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Ravinor
For hundreds of years, once-human creatures called ravinors, who possess an insatiable hunger for human flesh, have plagued the Empire of Styr. Three times during that span of years, human forces had all but eradicated the infectious man-like monsters. And three times they have returned.
This time, only twenty years after the last Ravinor War, the creatures are back, but now they have become even more deadly. Led from behind-the-scenes by the mysterious Ravinor Queen, infected humans find themselves in a battle for their souls and control over their bodies in a dream world inhabited by the one known as the Shadowman. The Queen and her shadowy cohort's mission is nothing less than to at last turn the tide against the humans for control over the world. They have lain dormant and ineffectual long enough, and now the ultimate battle for species' survival is unfolding across the land...
Throughout the empire figures emerge who might have the power to swing the battle's favor to one side: A retired captain living in the northern regions of the empire; a young healer at his first posting; a famed scholar and his apprentice; an assassin tired of his profession that circumstances have forced on him; and a young woman, horribly scarred at birth, who is cursed--or gifted--to witness the ravinor dream where the battleground for souls take place between the two species.
The Ravinor Queen has been planning her opening gambit for centuries, and now the time is right for vengeance and the subjugation of the human race, once and for all. The battle is only just beginning; each side must vie to destroy the other in this tale for ultimate survival--or extinction.
This time, only twenty years after the last Ravinor War, the creatures are back, but now they have become even more deadly. Led from behind-the-scenes by the mysterious Ravinor Queen, infected humans find themselves in a battle for their souls and control over their bodies in a dream world inhabited by the one known as the Shadowman. The Queen and her shadowy cohort's mission is nothing less than to at last turn the tide against the humans for control over the world. They have lain dormant and ineffectual long enough, and now the ultimate battle for species' survival is unfolding across the land...
Throughout the empire figures emerge who might have the power to swing the battle's favor to one side: A retired captain living in the northern regions of the empire; a young healer at his first posting; a famed scholar and his apprentice; an assassin tired of his profession that circumstances have forced on him; and a young woman, horribly scarred at birth, who is cursed--or gifted--to witness the ravinor dream where the battleground for souls take place between the two species.
The Ravinor Queen has been planning her opening gambit for centuries, and now the time is right for vengeance and the subjugation of the human race, once and for all. The battle is only just beginning; each side must vie to destroy the other in this tale for ultimate survival--or extinction.
- GenresFantasy
456 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 2, 2015
4 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Travis Peck
2 books9 followersTravis was born--many moons ago--in Oregon and still lives there to this day. He graduated from the University of Oregon as a History major...so naturally, he is now a stay-at-home dad. He lives in the Portland area with his wife, son, and two dogs.
Travis first started writing--other than for school--when he was nineteen years old. He was tired of waiting for his numerous favorite authors to finish their new books in whichever series he had been reading, so he thought he would try his hand at writing his own novel. Years, and many half-finished books, later (some of which will not and should not, ever see the light of day) he has finally finished and published his first novel. Having completed this undertaking of a 160,000-ish word novel, Travis will never again complain about waiting for his favorite authors to complete their own works!
Please check out the book description in the menu to read more about Travis's new book. Also feel free to click on the link to Amazon to purchase/borrow the book, or to read a sample of the novel. Happy reading!
Travis first started writing--other than for school--when he was nineteen years old. He was tired of waiting for his numerous favorite authors to finish their new books in whichever series he had been reading, so he thought he would try his hand at writing his own novel. Years, and many half-finished books, later (some of which will not and should not, ever see the light of day) he has finally finished and published his first novel. Having completed this undertaking of a 160,000-ish word novel, Travis will never again complain about waiting for his favorite authors to complete their own works!
Please check out the book description in the menu to read more about Travis's new book. Also feel free to click on the link to Amazon to purchase/borrow the book, or to read a sample of the novel. Happy reading!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 14, 2017
(You can see a bigger, prettier review of this book here, on my blog.)
