The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Paperback. 672 pages.
Paperback. 672 pages.
About The Raven Scholar (from the publisher):
"From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.
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.
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."
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.
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."
The Raven Scholar is easily one of my favorite books of 2025--it was genuinely fantastic and so compelling and cleverly written. It felt like a fresh new fantasy that draws on many familiar tropes and elements, but elevates them to new levels in some very surprising and engaging ways.
When I think about The Raven Scholar, the first thing that comes to my mind is the narrative voice. It has a third-person omniscient style, but with a bit of a twist in that it's told from a sort of collective voice--and I promise you'll figure out what I mean by that once you're reading the book. The way this story is told is one that could easily become confusing or horribly executed, but in Antonia Hodgson's hands I found it simply perfect. Her writing is elegant, sharp, and is carefully controlled in its execution. I really found myself in awe of how effectively she managed to bring the world and its characters to life through her narrative style, and I am, quite honestly, dying to return to her writing.
In the world of The Raven Scholar, a new emperor is chosen every twenty-four years through a series of trials, and it is just that time when our story begins. There are seven competitors for each trial, each picked to represent one of the Guardian beings from myth, which includes the Dragon, Monkey, Tiger, Fox, Hound, Ox, and Raven. Each Guardian has a following comprising of people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to one of the factions and are educated and trained according to the values of each Guardian. Each Guardian is generally associated with particular traits or qualities. For instance, the Foxes are fittingly rather cunning and sly (and I sincerely loved the characters who were Foxes in this book, unsurprisingly since that is my favorite type of character) and the Ravens are exceedingly perceptive and intelligent. Each group of followers selections a representative to compete--except the Dragons, who are forbidden from participating for reasons better explained in the book.
As mentioned, our story begins at the start of one such trial, and we as readers are along for the surprisingly--or unsurprisingly?--tumultuous journey. Neema Kra, through some events which I'll leave you to experience, becomes the Raven's contender. She's entirely untrained and unprepared for the trials, and on top of that curveball she's also tasked by the emperor with trying to solve a murder before the trials end--the trials in which she is, of course, competing. So no pressure, right?
Neema is an incredible character: she's intelligent, grounded, and also highly relatable. She's also a bit of a pariah to her peers because of something she did at the emperor's orders many years ago that many view as unforgivable. By law, the task she undertook is not allowed to be spoken of, so no one can really speak about why socially ostracize her, which really only creates more division and tension. Despite all of this, she keeps her head and does her work diligently, effectively, and successfully. She also distinctly lacks the ruthless ambition that many of the other contenders have, which also sets her apart as a character. I really enjoyed following Neema throughout this book and thought she was a fantastic protagonist. She might not be the one who is in the thick of things socially, but her perceptiveness allows her to be aware of so much around her and give some great insight into the world and events of the story. She's someone who may not always make the what others made deem the most "moral" decisions, but she is someone who sticks to her goals and works hard and efficiently, and I really respected her actions in this book as a whole.
Another character I adored was Cain, a Fox and longtime acquaintance of Neema's. He's witty, rather morally grey, and exudes charm (or at least, I perceived him as charming). He's exactly the sort of character I tend to gravitate towards--someone who always has something witty to say whether it's appropriate or not, who is shockingly intelligent, etc.--and this is a big reason why I enjoyed his character so much, though I think other readers will easily like his character as well. I loved that he instilled such a constant back of forth questioning in my head that asked whether we, as readers, could trust him or not. Is he on Neema's side? Is he her enemy? Is he neither one of those and solely looking out for himself? Is there something bigger he's a part of? Only the story will tell! His dynamic with Neema is also utterly compelling, and I found their interactions impossible to look away from; they simply bounce off of each other in all the best ways, even when they seem to loathe one another.
