Author: Antonia Hodgson
Published: April 15, 2025, by Orbit
Format: Kindle, 667 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Eternal Path Trilogy #1
Blurb: Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.
Then one of them is murdered. We know who did it. We saw it happen. No one else did.
It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.
If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.
We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.
My Opinion: There must be an unwritten rule that fantasy novels must cross the 600-page mark, whether they should or not, and The Raven Scholar certainly fits the bill. It begins at a crawl, the kind of slow start that tests your patience, but then surges into waves of momentum where I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, only to ebb again into stretches that felt repetitive. It’s a rhythm of feast and famine, and you have to be willing to ride it out.
The main female character is written as thirty years old, though she often reads much younger, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. Still, the unpredictability of the plot kept me engaged. Just when I thought, “this is getting boring,” the narrative would pivot with a sharp, “oh, didn’t see that coming,” and that push and pull became part of the book’s charm.
What truly saved the experience for me was the humor. Hodgson threads witty banter through the darker themes, and it’s that levity that kept me invested when the imperial intrigue and deadly competition threatened to overwhelm.
The novel explores power, identity, betrayal, and transformation against a backdrop of richly imagined politics, divine factions, and mythic structures. All the familiar high fantasy elements are here: corruption, loyalty, fate, free will, class divides; yet, Hodgson doesn’t just recycle tropes. She twists them, layering the narrative with unexpected turns. Trials, chosen ones, court intrigue, even a murder mystery in a fantasy court; these archetypes are reshaped into something fresh. The reluctant hero, sacred animal factions, unusual POV shifts, and the scholar-as-hero themes all add texture to the story.
Instead of claiming it has “something for everyone,” I’d say The Raven Scholar is a book that demands patience and rewards curiosity. Its length means you’ll inevitably stop to question details: “but what about…” or “wait, how does that fit?” and those pauses aren’t wasted. They become part of the experience, pulling you deeper into the world rather than letting you skim along the surface.
And this is only the first in a planned trilogy. Neema and Cain’s paths remain uncertain, Benna clearly has her own designs for Ruko, and I hope that dear sweet Sol brings even more “magnificence” in the volumes to come.
Then one of them is murdered. We know who did it. We saw it happen. No one else did.
It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.
If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.
We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.
My Opinion: There must be an unwritten rule that fantasy novels must cross the 600-page mark, whether they should or not, and The Raven Scholar certainly fits the bill. It begins at a crawl, the kind of slow start that tests your patience, but then surges into waves of momentum where I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, only to ebb again into stretches that felt repetitive. It’s a rhythm of feast and famine, and you have to be willing to ride it out.
The main female character is written as thirty years old, though she often reads much younger, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. Still, the unpredictability of the plot kept me engaged. Just when I thought, “this is getting boring,” the narrative would pivot with a sharp, “oh, didn’t see that coming,” and that push and pull became part of the book’s charm.
What truly saved the experience for me was the humor. Hodgson threads witty banter through the darker themes, and it’s that levity that kept me invested when the imperial intrigue and deadly competition threatened to overwhelm.
The novel explores power, identity, betrayal, and transformation against a backdrop of richly imagined politics, divine factions, and mythic structures. All the familiar high fantasy elements are here: corruption, loyalty, fate, free will, class divides; yet, Hodgson doesn’t just recycle tropes. She twists them, layering the narrative with unexpected turns. Trials, chosen ones, court intrigue, even a murder mystery in a fantasy court; these archetypes are reshaped into something fresh. The reluctant hero, sacred animal factions, unusual POV shifts, and the scholar-as-hero themes all add texture to the story.
Instead of claiming it has “something for everyone,” I’d say The Raven Scholar is a book that demands patience and rewards curiosity. Its length means you’ll inevitably stop to question details: “but what about…” or “wait, how does that fit?” and those pauses aren’t wasted. They become part of the experience, pulling you deeper into the world rather than letting you skim along the surface.
And this is only the first in a planned trilogy. Neema and Cain’s paths remain uncertain, Benna clearly has her own designs for Ruko, and I hope that dear sweet Sol brings even more “magnificence” in the volumes to come.