The ravinors are out to get the humans of the empire of Styr, and they have been for centuries. Wars have been fought trying to exterminate the creatures. But suddenly, they’re different… stronger, smarter. What are the ravinors and what do they want?!
This book is surely the way to find out!
The alternate POVs here were a great way of finding out the whole story from different angles. We have Garet, the retired soldier and his family: those who fight the ravinors. We’ve got Lerius, the healer: one who is knowledgeable about ravinor attacks and healing the infected. There’s Herris Mon Lyzink and Martel, the esteemed scholar and his apprentice: those who study the ravinors and have intimate firsthand knowledge of their habits. Ifo, the assassin: one who has killed many men, but has never met a ravinor face to face. Then, most interestingly and perhaps most bizarrely, we have Moira, the dreamer: one who has an intimate insider view of what the leaders of the ravinors are, and what people who are infected go through in their fever.
This one took two chapters to get me on board. The first actual chapter I wasn’t so sure about, it was okay, but some of the imagery had me slightly confused about the passage of time. But then Lerius’ first chapter, and our first look at the ‘ravinor dream’ got me hooked, then Ifo’s first chapter of just being badass and having like 12 knives secreted upon himself cemented it. I liked how the plot slowly but surely teaches us about the ravinors and what the world knows about them while some interludes in the story also let the world into the new and changing information as the story goes. It helps to have a scholar on the case.
The epilogue left me with many questions. I’m hoping that Moira finds a solution to her predicament, as does Lerius. I’m hoping that we find out what purpose Ifo’s POV served in the overall scheme of things (because I really liked Ifo’s POV but his story didn’t seem to correlate to anyone else’s quite yet), and I’m excited to see what sort of story Martel, Yurlo, and Mon Lyzink are going to be fed.
My only real criticism is that occasionally, a synonym for ‘ravinor’ would not go amiss. The word is used a lot sometimes, especially in the beginning when we’re still learning more or less what a ravinor is. Other words could be used instead in some instances to make the whole thing flow a little better. It’s really no big deal, but it was something I noticed.
All told, I thought that this was a great debut! It’s not perfect, but books rarely are, in my experience. This one has some great ideas that were presented in a way that was quite entertaining. All is not what it seemed at first!
I’m excited to find out where the story goes next!
The ravinors are out to get the humans of the empire of Styr, and they have been for centuries. Wars have been fought trying to exterminate the creatures. But suddenly, they’re different… stronger, smarter. What are the ravinors and what do they want?!
This book is surely the way to find out!
The alternate POVs here were a great way of finding out the whole story from different angles. We have Garet, the retired soldier and his family: those who fight the ravinors. We’ve got Lerius, the healer: one who is knowledgeable about ravinor attacks and healing the infected. There’s Herris Mon Lyzink and Martel, the esteemed scholar and his apprentice: those who study the ravinors and have intimate firsthand knowledge of their habits. Ifo, the assassin: one who has killed many men, but has never met a ravinor face to face. Then, most interestingly and perhaps most bizarrely, we have Moira, the dreamer: one who has an intimate insider view of what the leaders of the ravinors are, and what people who are infected go through in their fever.
This one took two chapters to get me on board. The first actual chapter I wasn’t so sure about, it was okay, but some of the imagery had me slightly confused about the passage of time. But then Lerius’ first chapter, and our first look at the ‘ravinor dream’ got me hooked, then Ifo’s first chapter of just being badass and having like 12 knives secreted upon himself cemented it. I liked how the plot slowly but surely teaches us about the ravinors and what the world knows about them while some interludes in the story also let the world into the new and changing information as the story goes. It helps to have a scholar on the case.
The epilogue left me with many questions. I’m hoping that Moira finds a solution to her predicament, as does Lerius. I’m hoping that we find out what purpose Ifo’s POV served in the overall scheme of things (because I really liked Ifo’s POV but his story didn’t seem to correlate to anyone else’s quite yet), and I’m excited to see what sort of story Martel, Yurlo, and Mon Lyzink are going to be fed.
