Review: Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow Book 3) by Anthony Ryan

Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Very Depressing Conclusion to the Trilogy

If you look on Amazon or Goodreads, you will see a surprisingly low star rating for this last book in the Raven’s Shadow Trilogy. The other two books got high ratings, but the ones for this are lower. If you are wondering why, I think it’s because it’s just a really depressing book. The book is filled with war, bloodshed and trauma.

The book follows the Queen’s campaign to destroy The Ally and the Volarian Empire. There are three main strands to the story with Lyrna taking ships to Volar, Vaelin going across the ice to find the Eternal Man and Frentis and a small band of fighters working their way across the Empire towards the capital city, changing the Empire as they pass.

There are so few happy moments in this book, but that does not mean it is not well written. It contains the same well structured plot and well rounded characters, it’s just that the plot and those characters explore the darker side of humanity during the course of a war. Writing about how war changes, not only the individual, but the face of a nation is not an easy or pleasant task and Anthony Ryan does not shy away from this difficult subject. This ability of his to reveal the depths of human emotion is probably what makes this book so depressing. All the characters we have come to love, all lose so much. The loss often includes compassion and empathy in the face of anger and the desire for vengeance.

As I say, it really is a very good book, I just wouldn’t recommend it if you are in a depressed state of mind, or conversely a really happy one.

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