The trials undertaken in this book by the contenders were also fascinating. I'm sure we're all familiar with the 'magical trial/competition/etc.' trope because it's been done a million times over, but the way it was handled here felt different. While some trials were structured, others consisted of riddles and puzzles that seemed to have no readily apparent rules to them--and some of the trials themselves felt like riddles to even understand what the trial even was. To me, it felt like there was a bit of a casual, almost haphazard feel to how the trials were executed, how points were awarded, and just generally how everything unfolded and was undertaken. I think this could be a bit hit or miss for some people because it didn't always feel like the most... fair?... manner of holding trials, but I thought it worked perfectly with the rest of this book's tone and overall world. I thought it added so much to the unpredictability of the story and made each moment of the competition feel that much more critical and uncertain--while also feeling oddly calm at the same time. Of course, there were still some trials that were straightforward combat, though with their own unique rules. I honestly was a little hesitant going into this one because competitions in fantasy are a bit overdone these days, but this felt so fresh and I genuinely enjoyed it.
The world-building felt generally rich and immersive, but we really only spend the story in one location so it wasn't quite as expansive as I might've expected. However, there's a plethora of lore and background that is told about the world, so it still felt incredibly vivid and like there was so much to explore in it, and I have no doubt that future books will be exploring more of this world. In this book, we learned so many details about the world, including details about clothing, traditions, class structures, societal expectation, all of which felt as if they were woven well into the narrative. There's also a very deep sense of history that runs through this story, which made the world feel lived in and real. I particularly enjoyed learning about the seven factions and the legendary beings that they are all tied to, and I thought Hodgson wove all of that together excellently. I can't wait to return to this world and learn more because its history feels like its bursting at the seams with more to tell.
Lastly, I really appreciated some of the many themes that The Raven Scholar explores, including those of power and power structures, ambition and the price of having ambition, loyalty, societal and class structures, and ultimately how legacy is explored as well. There was an immense amount of nuance with how each of these was explored, and I found them to all be thoughtfully explored with much to consider as readers even after finishing the book.
Overall, The Raven Scholar is a clever, captivating, and unexpectedly moving at times story that kept me entirely hooked the entire time. There were plenty of twists and turns that took me for a spin, and I loved every minute of this journey. I went into The Raven Scholar hoping to enjoy it, but it completely exceeded my expectations and became a new favorite book. It's easily a standout of the year already and I think it will remain prominent in my mind this year--I can't wait to see what Hodgson writes next.
When I think about The Raven Scholar, the first thing that comes to my mind is the narrative voice. It has a third-person omniscient style, but with a bit of a twist in that it's told from a sort of collective voice--and I promise you'll figure out what I mean by that once you're reading the book. The way this story is told is one that could easily become confusing or horribly executed, but in Antonia Hodgson's hands I found it simply perfect. Her writing is elegant, sharp, and is carefully controlled in its execution. I really found myself in awe of how effectively she managed to bring the world and its characters to life through her narrative style, and I am, quite honestly, dying to return to her writing.
In the world of The Raven Scholar, a new emperor is chosen every twenty-four years through a series of trials, and it is just that time when our story begins. There are seven competitors for each trial, each picked to represent one of the Guardian beings from myth, which includes the Dragon, Monkey, Tiger, Fox, Hound, Ox, and Raven. Each Guardian has a following comprising of people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to one of the factions and are educated and trained according to the values of each Guardian. Each Guardian is generally associated with particular traits or qualities. For instance, the Foxes are fittingly rather cunning and sly (and I sincerely loved the characters who were Foxes in this book, unsurprisingly since that is my favorite type of character) and the Ravens are exceedingly perceptive and intelligent. Each group of followers selections a representative to compete--except the Dragons, who are forbidden from participating for reasons better explained in the book.
As mentioned, our story begins at the start of one such trial, and we as readers are along for the surprisingly--or unsurprisingly?--tumultuous journey. Neema Kra, through some events which I'll leave you to experience, becomes the Raven's contender. She's entirely untrained and unprepared for the trials, and on top of that curveball she's also tasked by the emperor with trying to solve a murder before the trials end--the trials in which she is, of course, competing. So no pressure, right?
