The Lyra Novels: Shadow Magic, Daughter of Witches, The Harp of Imach Thyssel, Caught in Crystal, and The Raven Ring

Lyra #1-5

by Patricia C. Wrede

Five fantasy novels set in the magical world of Lyra

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

1603 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her second book at once, having become permanently hooked on writing by this time.

Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.

Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." Several years later, they were joined by Kara Dalkey. In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).

In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.

Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.
She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat Karma. She has no children.

Reviews

[Lisa Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected to like these much more than I did, because I'm a big fan of Wrede's funny YA fantasy. The Lyra novels are all right, but clearly straight fantasy is not where her strengths lie. She wrote these at the beginning of her career, and obviously found a better fit with her later formulas of no-nonsense ladies briskly taking care of business with a good dash of humor and self-awareness of the genre thrown in.

Anyway, The Raven Ring was my favorite, and I also liked Shadow Magic and parts of Daughter of Witches and The Harp of Imach Thyssel. But Caught in Crystal was dreadfully dull and dragged on forever.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun series, yet not a series. These are the early works of Patricia C. Wrede. One can almost see her writing constantly improve with each book. The world of Lyra is related in the various tales, however, each book can be easily read as a stand alone. Other than some "history," the subsequent books are not dependent on the previous ones.

Fun, light fantasy. I was fortunate to fine the bundled set for Kindle at a bargain price.

[ke-sha]

$3.99 on the kindle today!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Lyra-Novels-Da...

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of five books that exist in the same world, but can be read independently. The characters are unique, and the stories themselves take place in different countries and cities. There are a few uniform themes (such as the threat of shadow-born), and brief mentions of things that happen in other books.

One interesting thing about this book is that they are so self-contained. While many fantasy books are epic and long, these novels have shorter stories and a smaller scope. The plot of the story itself is not something grand, but something that involves itself with a smaller cast (although if the smaller cast falls can have dire consequences). If you are in the mood for high fantasy, but perhaps don't want to commit yourself to some long tale, this may be for you. (Although it should be noted that the world itself is huge).

These stories have strong female characters, although some of the stories are better in this regard than others (with perhaps the first story being the least). The stories are heteronormative. Some stories more than others mention romance. The romance feels like an unnecessary add-on, but I've never been big on romance. The romance aspect, however, is not huge. If there is one, it usually involves the male character secretly liking the female character, only for this to be revealed at the end (with the female character having to make a decision).

I like some of the books more than others. The first one was my least favorite. I felt like the other ones were noticeably better. Overall, while I wouldn't claim these are amazing or stellar fantasy novels, they are a decent and enjoyable read, and they are important when one realizes how far fantasy has come! Pick it up if you want a one book read!

(One thing I want to note is that I wished Goodreads counted this collection as 5 books. By reading this set, I've negatively impacted my book count, and I might not make my yearly goal now. I know I could probably go and claim the Lyra books independently 1 by 1 as read, but I bought the collection on Goodreads like this... sigh...)

[Melani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked these. They were fun, 80s/90s high fantasy. You can tell the first novel was Wrede's first, her writing definitely got better, and the characters more complex. The world building is interesting, and it feels like there are a lot of mysteries or problems in that world that Wrede doesn't plan to address, I kind of like that, sometimes there are just things that don't get fixed. We get pieces of the problems, adventures that brush up against the world's history, but only that. It makes for a bigger world feel.

[Cbx · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an average rating across the series, some of these were definitely better than others. I read all five books, one after the other, and rather liked this approach. While the books are not actually connected in terms of storyline, and it is a bit confusing how they relate to each other in terms of when they took place, reading them this way lets you pick up on the bits of shared lore scattered in them. My two favorites were Daughter of Witches and The Raven Ring, and I also liked Caught in Crystal. The other two I would not recommend. Reviews for each book and spoilers below.