My only real criticism is that occasionally, a synonym for ‘ravinor’ would not go amiss. The word is used a lot sometimes, especially in the beginning when we’re still learning more or less what a ravinor is. Other words could be used instead in some instances to make the whole thing flow a little better. It’s really no big deal, but it was something I noticed.
All told, I thought that this was a great debut! It’s not perfect, but books rarely are, in my experience. This one has some great ideas that were presented in a way that was quite entertaining. All is not what it seemed at first!
I’m excited to find out where the story goes next!
May 20, 2017
“For hundreds of years, once-human creatures called ravinors, who possess an insatiable hunger for human flesh, have plagued the Empire of Styr.”
Ravinor had me from the first few paragraphs: two young children playing in a summer pasture encounter a zombie/vampire-like creature – a ravinor – and flee to their father’s redoubt before the onset of night. This incident initiates a series of events that include an exhilarating siege, a large-scale massacre, an increasingly complex mystery and … well, it doesn’t really stop from there.
If, like me, you’ve read a number of ‘by-the-numbers’ fantasy novels, then Ravinor’s old style, down-to-earth adventure story really is a perfect antidote. Peck’s writing is engaging and appropriate to the subject matter and he has an appealing sense for descriptive detail and world-building that effectively drags you in. The characters are well developed and the action scenes are very exciting, particularly those involving the ongoing siege where the tension is really ramped up.
One of the most interesting things about this book is the high number of POVs (five – OK not GRR Martin’s scale but I thought that was high!). To be honest, this threw me a bit at first. Keen to continue from the events in the first chapter, I instead encountered a new character, then another and another with each of the subsequent four chapters. This initially has the effect of pulling you out of the story but once you get used to the formula, it actually works quite well as each character provides a different perspective and a different level of insight into the mysterious return of the ravinors and their diabolical plans for the Empire of Styr.
In summary, Ravinor is a lot of fun. You really can’t get much better than that.
Ravinor had me from the first few paragraphs: two young children playing in a summer pasture encounter a zombie/vampire-like creature – a ravinor – and flee to their father’s redoubt before the onset of night. This incident initiates a series of events that include an exhilarating siege, a large-scale massacre, an increasingly complex mystery and … well, it doesn’t really stop from there.
If, like me, you’ve read a number of ‘by-the-numbers’ fantasy novels, then Ravinor’s old style, down-to-earth adventure story really is a perfect antidote. Peck’s writing is engaging and appropriate to the subject matter and he has an appealing sense for descriptive detail and world-building that effectively drags you in. The characters are well developed and the action scenes are very exciting, particularly those involving the ongoing siege where the tension is really ramped up.
One of the most interesting things about this book is the high number of POVs (five – OK not GRR Martin’s scale but I thought that was high!). To be honest, this threw me a bit at first. Keen to continue from the events in the first chapter, I instead encountered a new character, then another and another with each of the subsequent four chapters. This initially has the effect of pulling you out of the story but once you get used to the formula, it actually works quite well as each character provides a different perspective and a different level of insight into the mysterious return of the ravinors and their diabolical plans for the Empire of Styr.
In summary, Ravinor is a lot of fun. You really can’t get much better than that.
May 3, 2016
I met the author a few months ago at a bachelor party. After connecting over our mutual love of books, and in particular sci-fi and fantasy, he told me he'd written an unpublished novel, and I said I'd check it out. I went in with admittedly low expectations, and was very pleasantly surprised to find a well-written, original novel that combines fairly standard medieval society with a zombie not-zombie population that is unexpectedly evolving. It has strong characterizations and good pacing, and doesn't fall into the trap of having too many pov characters or being unnecessarily convoluted. Being self-published, it could of course stand to have a professional editor go over, though I found fewer typos than many published novels. A very strong first effort. I hope Mr. Peck will continue writing, and I look forward to the follow-up some day.
July 24, 2020
surprisingly good - well worth a read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews