Luanne G. Smith’s The Raven Spell is a two-book series of witchy murder mysteries that heavily calls to my soul with its premise. I love witch fantasies and I love murder mysteries, so it is only natural that this book interested me for my book for March. What did I think of this book by the end? Keep reading this review to find out.
Everything in this review is just my own personal opinions and ultimately should not let you stop from reading this book if you feel you would still enjoy it. Happy Reading.
Summary: From Goodreads
In Victorian England a witch and a detective are on the hunt for a serial killer in an enthralling novel of magic and murder.
After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London. Among his effects: a bloodstained buisness card bearing the name of a master wizard and a curious pocket watch that doesn’t seem to tell time. To retrieve his lost memories, Ian demands answers from Edwina and Mary Blackwood, sister witches with a murky past. But as their secret is slowly unveiled, a dangerous mystery emerges on the darkened streets of London.
To help piece together Ian’s lost time, he and Edwina embark on a journey that will take them from the river foreshore to an East End music hall, and on to a safe house for witches in need of sanctuary from angry mortals. The clues they find suggest a link between a series of gruesome murders, a missing person’s case, and a dreadful suspicion that threatens to tear apart the bonds of sisterhood. As the investigation deepens, could Ian and Edwina be the next to die?
My Thoughts:
The story is set in Victorian London and I have to admit; I have a soft spot for stories that take place in that time period. It is one of the factors that attracted me to the book, so I really looked forward to seeing how this author presented the world to me and what changes they brought to the table. Just like every other Victorian London setting, nothing was changed except for the addition of magic and magical beings hidden throughout the world. I will say that I thought that the magic part was a little lackluster. I thought I’d read more about this magical world than I actually did, and I felt like it could have been much more intertwined with the real world better. While it was still good, it wasn’t great either.
The characters were also a midpoint of this book. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about any of the characters and kept waiting for them to become exciting. The only character that had something unique about them also happened to be the villain, but even then they fell short of my expectations. While I talk about the characters, I’ll also talk about the romance that happens between two sets of characters. They felt like really weak connections that were thrown in for the hell of it instead of being something that supported the story. They felt awkward but not in the cute, quirky way, more like they would have been better off not being in the story at all. The first romance just felt like they were there because that’s what happens when you have a male and female protagonist in close proximity to each other for more than a few minutes. Then the second “romance” also felt like a strange thing to throw into the plot. The story would have done fine without it, and it felt like this odd bit to throw in.
Then it came to the story, it was the aspect of the book that kept me drawn in from the opening lines till the end and leading plot for the second book. When I saw that there were only 28 chapters of the book, I felt a little concerned if there was enough to the story for it to be interesting, but while reading I found that it was an appropriate length. If it was any longer, it would have felt unnecessarily stretched. There was one weak part of the story, and that was the missing person’s case. While trying to keep things relatively spoiler free, I’m just going to say that this part felt disjointed from the rest of the story and barely played into the plot by the end. The serial murders were more of the prime focus and the part of the story that had the interesting twist, but the missing case felt really lacking and I almost forgot about it by the end. The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 3 stars is that I couldn’t stop reading once I got to the halfway point of the book and I feel like it is rare to get me enthralled enough to where I don’t want to stop reading till I’m done with the whole thing (which is why I also finished this book early).
Something I liked about the world is the way that magic worked. It felt very believable, with most being delivered in the form of spoken poetry or song. Nothing was extremely flashy, and it felt like it fit within the world nicely. Witches and wizards have to hide from mortals in this world and it made more sense for the magic to be subtle rather than over the top every time. The one unique form of magic that I feel like I haven’t seen done a lot is the turning of memories into physical objects like small stones or pebbles. That idea pulled me in and gave me so many questions to ask. I also liked how within the magical world, it also seemed that there were some forms of magic that were thought down upon, so you know the world has it’s own do’s and don’ts when it comes to spellwork. I hope to see more of this in the next book because the ending left more questions than answers about the world and characters. However, after knowing the revelation about two of the characters, some scenes in the book make way more sense than they did at the time of reading them.
Overall, I did enjoy this story. While some elements were lacking in some depth, it was still enjoyable and I’m tempted to finish the series by reading the second book for my April read. I’m hoping that the world gets expanded upon and perhaps the characters get a little more growth and depth to them, but still, I’m looking forward to it as well as glad I had chosen to read The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith.
Thank you for reading A Comment On: The Raven Spell. I appreciate you making it to the end. Follow me on my socials to keep up with me. You can find them on my Beacons or my Contacts page. I hope you have an enchanting day and until next time.
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