Shadow Magic. This was my least favorite of all of them, and the most trope-y. The story opens on two friends, the point-of-view character, a trader, and his friend, a young noble. The trader is worried about his duties, while the noble wants him to come and enjoy the time off he is about to have. They have the jovial kind of male friendship that is found throughout fantasy novels, full of quips and grinning at each other. From there, the story embarks on a high fantasy plot, complete with long-forgotten mythical beings who appear shortly after having been initially described, long-lost immensely powerful artifacts, and evil sorcerers made entirely of shadows. Trader duties, presented as so important initially, are entirely forgotten a few pages in and never mentioned again. The mythical beings are described oddly - the Shee have slanted eyes and straight eyebrows, while the Wyrds are cat-like with many pointed teeth. The Neira, who appear to be gender-fluid mermaids, get short shrift in this book compared to the other two beings, and barely recur in any other books in the series. As for our alleged point-of-view character, he is extraneous to much of the story, occasionally putting in a comment when the characters reconvene to recount their separate adventures (luckily not detailed recountings, but there is much description of stories being exchanged). At the end of the story, there is a romance that feels entirely undeserved, as the characters in question barely spoke to each other during the book (I guess they spent two scenes alone together?).

Daughter of Witches. I think this one might have been my favorite. The point-of-view character here is an indentured servant with an abusive master and a circumscribed world. There is a sense of oppression from the beginning due to her situation, which builds into believable menace as the story progresses. This book was almost non-stop action from the beginning, when the strangers come into town and disrupt the strictures of the society in which the main character lives. There are chase scenes, evil priests, a dark religion, and relentless pursuit the characters seem unable to escape. Beyond this, there is world-building that introduces interesting cultures, which appear again in later books, for the first time. This is a human-scale story, much less grandiose than the first book. Where the action of the first book felt abstract, the action of this book felt very tangible and the stakes seemed real. One negative is that the friend of the main character got a bit annoying as the book progressed, as his dialogue became increasingly repetitive. That was outweighed by the major positive of there being no love story here. Overall, this one seemed the most unique, both in terms of story and tone, and I could see myself rereading it.

The Harp of Imach Thyssel. This one was a real mixed bag, and similar in style to the first book. Again, there is a jovial male friendship, but this time the point-of-view character is a bard. His friend is a noble, whose main character trait is that he is really into the ladies, who seem to be really into him too. Right from the first action set piece, the stage is set for confusion; the friends go to an inn that is attacked by bandits, but these are actually a different group entirely, dressed up to shift the blame. From there it just devolves, as all sorts of ideas are crammed into one story. Some of these include a magical castle that plays music on sculptures and harbors the eponymous harp, a scheming duke involved in a secret society, a scheming prince manipulated by a sorceress, an ancestral home full of maze-like corridors and half-sisters of varying degrees of friendliness, an ancient race that guards the balance of the world or something, etc. The various elements are all jumbled together, and throughout, we are meant to care about all this because of the bard. The bard, however, is primarily worried about getting the magical harp to more senior bards to the exclusion of most other character traits (and in fact, we never actually get to meet the more senior bards or learn anything more about the bard societies). As for the bard's noble friend, he dies suddenly in a harp-related accident, which leads to grief and more worrying for the bard. The bard ends up falling in love with one of his friend's half-sisters, maybe because of the attractiveness common to this particular noble family, and the half-sister, somewhat inexplicably, falls in love with the bard as well. Maybe his music was just that good, because his actions during the story did not seem to inspire this type of affection.

Caught in Crystal. This book had the most elaborate structure, having three acts separated by historical tales providing context. The point-of-view character here is a middle-aged innkeeper with the unfortunate name of Kayl, who has two children. In broad strokes, the book is about her coming to terms with her past and figuring out what she would like her future to be. There were a number of interesting aspects here, from the choice of main character to the Sisterhood of Stars, an all-female organization that trains young women in combat and sorcery. The stylistic devices here were interesting too, I thought the three act structure worked well, as did the especially vivid and immediate flashbacks that illuminate Kayl's past (there is even a narrative reason for this immediacy). There is an actual character arc, including growth and maturation, which is not something you find all that frequently, let alone with a middle-aged maternal heroine. I was not all that into the romance here either, although it was a bit better built up than the romances in previous books. Definitely one of the better of the five.

The Raven Ring. This book was the most fun. The point-of-view character is a young warrior woman from the remote mountains, who has to travel to a city to retrieve the possessions of her recently deceased mother. These possessions, however, turn out to be of particular interest to a number of dangerous characters, and so the woman stays in the city to attempt to unravel the magical intrigue she finds herself at the center of. The city setting was different, and offered a lot of fish-out-of-water moments with the main character. The other characters here were delightful, especially the handsome and surprisingly competent nobleman and the mysterious and surprisingly honorable thief. These two characters represented the two other points of a love triangle, which apart from being entertaining, was the first romance storyline that was believable in all five books. I also enjoyed the guardspeople, the nobles, the sorcerors, and the magical tarot-style divination system. Like the second book, this one was human-scale and internally cohesive. I could see myself rereading this one too.