Neema is an incredible character: she's intelligent, grounded, and also highly relatable. She's also a bit of a pariah to her peers because of something she did at the emperor's orders many years ago that many view as unforgivable. By law, the task she undertook is not allowed to be spoken of, so no one can really speak about why socially ostracize her, which really only creates more division and tension. Despite all of this, she keeps her head and does her work diligently, effectively, and successfully. She also distinctly lacks the ruthless ambition that many of the other contenders have, which also sets her apart as a character. I really enjoyed following Neema throughout this book and thought she was a fantastic protagonist. She might not be the one who is in the thick of things socially, but her perceptiveness allows her to be aware of so much around her and give some great insight into the world and events of the story. She's someone who may not always make the what others made deem the most "moral" decisions, but she is someone who sticks to her goals and works hard and efficiently, and I really respected her actions in this book as a whole.
Another character I adored was Cain, a Fox and longtime acquaintance of Neema's. He's witty, rather morally grey, and exudes charm (or at least, I perceived him as charming). He's exactly the sort of character I tend to gravitate towards--someone who always has something witty to say whether it's appropriate or not, who is shockingly intelligent, etc.--and this is a big reason why I enjoyed his character so much, though I think other readers will easily like his character as well. I loved that he instilled such a constant back of forth questioning in my head that asked whether we, as readers, could trust him or not. Is he on Neema's side? Is he her enemy? Is he neither one of those and solely looking out for himself? Is there something bigger he's a part of? Only the story will tell! His dynamic with Neema is also utterly compelling, and I found their interactions impossible to look away from; they simply bounce off of each other in all the best ways, even when they seem to loathe one another.
The trials undertaken in this book by the contenders were also fascinating. I'm sure we're all familiar with the 'magical trial/competition/etc.' trope because it's been done a million times over, but the way it was handled here felt different. While some trials were structured, others consisted of riddles and puzzles that seemed to have no readily apparent rules to them--and some of the trials themselves felt like riddles to even understand what the trial even was. To me, it felt like there was a bit of a casual, almost haphazard feel to how the trials were executed, how points were awarded, and just generally how everything unfolded and was undertaken. I think this could be a bit hit or miss for some people because it didn't always feel like the most... fair?... manner of holding trials, but I thought it worked perfectly with the rest of this book's tone and overall world. I thought it added so much to the unpredictability of the story and made each moment of the competition feel that much more critical and uncertain--while also feeling oddly calm at the same time. Of course, there were still some trials that were straightforward combat, though with their own unique rules. I honestly was a little hesitant going into this one because competitions in fantasy are a bit overdone these days, but this felt so fresh and I genuinely enjoyed it.
The world-building felt generally rich and immersive, but we really only spend the story in one location so it wasn't quite as expansive as I might've expected. However, there's a plethora of lore and background that is told about the world, so it still felt incredibly vivid and like there was so much to explore in it, and I have no doubt that future books will be exploring more of this world. In this book, we learned so many details about the world, including details about clothing, traditions, class structures, societal expectation, all of which felt as if they were woven well into the narrative. There's also a very deep sense of history that runs through this story, which made the world feel lived in and real. I particularly enjoyed learning about the seven factions and the legendary beings that they are all tied to, and I thought Hodgson wove all of that together excellently. I can't wait to return to this world and learn more because its history feels like its bursting at the seams with more to tell.
Lastly, I really appreciated some of the many themes that The Raven Scholar explores, including those of power and power structures, ambition and the price of having ambition, loyalty, societal and class structures, and ultimately how legacy is explored as well. There was an immense amount of nuance with how each of these was explored, and I found them to all be thoughtfully explored with much to consider as readers even after finishing the book.
Overall, The Raven Scholar is a clever, captivating, and unexpectedly moving at times story that kept me entirely hooked the entire time. There were plenty of twists and turns that took me for a spin, and I loved every minute of this journey. I went into The Raven Scholar hoping to enjoy it, but it completely exceeded my expectations and became a new favorite book. It's easily a standout of the year already and I think it will remain prominent in my mind this year--I can't wait to see what Hodgson writes next.
*I received a copy of The Raven Scholar in exchange for an honest review. This has no affect on my opinions.*
Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org
