Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Raven Unveiled by Grace Draven Narrator: Katharine Lee McEwan
Series: Fallen Empire #3
Published by Ace, Penguin Audio on November 8, 2022
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Siora has been on the run for longer than she cares to remember, from her past and her gift. Born with the ability to see and speak to ghosts, she has heard their desperate pleas as an otherworldly predator stalks the dead amid the fertile killing fields of the collapsing Krael Empire. The creature’s power and reach are growing with every soul it consumes, but Siora is preoccupied with her own troubles: namely an assassin who has sworn an oath of vengeance against her.
Gharek of Cabast was once the right-hand man of the reviled empress but is now a wanted fugitive. Although his reasons for hunting Siora are viscerally personal, what Gharek can’t anticipate is that when he finally does find her, she will hold the key to saving his world, or what’s left of it. To make good on old debts and protect the vulnerable dead from a malevolent force, Gharek and Siora will both need to make an ally out of an enemy—and trust that will be enough to save each other.
I’ve really been enjoying the Fallen Empire series which feels more fantasy than fantasy romance. The world has the magic and creatures, swords and crossbows, cruel beatings and tortures, horses, the old kingdoms, and of course, the greedy rulers. The story is an friends to enemies to lovers story. It is connected to the previous book, and its couple plays a role in Raven Unveiled.
I admit I was lost at the beginning for a bit since Dragon Unleashed was a year ago. I truly wish I could always take the time to read all the books together when the next one is released. Once I got into the story though, I was very comfortable.
Gharek was the cat’s paw (assassin) of the Empress who was killed with battle injuries. Siora is a shade speaker who saved his daughter Estred and then acted as her nursemaid. Until Gharek was going to hurt her friend, and she saved the friend and left.
Gharek has been chasing Siora every since with some idea of revenge. He was angry how Siora left Estred. He should have stayed home and taken care of his daughter IMO. Anyway, many are after Gharek and eventually he gets captured and Siora along with him. Siora helps him, and his daughter, to achieve what the captors want as they have also kidnapped Estred.
Gharek and Siora have a sort of romance and do find common ground in Estred and having a life with her. With a country facing all kinds of war between different factions, there is a lot of killing and political manipulation. It’s not good for this couple or any people except the new future rulers. We get some of each of their points of view.
Siora has a calm strength and learns a lot about her abilities. She didn’t realize how Estred had grieved for her, only that Gharek wanted to kill her. I really admire Siora. She does care about others and often puts them before herself. She was a spring girl with Gilene in the Phoenix Unbound.
Gharek on the other hand is pretty selfish, putting his daughter before anyone else. It’s understandable as a parent but sometimes i think he could have accomplished his goals with better choices. He certainly has talents in tracking and fighting.
I enjoyed the story and the world.I can’t help wondering (hoping) if we will get more stories here.
Narration:
I really enjoyed the narration. McEwan narrates all the books in the series. I appreciate her tone and accent which give it an old world fantasy feel. I listen comfortably at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
Excerpt:
The music of insects and bird calls had been loud just before he crossed the tree line, a cacophony of whistles, rustles, and chirps. Those sounds died away the closer he rode to the ruins of the dead city until the silence itself held its breath and only the gloom shrouding the trees breathed. His amiable mare stopped suddenly then pranced backward, tossing her head and snorting. Gharek tapped his heels against her sides to coax her forward. She’d have none of it, fighting the bit in her mouth as she pivoted on her hooves to trot back the way they’d come.
Gharek reined her to a halt, considering whether it was wise to continue his scouting in another direction or make camp nearby and wait until morning to resume his hunt. He’d lose time with camping but trying to find anyone in this darkness while riding a spooked horse was an exercise in futility. Besides, he could make up the time in daylight. Siora was on foot, he on horseback. He’d cover far more ground in less time than she would, and the chance she’d outrun him if he spotted her was nonexistent.
He guided the mare to retrace her steps, and this time she readily obeyed the command, eager to put distance between them and the city that squatted like a pustule on the landscape. But she’d taken no more than a pair of steps when something wrapped icy fingers around Gharek’s spine and wrenched him backward. He flew off the saddle as if lassoed from behind and landed on his back. The ground beneath him vibrated from the beat of his mare’s hooves as she bolted past him into the labyrinth of trees.
He lay there for a moment, stunned and winded. The ice shard wedged against his backbone remained, though whatever had ripped him from horseback didn’t press him into the dirt. A few more breaths and he lurched to his feet, unsettled by his unusual clumsiness, alarmed by the violence of an invisible force that had so thoroughly unhorsed him. There’d been no trip rope to clothesline him, nor had he been riding fast when he fell. The lamp he held had fallen when he did, lost somewhere in the underbrush when its flickering light had guttered. Darkness hung thick enough to scoop with a spoon.
His muttered curses sounded loud to his ears as he peered into the sepulchral black, hoping he might spot the mare standing nearby or at least find a partially cleared path that led back to open pasture. He took a step only to suffer a hard clamp on his backbone, as if the icicle there had suddenly transformed into a shackle locked around his middle. Invisible tethers seized his arms and legs and he was jerked to one side and then the other as if by a drunken puppeteer with their hands on the strings.
