Call of the Raven is the backstory of Mungo St. John and the series of events that amounted to him becoming a slaver. Mungo faces incredible shock and emotional turmoil as everything he knows and loves is taken from him, and he pursues vengeance with steeper costs than he ever thought possible. The book follows Mungo from his fresh-out-of-college youth to his manhood as a hardened individual forced to make dark, ruthless choices to get the vengeance he holds dear above all else.
The writing in this book was strong. The characters were well-developed, and the plot was definitely interesting to follow. However, along with a long list of trigger warnings, this book was too much. The horrible events that take place not only made me sick to my stomach, but also felt so forced and unnecessary. Chester was too much of a cartoon-evil villain for me. His motivations, aside from power, are unclear. His sheer delight at the suffering of others just felt too unconvincing for me. I liked that Mungo has a lot of morally gray moments in the text, and I found those more compelling and interesting. But the book sacrifices logic for fanfare and shock value. What happens at the very end could have easily gone very differently if people had just acted with some reason.
The story was fast-paced and certainly not dull. But it was so ridiculous that I found myself just wanting the book to be over and the nonsense to stop. It contained so much violence, rape, and gore that it felt like watching a Quentin Tarantino movie, which was definitely not what I was hoping for when I picked it up. I wouldn't recommend this book, and I hope that future books in this universe are handled with more care and sense.
The writing in this book was strong. The characters were well-developed, and the plot was definitely interesting to follow. However, along with a long list of trigger warnings, this book was too much. The horrible events that take place not only made me sick to my stomach, but also felt so forced and unnecessary. Chester was too much of a cartoon-evil villain for me. His motivations, aside from power, are unclear. His sheer delight at the suffering of others just felt too unconvincing for me. I liked that Mungo has a lot of morally gray moments in the text, and I found those more compelling and interesting. But the book sacrifices logic for fanfare and shock value. What happens at the very end could have easily gone very differently if people had just acted with some reason.
The story was fast-paced and certainly not dull. But it was so ridiculous that I found myself just wanting the book to be over and the nonsense to stop. It contained so much violence, rape, and gore that it felt like watching a Quentin Tarantino movie, which was definitely not what I was hoping for when I picked it up. I wouldn't recommend this book, and I hope that future books in this universe are handled with more care and sense.