Monday, November 8, 2010

Raven: A Book Review (the last for the Feather Book Series, I promise)

Okay, I finally finished reading the very last book in the Feather Book Series. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished, because reading these books was seriously work. So what's my take on it?

Raven picks up right as Guardian ends. (Spoiler: Edgar's back, just so we can clear stuff up.) Edgar and Estella are happy again, for a little while, until she finds out that she's the One (italicized just like that the whole book) and has to save the world, which is being destroyed because of pollution. Edgar, it turns out, likes violence (never indicated other than his eyes get really bright when something violent is about to happen or has happened.) This dying earth thing is the only conflict in the book. So Estella gives Edgar the ice queen treatment for way too long until they make up and look for her prophecy (it's a physical, tangible thing that has a personality and pretty lights.) Soon after, Edgar and Estella are intimate for the first time (they're married.) The next morning, Estella leaves, saves the world, and washes up on the shore of a lake, no longer immortal. She meets other humans who seem to worship her, including her foster mother, and then begins a marathon of throwing up a lot and getting weak despite eating lots of nutritious foods (berries and such. Yum.) She is taken back to a shelter and tries to cut her wrist open because she's still getting sick. (I've seriously never felt suicidal during a bout of stomach flu.) She finds out from someone that she's pregnant and only has morning sickness, then the book fasts forward about 81 years. Miraculously, she's lived to 100, having had a daughter and a granddaughter. Then she gets to go to Heaven, and a small ending page potentially alludes to future series about Estella's granddaughter Samantha (tortured, pained soul with special gifts. Oh joy.)

I'll be honest, I was a little bored by this book. The only conflict was Estella being mad at Edgar for a good half of the book. The angle of "humans have messed up the earth real bad" was a little...well...done. I felt myself being more annoyed by Estella than sympathetic. Towards the end of the book, she thinks something like "obviously she wasn't as worried about me as I was about her" (regarding a complete stranger). That's a big indication of someone who is self-absorbed. Even in this last book, Estella fails to be a likable character. I think she could have been, with more work and less deus ex machina, but the character is cheated of likability. Also, the logic breaks down at the end of the book. The events of the novel take place in 2010, when Estella is at a physical age of 18. Estella's child is born in early 2011. The last few pages feature a diary entry by Estella, dated 2091, in which Estella speaks of being in her true eighties in age. Truly, she'd be about 99, and her daughter would have to be 81 years old. Estella's daughter has a 10-year old child, meaning that Margriete (Estella's daughter) had a natural child at the age of 71. However, it is never indicated that Margriete is any older than maybe her thirties. Needless to say, I was a little confused.

Overall, Raven left me unsatisfied. I kept hoping that some character would redeem himself or herself, but the characters never changed. I'm finished reading this series, and I feel a little cheated out of what could have been a good story. At least my boyfriend and I had a good laugh at the phrase "cold sugary lips" that appears in the story.

I'll be back tomorrow with more. And I'll be working on my novel. Happy National Novel Writing Month!

1 comment:

  1. I'm not familiar with this series, but it sounds like it may be worth giving it a look. I so admire that you are writing a novel, it is such a huge undertaking. Good luck!

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