Review of ‘Silver Ravens’ by Jane Fletcher

Good but not great among lesbian fantasy fiction books. I’m a big Jane Fletcher fan. Her Celaeno series is still one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. I am always really excited when a new book of hers comes out and I just want to savor it. Maybe because of this my expectations were a little too high, but I didn’t love this like I was hoping for.

For starters, while I love the cover, I think it threw me off a bit. There were dragons in this book but because of that cover, I thought we were going to get DRAGONS!!! Trust me you will get my meaning after you read this. I think another problem for me is that the world seemed very small until exactly half waypoint.

I am so used to Fletcher’s amazing world-building that the first half didn’t fit so well for me and I felt a little claustrophobic almost. And that was causing me to have trouble connecting with the book. Luckily, that changed and the second half of the book became so much better. This new world grew and it felt more classic Fletcher so I finally got in a good reading groove where the pages were flying by.

I found both mains to be a bit up and down. Lori started off really judgmental and off-putting. She mentally went after some women just because she was overweight and wore too much make-up. I mean, I’m personally not attracted to women who like to wear a pound of make-up but I don’t ridicule their intelligence because of it. It was just weird and I didn’t see the point in it except to have us think poorly of Lori?

Once the book went on Lori seemed to be one of the only people with a conscious (making her more likable) so I had to wonder who the real Lori was. Tamisn, the other main, is the kind of character I would totally swoon over. The problem was that her character had some faults I didn’t care for either. Most of it is explained why later on, but again it left me wondering how much of the real Tamisn did I know and connect with as a reader.

While this is fantasy, it is not heavy fantasy. I think a reader who is newer to lesbian fantasy fiction books or only dips their toes in once and a while could read this with no issues. Like I mentioned before, once the book hit the half-way point the pace became upbeat and it was much more enjoyable for me. There is a WLW romance but it is not a major beat of the book. I actually think the book could have stood fine without a romance but I consider it just a little reader bonus.

I would still recommend this read but I think it is my least favorite Fletcher book I have read so far. I think Fletcher fans and fantasy fans still should read this but if you are new to Fletcher, I would suggest starting with her Celaeno series or one of her other standalone books instead. 3.50 Stars.

A copy was given to me for an honest review.