something I did not anticipate. However, I do think this book was overwritten in a lot of places and could have easily been 200 pages shorter, probably needed some stronger editing.

The Raven Scholar is snarky and funny. This wry sense of humor compliments the severity and haunting consequences of the plot by keeping the story lively and engaging without detracting from the plot. It's an impressive first fantasy and I look forward to reading more from this author

In the empire of Orrun, the emperor is stepping down after twenty-four years, and seven contenders compete to replace him. They are the best of the best, each representing one of the eight guardians of Orrun. Then the Raven contender is murdered, and the emperor’s High Scholar, Neema Kraa, finds herself taking the contender’s place while simultaneously trying to find the killer before the trials reach their conclusion.

I did really enjoy this book, but the story is a bit long and slow, especially in the first half. There’s a lot going on, so I certainly wouldn’t call it boring, it’s just there are elements that I could have done without. In particular, the moments where the story is told from the point-of-view of the raven. Those parts were jarring and dragged me out of the story, improved only with the introduction of the Solitary Raven.

For the most part, I liked the characters. Neema is pedantic which, while not a particularly likeable trait, I respect, while Cain, Ruko, Shal and the other contenders filled out the rest of the cast really effectively with a variety of personalities and I felt they all bought something individual to the story.

It is well written and unpredictable. I had no idea who killed Gaida, and the second major plot twist was excellent and totally unexpected after the first.

First of all, thank you Hodderscape & NetGalley for an ARC of this fascinant first installment of a probably mindblowing trilogy, in exchange for an honest review!

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I got into this not knowing specifically what to expect; I just had some encouragements from friends who'd listened to the audio book or read an advance copy, and the voices were reassuring. After all, since I translated Peter V. Brett, I hardly believe I read another book so heavily paged. Perhaps the Blackwater saga, if you put the volumes back to back, but that went on differently.
Because I want to keep this spoiler free, so that I can persuade as many people as possible to read it, I will just mention a couple of excellent traits that have kept me awake late at night, to advance in my reading.
*** the POVs *** are something else in this book, and first they took me by surprise and confused me, but then I played along, and the narration felt more intimate and more inclusive with them
*** the characters *** well built, carefully researched, not likely to go OOC; one of the villains is slightly too much when compared to the rest, but then again it feels alright to have their villainy exacerbated, and their powers too much
*** the plot *** this is one of those books that you have to keep reading to understand what goes on and what people are on to; I particularly like the way we get to discover bits of the history and geopolitics of the world as we continue reading
*** the non-focus on relationships *** there are hints of romance, and dramance, and bromance even, there is something in this for us all! But it's not the main focus, and I was so grateful for this, because I really enjoy books who are not revolving around love/ love-hate/ combinations thereof.

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I am looking forward to reading the next volume!

I had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time, so perhaps my expectations were too high. Then again, perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy it.
The book starts strongly with the prologue, but then we jump ahead several years and meet the main character. From there, I found it a bit difficult. On the one hand, I found Neema interesting, but on the other, her lack of friends and the fact that everyone hated her felt very plot-convenient. I didn't see much growth in her or any of the other characters; they all felt a bit flat to me most of the time.
Every decision in this book seemed over the top. The plot involved a lot of back and forth during the first 30%, and revelations sometimes came out of nowhere, so I had a hard time following it.
Then there's the omniscient perspective of the Raven Collective. We go from an all-seeing 'we' perspective that speaks directly to us as readers to Neema's point of view mid-paragraph. At other times, the POVs were separated by paragraph breaks, which was confusing.
Adding to the confusion, there were lots of names from different time periods that I was supposed to remember, but I couldn't because of everything else going on. In addition, I felt that the pacing was a bit off. There were instances where multiple pages dragged on, such as the folktales and side character backstories, which sometimes spanned 12 pages and definitely did not need to be that long.
The big plot twist came around the middle of the book, ruining the murder mystery and 'whodunit' plot for me, as the main secret was revealed and this part of the story became boring afterwards. I think you could have built more suspense around this secret, which had been hidden for years and could change the whole empire. By around the 65% mark, I realised that I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the story and the characters. Although I still think the underlying basis of the story could be very interesting, I sadly decided not to finish it.

Sadly this wasn’t for me, I guess.
I tried it several times and couldn’t get into it. I really wanted to, but somehow it didn’t happen.
Maybe it was the writing style or the time jumps, but every time I couldn’t pass the 20% mark.
It wasn’t written badly, but really hard to get into for me.

Really enjoyable start to a new fantasy series. I have high hopes for what is to come next. Magic, world building and characters to adore.

I feel like I have mixed feelings about this book. For full clarity, I did not finish it. The beginning is absolutely wonderful, and all the parts I read (up to about 40%) were well written and intriguing. I’m not going to spoil it but if you’ve read the book you will likely know what I’m talking about; for some reason something changed a few chapters in and it really threw me and made me sad, but as a result I struggled to connect with the other characters. I do think people will love this book (as I’m sure they’re already doing) I just don’t think it is a book for me at this moment in time. Also, massive apologies for this being late, I hard a very rough family bereavement and am also on my final placement as a student nurse so am very tired. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book, and I do hope to have another go at reading it soonish:)