novel reviews – Penstricken

SPOILER ALERT:

Anyone who has not read Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

I love a good old fashioned high fantasy set in faintly medieval inspired magical worlds and Christian fantasy Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse promised to be exactly that. The protagonist, Lady Selene of House Ravenwood, has the ability to enter and even manipulate the dreams of other people and stands to become the head of her royal house. As she learns, under the cold instruction of her mother, to use her gift to spy upon and even assassinate the enemies of her house she becomes torn between the dark destiny set before her and the dream of a more peaceful way of life.

In general, an enjoyable book. I liked it. It didn’t knock my socks off but it was okay.

Most of the drama in this story focuses on Selene’s own internal conflict. Oh, yes, there’s an apparent threat to the Great Houses from the encroaching Dominia Empire but this never really matures into any direct conflict for any of the main characters. Instead, the main characters are simply squabbling about how best to deal with the threat of invasion, or indeed, if such a threat even exists. That side of things, however, is fairly by-the-by, for which I was immensely grateful as it could have become incredibly boring otherwise. Selene’s internal conflict about her own destiny and whether or not she can (or even should) carry out her mother’s instructions for the sake their house and their people is far more interesting, and the author very wisely focuses on this throughout and it is this particular arc which is concluded by the end of the novel. As part of a series, the conflict with the Dominia Empire and the break-down of relations between the great houses is left very much open and will, I trust, be fulfilled in the following instalments.

The world-building was strong, if not particularly mould breaking. It was easy to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of Rook Castle and the Magyr Mountains and the history of the world is also well developed and feeds directly into the story in a way which seems natural and believable. I did feel like the religions practised by the main players (in particular the followers of the Light and of the Dark Lady) were a little underdeveloped, which seemed like an especially odd thing to leave so half cooked in a Christian fantasy. On the plus side, this prevented the story from feeling obviously preachy. Indeed, I have a sneaking suspicion that the true allegory lies in the inter-house politics and the Dominia threat, where I suspect the different houses possibly represent church denominations and the Dominia represent all the forces of hell or something along those lines. If that is the case, however, it is not delivered in a way which ruins the story or makes the reader feel preached at. The author clearly knows how to incorporate theme effectively.

My only major criticism of this novel is that it was a little predictable, especially the outcome of the relationship between Selene and Damien. Pretty much from the first moment we saw the noble and true Damien, servant of the Light and all round good guy (who certainly wouldn’t ever dream of marrying a lady of Ravenwood!), I knew he was going to end up marrying Selene. I was not remotely surprised by this and I frankly got a little fed up waiting for it to happen, especially given Selene’s obvious attraction to his soul and Damien’s fascination (though certainly not love or desire, no sir-ee!) with her. I will say this however: exactly how the two characters got from ‘stranger’ to ‘husband and wife’ stage wasn’t quite how I expected it to happen and it was, therefore, still worth reading.

Speaking of characters, the main players in this story (specifically: Selene, Damien, Selene’s Mother and, to a lesser extent, her father) are fairly well developed, if a little unremarkable. They are all distinctive enough and driven by clear motives to accomplish specific goals. There are loads of other characters (twenty four if the ‘character list’ at the start of the book is to be believed), each distinctive enough in their own ways, however some of them feel a little superfluous, as if they are only there to make up the numbers at the summit.

All in all, an easy enough read with jut enough excitement and intrigue to keep me going, but a little predictable at points and slow to begin with. If you like Christian fantasy, you’ll probably enjoy it in a ‘no fuss’ sort of way. Even if you’re not particularly interested in religious fiction, you’ll probably still enjoy this book well enough without feeling like its intruding on your beliefs. A nice, safe bit of easy reading fantasy.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

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