TL;DR: Lately, I’ve been struggling to find a read that piques and keeps my interest past the first few pages, so I was very excited when I started A Tempest of Ravens and it did just that. While there were enjoyable moments as the story progressed—particularly the historical context and atmosphere—the uneven pacing, repetitiveness, and a lack of connection to the characters, left me wanting more. I really thought I would love this more than I did, however, I still think it’s a solid debut and I’m curious to see where Maeve’s story goes next. If you’re more into historical fiction with a little bit of witchcraft and magic thrown into the mix, and a mild romantic subplot, you might enjoy this one!

What I enjoyed

• The historical context had me riveted. I have very little knowledge about this historical period in Scotland during the 1650s but my curiosity was piqued learning about the war between Scotland, Ireland and England. I might’ve gone down a bit of a hole trying to get my bearings right between the Royalists, Covenanters, and English, but I think the author did a great job in bringing this period to light. It’s also a time when religious radicals have sowed a lot of fear and mistrust against anything “unnatural” and so much of society was extremely superstitious and fearful of witchcraft. I think all of these elements combined worked really well for the story and the author did a great job bringing the period to life.
• The story was very atmospheric. There’s an almost eerie gothic vibe to the story, especially when it came to Maeve and her witchcraft. Ravens follow Maeve everywhere and fierce chilling winds blow unexpectedly along with her building rage, and with the natural elements of the Scottish Highlands—fog, dreary weather, and grey skies—it created a perfect atmosphere to sink into. It mad me want to go to Scotland immediately, lol! 😂
• The found family aspect. This has a great found family aspect with an unexpected group of forest bandits. I really liked Taryn and Brahan (and later, Fiona!) and the friendships they form with Maeve. Having been isolated for most of her life due to people’s fear of her, it was nice to see Maeve form these connections with people who give her the friendship, guidance, and support she desperately lacked. It was especially important for her to see how much they believed in her and encouraged her to trust and believe in herself.

What I struggled with

• Unevenly paced storytelling. I think this is what I struggled with the most because some parts were so action-packed and others moved at a glacial pace. There were also scenes that felt more important than the amount of time given to them as we’d suddenly be moving on to the next thing without having time to process what just happened. I think that’s reflective in Maeve’s character as well, who acts before she thinks things through thoroughly.
• So much repetition… There was a lot of repetitiveness in Maeve’s internal monologue and actions. We would revisit the same memories over and over and at a certain point it felt unnecessary to keep dwelling on because it’s clear how impactful and important those moments were for her character. I also get why Maeve felt cursed due to all the bad things that happen whenever she’s around or interacts and gets involved in something. At the same time though, it felt less like “bad luck” and eventually more a lack of forethought by her that resulted in these bad things happening. The thing is, she’d tell herself what she *knew* needed to happen, but then she’d still do what she knew she shouldn’t anyway. This was followed by her falling into a pit of despair, depression and self-doubt, and because it happened repeatedly, it became *very trying* to read.
• Lack of connection to the characters. While I liked Maeve well enough, I wished we had gotten to know some of the other characters better. I particularly would’ve liked to know more about Eamon and Maeve’s brothers, Aeneas and Bearuch, because they played central roles in Maeve’s story, but we only know about them from her perspective. This made them come across as fairly two-dimensional because, again with the repetitiveness, Maeve would focus on certain aspects and memories of their character and since we’re in her POV, that’s all we’d know of them. It made it difficult to connect to and care for these characters. There are many secondary characters who play semi-important roles in the overall plot, but weren’t necessarily important, although some of these villains were despicable AF.

There are two other elements that don’t fall under the “liked” or “struggled with” category for me but are important to the story. There is a romance that was pushed very clearly from the beginning. I knew it was coming, and I didn’t like or dislike it, but I wished that it had been better developed. It would’ve helped if Maeve and Eamon actually spent more time talking and getting to know each other, which we do get initially, but there’s a big chunk towards the end where they don’t even interact, and it made it harder to be convinced of their connection.

A large part of Maeve’s story also focuses on her family clan, the MacDonnells and their very messy, very toxic family dynamics. Maeve has an incredibly complex relationship with both her brothers, Aeneas and Bearuch, and I’m not gonna lie, it had me on the fence. I didn’t like both brothers very much and while I understood her loyalty to them (to a point), they didn’t come across as good brothers who loved and cared for her. She felt more like an obligation to them and I didn’t like how things wound up with them. But again, there was a lot of repetitiveness to her thoughts about them and that made me struggle with it even more!

While I thought this was a good debut with strong and weak elements balanced out enough, I’m not sure that I will continue the series. I enjoyed enough of it but perhaps not enough to want to continue, but let’s see. I hope that the next one reads less like YA and more like the Adult Historical Fantasy Romance this is meant to be!

Have you read A Tempest of Ravens or is it on your TBR?

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