The Raven Ring is the 5th book in Patricia Wrede's Lyra series. I did not read the entire series, the first book didn't keep me engrossed, but the summary of this one seemed interesting enough for me to give it a shot. First off, I did not find myself at a severe disadvantage for not having read the other books. The world is similar enough to many others in a fantasy world context, and the various magic system and races weren't so strange and extraordinary to warrant previous knowledge to ward off confusion. Even though I plunged in at book 5, I wasn't confused at all.The story is about Eleret, a woman in her early 20s who stays at home in her mountain village and takes care of her siblings and father while her mother works as a warrior/guardian in a foreign land. Her mother dies suddenly, and Eleret sets off to claim her belongings, among which is a raven ring, whom everyone seems to want. Many attempts were taken at stealing her mother's belongings from Eleret; she, a young nobleman, and a thief try to dodge the murderous attempts while uncovering the mystery of the ring.This was just an average book. There was nothing extraordinary about the writing, the world-building, or the characters. For me, the characters make or break a book, and I didn't find myself with any strong emotions towards any of the main characters. Eleret is not a fantastic heroine. She is strong and great at everything, but there is no character. We don't see her grow, mature, or show much weakness at all. She is already a strong character at the start of the book, she is certainly capable at everything she does, and maybe that's the problem. She is too capable. She can fight, she unwittingly uses the power of the ring, she can get herself out of just about every bad situation. I hate to say it, but there's nothing relateable about a character who is so capable.The love interests (there is no sex here, not much romance, just slight tinges of flirting) are just ok. I found the young nobleman to be somewhat of a trope. He's privileged but capable, doesn't take things too seriously, and I didn't really see any depth to him; he is also quite patronizing, which is excused somewhat by the culture in which he was raised. I didn't like the thief, either. Both men weren't attractive to me at all, and I would have preferred it if Eleret didn't make a decision in the end.The plot was dull, predictable, just one attempts after another at taking the ring. I expected more of an adventure, and instead, I got more of a half-hearted mystery.This was a very disappointing read, I enjoyed Patricia Wrede's works in the past, and was hoping for more than I got from this book. Based on this one, I would not go back and read the previous installments in the series. It was good enough, I've certainly read worse fantasies, but nothing in the book captured my imagination.
This was gifted by a friend. It's a solid fantasy; nothing too unusual or innovative but it IS fun, and it stands on its own, without having to read any other Lyra novel. I like Eleret as a character; she's strong, practical, has common sense, but still makes a few errors due to her unfamiliarity with the city and culture she finds herself in. She doesn't dwell on those mistakes, though, and just moves on.I like Daner better than Karvonen, but I have to say the sensible, mature handling of the underlying romantic triangle (obvious to readers maybe, but it takes Eleret by surprise, because it's not at all on her mind until near the very end) was refreshing; Eleret makes her choice between her two friends for practical reasons as well as of the heart. I was pretty sure who she was going to pick, but her reasoning when rejecting the other (she does care about both as friends, fellow adventurers in this particular situation, and potential suitors) was very adult, taking into consideration more than just passionate physical reaction--his response was also reasonable and mature; it IS refreshing to see such things handled in healthy, mature ways (which seems odd). Also, there's a feeling that the characters know that it won't be a forever love; it will be a pleasant affair, but unlikely to continue due to their individual lives.So while the plot is of no surprise (but is solid and well done), the characters and their interactions were what intrigued me, from the people in the Islander school, to Daner's family, to the military officials Eleret deals with, to the apparent villain. I had a real sense of Eleret's own culture though we don't see much of them directly, but it informs all she does, and how others see her. I would definitely recommend it for middle to older adolescent readers, especially those looking for strong, positive female characters.
What do You think about The Raven Ring (1995)?
I enjoyed this fantasy novel as a teenager, and I still enjoy it as an adult. I liked the world-building with the clash of different cultures as part of the challenge for the young heroine. The characters were fun and likable, though I think I liked them even more when I was a teenager. Multiple readings have taken the suspense out of the story for me, but that's part of why I read it this time. I wanted a novel were the good guys work together, defeat evil, and all is right with the world again.There was no sex. There was a very small amount of explicit bad language. There was fantasy magic (of the casting spells kind, and the spell-casting words were usually written out in the text in, I assume, a made-up language). Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable fantasy.
—Debbie
yay, i've finished the entire lyra series! and i gave four stars to the last one! (though there may be some rating inflation due to my overwhelming relief at having liked it, but whatever.)eleret was a great character. strong, sensible, smart, and practical. very awesome. the plot was decent and didn't leave a ton of unaswered questions like the last one. though in my opinion the villain was slightly incompetent, and some parts were rather predictable. and i'm still not super fond of the prophecy aspect, but whatever. it was pretty interesting to read about at least.(view spoiler)[kind of torn about just recommending this book and not the others in the lyra series though -- i think it'd be harder for people to appreciate the threat of the shadow-born if they haven't read the others. in this book we didn't even get to hear climeral explain to daner why he should take the shadow-born seriously, whereas in the other books we saw a lot more of how terrifying they are. so if you don't already know how creepy and powerful the shadow-born are, the reaction to the threat of the shadow-born would probably be more "ehh, so there's some legendary evil power that's doing strange things" and not "NOOO NOT THE SHADOW-BORN!! NOTHING IS WORTH LETTING ONE ESCAPE!!!" so yeah, the stakes may not feel as high if you've only read this one. but i don't think it'd be worth reading the other 4 books for, since i thought most of the others were just ok. (hide spoiler)]
—Linda
I'm not really sure what age these books are best for. On some level, a 12 yr old might enjoy them, but then there are other aspects that I think perhaps a bit older would be best. I read them in order of publication, but I think chronology would be better. The other nice thing about this series is that the books are self-contained. You do not have to read all of the books. You can pick and choose. None of the stories rely on the others. The connection is the world of Lyra and battling darkness. I think this book may have been my favorite in the series. The characters were enjoyable to me and I like the romantic tones in this one.
—Kim
