Booquinerie : June 2015

Anthony Ryan

Blood Song
Raven's Shadow I.

2013

Is it pleasant to read? Yes. Is it good? Yes. Does it make you wanna read the follow-up? Yes. Is it great, then? No.
It took a while for my interest to get piqued, but by Part II, the characters were finally starting to be put to use, and the scenes became more gripping (save for a few badly-plotted ones), though to say they actually gripped me would be going too far. Blood Song is not so much original in the ways it builds the plot as in the plot itself. With the underlying questions of faiths, religions, and political power all intermingled, the book fares much better in intrigue than in characters (especially, since Vaelin lacks those little flawed traits that would make him a true hero).
Even after 730 pages, Blood Song remains very rough on sentiments, unsubtle, and you get the sense that this is precisely what Ryan wants. Instead, the work is thoroughly researched, and perhaps all those details on combat moves, horse care, and sword-fighting are what kept Ryan away from his characters; he’s more interested in telling us a story than in creating it, step by step. Mythopoeia, to cite one thing, is not so much cleverly diffused as spread like misplaced drops across the pages. It all works, however, and by those 730 pages, you know you’ve started to care. A shame, though, that, to me, the book became more interesting once it was over than while I was reading it. I would say it’s impossible to dislike it, but I found it equally as hard to love it.

P.S. For a more detailed critique, read this.