The Raven Scholar
The Raven Scholar does tropey semi-YA fantasy better than any of the others I’ve read. By that I mean we have an appealing fish-out-of-water protagonist who has to navigate some kind of cliquey contest with a great reward and even greater consequences for failure while also dealing with romantic entanglements and growing up.
In this case, our protagonist is Neema, the immensely competent Scholar from the Raven Temple. The Orrun Empire has lasted over 1500 years on the back of a tradition of aristocratic selection. Each emperor reigns for 24 years, and none may pick their successor. Instead, the chosen champions of the eight temples, each associated with a mythical guardian animal, a bureaucratic task and a personality type (Ravens are studious scholars, Foxes are crafty spies, Hounds are loyal guards, Bears are brave warriors, etc) compete in an 8 day long trial of fights and tests, and whoever gets the most points is the new emperor. The current emperor Bersun is just coming up on the end of his rule, and the new contest will start in a few days.
A commoner, she was ostracized by other Ravens despite being best in her class for years running. She achieved her current rank by scribing the Imperial Writ of Exile for Yana, the daughter of an infamous traitor who attempted a coup, since as an otherwise unremarkable junior clerk she had the best handwriting. This first service catapulted her up the ranks, as she became a friend and confidant to the Emperor. It also made her a bunch of enemies, including her BFF and lover, the Fox Cain, who thought that “just following orders” was no excuse to send an innocent girl to a horrific death with your name on a parchment stitched into her chest.
And now, 8 years later, Neema is very much looking forward to a quiet retirement once her role organizing the current Trials is over. Except the real Raven Candidate, her nemesis Gaida, is found dead, stabbed by a blade cursed to usher in the apocalypse the next time it kills a person. Neema is quickly assigned to investigate the murder, compete in the trials, and also prevent the end of the world. And the other complication is that many of the other competitors have very personal stakes. Cain is competing for the Foxes, and they haven’t spoken in eight years. Tiger Ruko got his position by choosing the exile of his twin sister Yana. Hound Shal escorted Yana to her exile and death. Amazing how in a big empire, everything can hinge on a small room’s worth of people.
The writing, which is compelling and quickly paced, elevates this book. I would have read it in a single sitting, but 8 PM - 4 AM and sleep is close enough. While Hodgson plays with tropes, she isn’t their slave. The competitors are able professionals around 30 who have trained extensively, not teenagers infinitely over their heads. The romance between Neema and Cain is marked by emotional maturity, and there’s no obligatory love triangle. While the setting has some political and social silliness, the mythic aspects hang together.
The one fly in the ointment is a rather weird moment of pacing, where a completely unnecessary chapter reveals the true antagonist to the reader well before the characters find out, drawing the punch from what could have been a truly fantastic ending. It’s fine, but it’s weird that it made it through editing.