Wednesday, November 12, 2014

TOUR STOP: Raven


ISBN13: 9781502357595
Pages: 248
Source: Itching for Book Tours
Appearance:
23206075
Summary: 
This is the complete Steampunk Fantasy novel - all four parts of the serial in one volume! Also includes bonus features not found in the episodes ~ 
Human life has value.
The poor living in the gutter are as valuable as the rich living in a manor.
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint.
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed.
 

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she’s been spending years redeeming the lives she’s taken. By her count, she’s even and it’s time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore… Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she’s pulled right back in.

Hey everyone! Welcome to my tour stop for the Chronicles of Steele: Raven Book Tour! It feels so long since I’ve done a book tour and I just realized that I forgot to include blog banners on my last couple of tours! O.O So now that everything’s back in its original set up, let’s get into the review~~

Raven is a reaper. Her dad was a reaper too and she’s continuing in her footsteps. The province where she lives is controlled by a duke who was declared a price on the heads of all reapers. After being a reaper for so many years and atoning for her actions, she is finally ready to settle down with her beloved in a small cottage in the woods. Then she happens to be at a bridge when a mechanical horse goes mad and the duke’s son falls into the water. She does the right thing and jumps in to save him only to be presented a harder task. Take the boy to the Witch and protect him from his own father.

I don’t have any other words for this book other than I simply loved it. It mixes steampunk and fantasy together perfectly. I loved the idea of the reaper. At first I thought Raven’s dad was the Grim Reaper, but it makes so much sense and it’s such a fun use of the word. If you haven’t already gathered this, reapers are assassins, but they are assassins who live by a code. You kill to get the job done, but you must save a life for every life you’ve killed. As time went on, reapers have become an extinct group with assassins choosing to kill just for the thrill of it with no compensation. Raven is among the last who still uphold the moral code.

I’ll be honest and say that character wise, none of them particularly stick out to me. I really like Raven, but kickbutt-wise she wasn’t the toughest I’ve read about. That didn’t stop her from completely capturing my emotions and keeping me hooked throughout the story. It frustrated me so much how there was a hint of romance but it wasn’t anything else but a hint. I wanted Raven to be happy and find someone to care for her and give her that peaceful cottage life she’s always dreamed of having.

I loved Monroe who was the other reaper we got to meet. He was an amazing father figure for Raven which is something she needed throughout the book. Raven’s relationship with Darius is sweet and pulls at your heartstrings. He’s such an innocent boy with a special gift that has his father wanting him dead. It’s a cruel world, but he manages to see the light in everything. Last character is mention of Captain Jack Grant. I liked him and desperately wanted him to do something about his feelings for Raven. They would certainly make a great couple and fighting team. One thing that did bother me was how he just a lot on Raven’s strength and spirit as his main reason of being enthralled by her. It does go on to mention her personality, but for a good majority of the book he mentions her fighting skill which makes her seem more like a good fighter than someone he’s interested in.

This is getting a bit a long, but I have two more things to cover and one’s the mixture of steampunk and fantasy. I mentioned the fantasy aspect a bit with the reapers but did I mention that there are also witches and steam powered servants and horses? Darius has this ability to completely blow apart any automaton that he comes into close contact with. Thus, his father wants him dead because automatons are pretty important in society. Darius’s brother begs Raven to help bring Darius to a witch to cure him of his disease. But the witch turns out to be a bit more…wicked.

Last thing I promise! My biggest problem with the book. It’s not that big of a deal, but compared to how invested I was in the book, I felt like it was a big deal. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and rushed. There is one particular scene where things go boom that I’m targeting at and all of a sudden the biggest threat is just not there anymore and replaced by a bigger threat. Then that threat is eliminated and everything’s happy. Until Raven leaves because she can’t face being happy as she believes she doesn’t deserve it.  There seem to be a trend lately with the books I’ve been reading where the ending leaves me feeling extremely unsatisfied. Maybe you feel differently, but I wanted that one extra page conclusion and my life would have been complete. I guess I’ll have to wait for Volume Two to be released…

Overall, can you tell I really liked this book? Highly recommend for fans for steampunk because this is pretty freaking awesome! So that’s all I have, thanks so much for reading ~

MY PLAYLIST FOR RAVEN

GIVEAWAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pauline CreedenIn simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy. 

4 out of 5 stars

Foreverly Obsessed,



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