[Sarahz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll review the different books separately, but I'm reviewing the series as a whole here. It isn't hard to tell that these books are from much earlier in Wrede's career, as she's clearly grown as a writer since then, but they're fun, straightforward fantasy reads. I was glad that the intro from the author explained that all the books have totally separate sets of characters, as that would've thrown me otherwise. Since I was ready for it, I enjoyed getting to see stories from such a diverse set of characters, and how we got to explore the world of Lyra. I did get a little thrown by the 4th and 5th books' playing with timeline - I really couldn't tell exactly when the 5th book took place. Clearly long after the 4th, but was it still before books 1-3? It seemed like the characters would have know about some of the events of those books...anyways, I digress, and that's something to talk about in that book's review. The common weakness of these books is the romance. Most of them would've been much better off without romantic subplots entirely, because none of them were very convincingly portrayed. You were told at the end that two characters were in love now, but it hadn't been anywhere on the page before that.

Each book can stand entirely on its own, and in general the quality improves as you go on (although I thought #2 was the weakest), but I still think it'd be best to read them in order.

Minor issue with the ebook formatting itself - the maps were hard to read, as the font size of the labels wasn't very big, and the maps weren't easy to jump back to, so it was sometimes hard to keep track of the geography. The way that this series hops all over the Lyra map is one of its strengths, but good maps would have helped that aspect, I think.

[Julie Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadow Magic: This was the most amateurish of all the stories with things conveniently appearing when needed but still it was a fast paced enjoyable read. The romance element was wholly unbelievable and the novel wouldn't have lacked anything if had been omitted. I'd give the story 3 stars.

Daughter of Witches: This was the story I enjoyed the least probably because the protagonists were children. This was the story I felt had the greatest sense of peril and I enjoyed it despite not really liking the main characters. Another 3 stars

The Harp of Imach Thyssel: My favourite of all the stories, enjoyed everything about this, even the fact that the author was brave enough to do away with one of the main supporting characters. At least 4 stars

Caught in Crystal: Other reviewers liked the idea of a middle aged mother with her two children being the main character but I found the addition of the children especially Mark tiresome. They hardly ever felt like real children to me however I still enjoyed the story so another 3 stars.

The Raven Ring: Although not my favourite story overall Eloret was my favourite heroine, she felt very real to me. I'm not a fan of the lovable rogue type character or of love triangles but still a very enjoyable story. 4 stars.

I really liked the fact that each story was complete in itself and featured unconnected characters though set in the same world. I found them all to be fast, exciting reads so probably 4.5 overall.

Would be interested to hear of any other authors who write similarly styled, clean fantasy adventures.

[Juliana Veale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst I understand that the books' commonality is only that they take place in the same world, I would recommend reading the 4th book first. It's set before the others time-line wise. It's also the best book out of the omnibus. Whilst the world of Lyra is quite engaging, as a reader I felt that's there is more information about the world I'm missing in order to fully understand the events in the novel.
My other gripe is the romance portrayed, or rather lack of any tension between the characters before their 'romance' is resolved. This is especially true of the first book, until almost the very end the protagonist doesn't really give her 'love interest' much notice, then all of a sudden she is willing to marry him. Same to the love interest, who has some thoughts about the protagonist, but it's unclear whether it stems from his interest in her or the need to help his friend, who happens to be the protagonist's brother.
The third book is the weakest of the lot, mostly because it doesn't wrap up the story, but leaves it hanging.
A good fantasy read, but because all the novels are in one book, the weaker novels pull the better ones down.

[Anoush]

An interesting introduction by the author. These 5 books were written over the span of 12 years. Shadow Magic is her first book and for this collection it was heavily revised to take advantage of her increased ability and skill. She even includes a sort of "editor's version" of the first chapter so the reader can see the things that were changed from the original to what she would now consider more well done. She didn't change any plot, but ended up removing 1024 words! Amazing! She said this was mostly "tightening things up, making them more specific" and removing, "As you know, Bob" diaglogue (i.e. characters saying things aloud only for the benefit of the reader, but that in story they both already know).