Gharek staggered, struggling to keep his feet, struggling to free himself from the bonds that held him in an unbreakable grip that both dragged and yanked him in the direction of Midrigar’s walls. He careened through the dark, along a jagged path that propelled him into tree trunks before spinning him away to tear through the underbrush. He tried planting his feet in the dirt to no avail, his boots carving skid marks as he was pulled along like a cur on a leash. His palms left bloody smears on the bark of those trees he tried to grip for purchase and was wrenched away with little effort.
The iciness slithering down his spine spread in creeper tendrils throughout his body, wrapping around his lungs and heart, his liver, even his tongue so that his curses and snarls slowly ebbed away and his struggles waned. Speaking was an impossibility, breathing a challenge, and he was reduced to nothing more than a grunting, shambling mute driven inexorably toward an ancient city of the damned and a fate he could not know but feared with every part of his soul.
About Katharine Lee McEwan
Katharine Lee McEwan is an award-winning British actress, writer, and producer committed to creating quality, hard-hitting and issue driven content. Her films have been invited to over a hundred film festivals world-wide, including screenings in New York, Moscow, Sydney and Los Angeles. Katharine’s feature film “Solitary,” which she wrote, produced and starred in, won sixteen festival awards and opened both the Chelsea Film Festival in New York, and the London Independent Film Festival, where it won Best UK Feature.
Katharine was born in Redcar, Cleveland and spent her early years being home-schooled by her parents and acting in local productions. Deciding to forgo university and seek overseas adventure instead, Katharine traveled through Europe, Asia, South Africa and Australia. It was on these journeys, inspired by the stories of the many unique people she encountered, that she decided to return to her love of storytelling. Arriving in Los Angeles with a renewed passion and an even greater desire to study her craft, she enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Upon graduating, Katharine started working in theatre and independent film, but soon realized that creating her own material would give her the opportunity to play the dynamic, rebellious women she most identified with.
In addition to her on-camera work, Katharine is also an award-winning narrator, having lent her voice to numerous titles spanning genres such as fiction, fantasy, and drama, and including works by New York Times best-selling authors. As a writer, she has created and performed stories with Snap Judgement Live and the Road Theatre in Los Angeles.
About Grace Draven
I’m an author and Louisiana native living in Texas with my husband, three smalls and a big doofus dog. I have lived in Spain, hiked the Teton Mountains, honeymooned in Scotland, ridden in competition rodeo and am the great great granddaughter of a Nicaraguan president. I also hate doing laundry and refuse to iron anything.
I’ve loved storytelling since forever. I published my first short story with Amber Quill Press and have since written several other tales. A love of the bad boy in fiction always inspires me.
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
|
| Writing |
 |
| Characters |
|
| Narration (Audio) |
|
| Overall: | |
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- Sunday Post – 19 January 2025 @caffeinatedreviewer.com @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality - January 19, 2025
- 🎧 Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan @DervlaMcTiernan#AoifeMcMahon @HarperAudio #LoveAudiobooks - January 18, 2025
- Read-along & #Giveaway:On the Edge by Ilona Andrews @ilonaandrews @ilonaandrews.bsky.social @reneeraudman @AceBooksPub @acebookspub.bsky.social @TantorAudio @tantoraudio.bsky.social #Read-along #GIVEAWAY @victoria7401.bsky.social - January 17, 2025
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
I’m so behind already this month, and haven’t started this yet. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I usually find it hard to get into sequels with such a big release gap as well.
You are so right Tammy! I had a minor lull in November schedule compared to the deluge of late August early September. But of course, I filled in with more things and even picking up a couple neglected ARCs. I usually do that a bit in December too.
Ha, I had that same fleeting thought that he was chasing all over creation supposedly for his daughter and he left her alone again. I really hope there are more.
yes it would be interesting to see how the world shapes up. But these 3 have been pretty separate. They aren’t quite standalone because there are connections but it’s limitied.
What a beautiful cover! I’ve had Pheonix Unbound on my TBR list for awhile now. I just haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
Thank you. I know what you mean. Sometimes we just can’t get to something quickly even when we want.
I love this cover, and the series sounds wonderful. I like magical stories.
These are wonderful with rich world-building and character development. Because it’s fantasy, it has a very historical feel but also magic.
I have this one, but I haven’t started it yet. I’m glad its the same narrator.
I really like this narrator. I’d read the blurb from the first two before you start, if you didn’t read them recently which I didn’t so I did.
I was offered this one but didn’t take it because I was already behind. It sounds like a good story. I think I would’ve liked Siora more than Gharek. He sounds like he was harsh on Siora. Maybe someday I’ll get to this series.
Yes Gharek had some gray areas. He isn’t an evil guy but when push came to shove he did what he thought would help his daughter even if he knew at some level it was wrong. But I don’t fault that as much as his going after Siora for revenge instead of staying and helping his daughter. I mean he’s mad at Siora for leaving her (them) and then he leaves her. Also there are horrid life/death situations where you have to do things to survive you wouldn’t do if you really had a choice.
Thanks for sharing an excerpt. This sounds like a really good series!
I’m glad you liked it. I have enjoyed Grace Draven. She has a very rich descriptive ability for world- building and plot.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I thought that the narrator was perfect for the story. Great review!
Thank you Carole. I did really enjoy the narrator.
I need to hurry my butt and read book 2 so I can read this one!
Well you may be the smartest because that book and this one are quite connected and you will have a fresher memory if you read them closer together.