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[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

REVIEW FOR SERIES AS A WHOLE: 3.5 stars. This series was one of Wrede's earlier works, and suffers from lack of emotional involvement with the characters, and a tendency to lag in action - these issues are mostly in the first 3 books. The 4th and 5th books had characters I liked, rooted for, and admired, and they save the rating from 2.5 stars. The last book in the series was without a doubt my favorite. All books could be read completely separately from each other, though I think some depth of understanding about the world would be lost. I'll review each book individually as well, but the series kept my interest, had interesting and occasionally fascinating premises, and lots of magic. Would read book #5 again.

[David Hoyt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire series is worth reading. I've read the series many times. This is an omnibus version with the books in order. They do not need to be read in order, but it does help understanding the world's timeline. As a series it stands out, each book could stand by itself. I recommend any book, but I appreciated the publishing of the omnibus version.

The novels cover a long time over the author's career, and you can see the difference between the first and the last (which was published much later). 

[Wench · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her introduction to this omnibus edition, Wrede makes the point that these are early books, and were highly edited. And, having read most of her later work, the earliness shows. However, there's good stories here. I highly recommend reading them not in the order presented, but in the story-chronological order Wrede outlines in the introduction. There's a number of tie-ins and references to the others that will be much more enjoyable if you do it this way.

[Nita · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are early works that were written during a very specific period of fantasy writing and as such are good examples of that period for better and worse. If you don't like the D&D styled fantasy, you probably won't like these. I do enjoy them, so I liked these. They really shine when they go outside the tropes, like Caught in Crystal or use those tropes to go in a new direction, like The Raven Wing.

[Amy Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore everything Patricia Wrede writes, and this series was no exception. Because Shadow Magic is the first book Ms Wrede ever sold, I found it fascinating to see the progression in storytelling style through the five books. In all the books, the worldbuilding is spectacular: the setting and cultures feel real and immersive. All the books feature fabulously strong women who know what they want and aren't afraid to claim it. I enjoyed this series immensely.

[Arkonyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually my second time reading through most of these books, and it was just as good rediscovering them. Each are able to stand alone but are set in the same world but at different times and places. recommend for 6th and up. I love all of Wrede's novels.

[Angela]

1 December 2014: $5.99 on Kindle

[Jett Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read at least a couple of these novels many years ago. They share the same world, but are not exactly a "series", as the characters and locations change for each novel. All together, they make up a nice mosaic. But they are also enjoyable separately.

[M Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't out it down!

Read the first book thinking I didn't have to finish it if it started to drag although the characters change from story to story Lyra holds them together and each adds a little dimension to the whole which is Lyra itself. Great read, worth your time.

[Spook Sulek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really good, and made the whole kindle experience worthwhile! So glad I have them all at my fingertips!

[Carolyn Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for a quick read

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more like 2.5 stars to me. Not the best work I've read by her, but enjoyable. It's a memorable world that seems to need something larger to tie it all together.

[RogueHireling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved these. <3

[Howard Brazee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadow Magic (Lyra, #1)

Daughter of Witches (Lyra, #2)

The Harp of Imach Thyssel (Lyra, #3)

Caught in Crystal (Lyra #4)

The Raven Ring (Lyra, #5)

[Kirsten Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light entertaining fantasy adventure reading with happy endings.

[Asti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting series. One with totally independent stories on each book, even hundreds of years apart.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early work, but it was fun to see how rapidly her writing improved from book to book.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

See reviews left for individual novels.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 5 books Wrede wrote set in the realm of Lyra. All are independent books with the setting being the only link, though some occasionally refer to others (but it is not necessary to read them all for full understanding, nor to read them in any specific order). The books appear in the order in which Wrede wrote them, and the first happens to be her very first published book. This collection starts off with a nice forward by Wrede on the development of her writing, and how she actually revised the first book before this collection was first published thanks to things she had learned over time. Having read all of them, I would agree with her personal assessment that her writing has improved over time. The 5th book is my favorite, and 4th my second favorite as I felt they had the tightest and most captivating plotlines and characters. If you're short on time I'd recommend reading just the 1st, 4th and 5th books as they are the best. The 2nd was my least favorite as it is pretty much one long journey of escape (and self-discovery), and the 3rd was probably the most morose book of Wrede's I've ever read (though the magic was interesting). Following are individual summaries for each of the books:

Shadow Magic (Bk 1)
Rating: 4 stars

Alethia, the daughter of the Lord of Brenn, is suddenly kidnapped by Lithmern as Brenn and other regions of Alkyra are about to meet about the trouble they have been causing. Her brother Har and his friend Maurin quickly set out to rescue her after her absence is noticed and a frame up is uncovered. Meanwhile, Alethia soon discovers that her captors are no ordinary men, they are either sorcerers or ensorcelled men with supernatural powers. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t give up on trying to escape, and she almost succeeds on her own but the powers of her captors prove too great until she gets help from supposedly mythical creatures in the forest. The Wyrn take Alethia in, uncover an object of power from the Lithmern, and realize that the problems are bigger than a squabble between Lithmern and Brenn. For the Lithmern had in their possession a legendary object of magical power hinting that the Lithmern could be a formidable foe with more than Brenn in their sights. The Wyrn send Alethia to the Shee, other near mythical beings nearby along with the talisman. Along the way Alethia learns more about herself and her family. She is also joined by a minstrel, her brother and his friend, and various Wyrn and Shee in this quest. All have different roles to play. The Lithmern prove to have called upon an ancient evil more powerful than they bargained for, and it will take the cooperation of everyone to defeat them. However, cooperation does not come easily to different races who have mistrusted each other for generations and groups of humans vying for power over a fractured kingdom. The future looks bleak but for a miracle. Which they get when Alethia stumbles upon ancient magical objects of power long lost from the kingdom of Alkyra, and she happens to have uncanny magical skills to enable her to use them to help defeat the Lithmern and the ancient evils they brought.

Daughter of Witches (Bk 2)
Rating: 2 stars

Ranira, a bond servant girl to an inn keeper, unwittingly attracts the attention of a high ranking priest of Chaldon. She spurns his request to get transferred to the temple (and manages to publicly humiliate him) just managing to escape, only to return to the inn to find everyone in big trouble. The innkeeper had been harboring outsiders during the Festival, a crime punishable by death. The outsiders are arrested for witchcraft, the innkeeper immediately receives his punishment, all patrons unlucky enough to have been in the inn when the crime was uncovered are fined, and Ranira is arrested as an accomplice since she works there. When the priest in charge of the raid arrives, Ranira’s day gets much much worse because he is the same priest she just managed to evade at the market. He declares her the Bride of Chaldon, a position that gets the distinction of great treatment for a few days of the Festival before being the main sacrifice. Not exactly what she had in mind for her future. Ranira begins to despair, but the foreigners she is thrown in prison with turn out to really be able to do magic and they promise to help get her out of the position she is in. Before they can do anything, Ranira is transferred to rooms for the Bride of Chaldon and the priest makes sure she is in no condition to escape. She awakes from a drugged stupor several days later to find herself being paraded around town. During a moment of confusion and spurt of lucidity, Ranira throws herself from the carriage into the river and likely would have drowned, but for the timely appearance of her street urchin friend Shandy. He helps her find a hiding spot but not before she is severly injured in the escape. Ranira sends Shandy to find the foreigners, who she believes also escaped from the parade during the disturbance. And thus, Shandy, Ranira, a magician named Mist, and two mercenaries, Arelnath and Jaren, come to join forces to escape the priest of Chaldon and the Templemen under his command. It turns out he is wreaking more havoc than threatening their lives, he is working with a Shadowborn and threatening an entire nation. Shandy and Ranira must overcome years of ingrained hatred of magic to trust their new companions and adapt to a way of life less domineering than what they have known in Drinn. Ranira must also come to grips with her past and her heritage, which she believed to be scandalous rumors until Mist’s arrival in her life. Can the five companions survive to escape Drinn, and save more than one nation from the evil of a Shadowborn while being hunted day and night?

The Harp of Imach Thyssel (Bk 3)
Rating: 3 stars

Emerick is a minstrel headed home while helping chaperone the son of a noble safely home. On their journey they inadvertently run into some trouble at an inn when Lithmern dressed as Syaski attack other visitors. In their escape, they come across a strange abandoned castle and an obviously magical harp. Emerick quickly figures out the harp is none other than the legendary Harp of Imach Thyssel an instrument of immense magical power according to the legends. The legends also say there is a high price to be paid by whoever wields the harp. Emerick decides to take the harp as fast as possible to the Guild of minstrels, but with trouble with Syaski and Lithmern obviously brewing, he must stay with the local Duke until it is safe to go further. But the harp seems too powerful to keep quietly hidden away, and soon it is obvious he cannot stay at the Duke’s without bringing trouble amongst those within and attracting magical power seekers without. Emerick tries to slip away with the harp and get it to the Guild, but all sorts of people converge on him soon, and he must determine who he can trust, who is working for dark forces, and how he can get the harp to safety.

Caught in Crystal (Bk 4)
Rating: 4 stars

Kayl the innkeeper is enjoying a relatively quiet life with her two children in a small town when the arrival of a stranger and an old friend bring up her old life she thought she and her deceased husband had put behind them fifteen years earlier. She and her husband were part of a small group sent to inspect some mysterious magic in a lonely tower in desolate mountains fifteen years ago. At that time she was single and part of the Sisterhood, trained by them in arms and strategy. The rest of her Sisterhood Star on the quest were trained in various other skills, mostly magical, and they were accompanied by two Varnan wizards, one of whom would become her husband. The mission went horribly wrong 15 years ago, and Kayl left the Sisterhood. But now whatever is in the tower seems to be growing stronger and interfering with the Sisterhood’s magic. Desperate, they have sent one of their best to ask Kayl to return for a second mission to the tower. At the same time, the other Varnan wizard shows up at Kayl’s inn to share some visions he’s had with her. Kayl is tempted to ignore both, but when a group shows up in town that is known to persecute magic users, Kayl knows she has to get herself and her kids out of town fast. Kayl has to bring her kids up to speed on a past she’s kept hidden from them, address past issues she’s had with the Sisterhood, and reconcile herself to being needed for yet another dangerous mission.

The Raven Ring (Bk 5)
Rating: 4.5 stars

Eleret, a Cillhern of the mountains, sets out to pick up her mother’s things from the city after learning of her death. But as soon as she picks up the few belongings from her mother’s commander, trouble seems to follow Eleret all over the City. None of her mother’s belongings seems all that important, but seemingly at every turn Eleret finds someone else trying to get something from her. With the help of a well-meaning but spoiled wizard/lord/swordsman and the dubious information of an honorable thief, Eleret must figure out what everyone is after and why if she is to ever hope of getting a moment of peace (or time to go home).


Notes on content: A very few appearances of some mild swearing a couple of the books, mostly book 5. There are hints of a priest trying to recruit the main character for a temple prostitute in book 2 and the same priest later threatens her with a ritual that would involve sexual relations (but this is evaded). All of the books involve battles both magical and with weaponry, and every book has injuries that result in serious injuries and/or deaths. In almost every book the hero or heroine are battling dark magicians with rather nasty abilities.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating 4/5. Formatting for my copy of the ebook was very different, so while I recorded actual page numbers in my read updates...I had 400 fewer pages than the edition I selected (and it was the only ebook option that I found).

Book 1: As other reviews mentioned, this was more obviously a first novel. The detail was a little high for the necessary information, but it did fit into what was provided. Overall, this was a good kickoff for a series.

Book 2: This was a little more suspenseful in the plot (at least that is how it seemed to me). I did have a hard time with the repetitiveness of the main characters firm denials in being a witch - simply because it was used as a plot device more than necessary for my taste.

Book 3: The ignorance of the characters in this novel is not as believable as it could have been. Since the events of the first book are referenced often enough, it should be understood that the non-human races - while not seen often - were not legendary, but actual beings. This made the book a little harder to get through than the others.

Book 4: I had read this previously, but it had been at least a decade. I had forgotten the issues that Kayl has with her previous life - prior to marriage and kids - were major plot points and not just devices used to move the story toward its conclusion.

Book 5: I liked this one the most, perhaps because it seemed as if the characters were the most believable in their roles. The viewpoints were consistent throughout the novel, so I was able to follow all plots/sub-plots with a bit more ease than with the first four novels. This one also reminded me the most (not exactly sure why) of Wrede's children's fantasy series The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.