Books for Christian Girls: "Cry of the Raven" by Morgan L. Busse

About this book:

“Wife. Warrior. Lady of Two Worlds.

As War Looms, Will Her Power Be Enough to Save the Ones She Loves?

Lady Selene Ravenwood has come into her full power as a dreamwalker--a power greater than any in history. She embraces her new role as Nightwatcher, able to intercede for her people in the dream world, but the dark shadow of war draws ever closer.

Working together, the Great Houses come up with a plan to secure the borders from the approaching Dominia Empire. But dissension, conflict, and suspicion threaten to destroy their tenuous treaty, and as the empire burns a path across their lands, Damien Maris starts to lose his ability to raise the waters, leaving the lands vulnerable to the empire's attacks.”

Series: Book #3 in “The Ravenwood Saga”. Review of Book #1 Here! and #2 Here!

Spiritual Content- Prayers; Talks about the Light (God figure), praying to him, trusting him, & following him; 'H's are not capital when referring to the Light; Witnessing to others about the Light; Many mentions of the Light, having faith, & giving loved one over to him; Mentions of prayers, praying, & Thanking the Light; Mentions of those with gifts (Damien & Selene) offering their gift up to the Light (similar to worship) & praying for their people; Mentions of monks, their chanting, an abbey, priests, & a temple; A few mentions of a festival about the Light; A few mentions of people wishing the Light to be with others on their journeys; A mention of someone following “some of the tenets of the Light”; A mention of seraph from ancient stories that made supplications to the Light;
*Note: Each of the seven Great Houses have a special gift (some control water, others fire or the earth, and Selene’s house is able to get into others’ dreams) and some believe in gods of some form, the “old god/god of old ways”(called “the Light”), and others believe in “the Dark Lady”; The gifts each house has are from the Light to protect their people; The House Ravenwood’s patroness is the Dark Lady and it is their belief in her that gives her power (Lady Ragna is spending a lot of time with her so her powers can grow); Fighting the Dark Lady in the dreamscape (Light vs Darkness, up to semi-detailed); Selene slips into others’ dreams, talking on the form of a raven and can change back into her human form; The dreamwalker gift of House Ravenwood can be used to encourage people or manipulate them; Mentions of souls & some being dark and some being light; Mentions of the Dark Lady, Lady Ragna being close to her, & the dark priest receiving messages and prophecies from her; A couple mentions of seeing those who have passed through the veil & seeing them again; A mention of a place being Hell; A mention of a hellish sound.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘for Light’s sake’, a ‘Lands’, three forms of ‘Light/Dear Light’ (used as the beginning of a sentence), and four ‘dart’an’s; A man is called the “back-end-of-a-wyvern”; A mention of a curse (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling & sarcasm; Seeing deaths (including loved ones, up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Seeing killing, Being attacked, Being burned, Pain, Injuries, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares (up to semi-detailed); Damien struggles with using his gift to harm or kill others (even if they are the enemy, up to semi-detailed); Damien is grieving his parents and brother & Selene grieves her sister; All about many mentions of wars, fighting, a razing of an empire, & murders; Mentions of deaths, murders, killing, assassins/assassinations, & drownings (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of bodies, blood, how they died, burning the bodies, & the smell (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fires (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of attacks, fighting, injuries, pain, passing out, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of threats; Mentions of nightmares & people being put into a deep sleep (by the Dark Lady); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of deaths from a plague & grief/grieving (for parents, a father, a brother, a sister, & a mentor); Mentions of throwing up; Mentions of a woman’s mind being shattered and her becoming “like a living corpse” as she can’t do anything (Happened in Book #1; *Spoiler* Selene goes into her mind and shows her the Light and then she passes away peacefully *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of alcohol, drinking, & feeling drunk; A few mentions of wyverns being injured (up to semi-detailed); A couple mentions of slaves/slavery; A mention of a suicide mission; A mention of someone losing a hand in a battle (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a young girl being slapped.

Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, a hand kiss, three cheek kisses, a neck kiss, three not-detailed kisses, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and four semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, Cuddling, Warmth, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Selene & Damien share a bed (multiple times, but there is also a mention of them putting on their clothes the next morning; also a couple mentions of them missing the other being next to them in bed); A man covets Selene and her power; A man touches Selene’s cheek & she slaps him away; Mentions of an affair & an illegitimate child from it (the man makes also offers for the woman to stay the night with him); Mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of blushes & winks; Love, being in love, & the emotions.

-Selene Maris, around age 19
-Damien Maris, around age 24
P.O.V. switches between them, & Lady Ragna (x3), Raoul (x2), Caiaphas (x1)
384 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

I can see why this is a popular series, as the plot is very unique and interesting. I think the bottom line, though, for me, is that I’m not the right reader and not a fan of certain parts that I mentioned in my review of the second book. I do have to say, this trilogy has been an adventure and I’ve enjoyed seeing what would happen next. Had there not been a fade-to-black scene in the second book, I would have kept this series in my bookshelves. (Side note: If you loved the whole “River of Time” series by Lisa T. Bergren, you would most likely be completely okay with how it’s handled in this book.)

I like Selene a lot more in this book. She’s more confident and well-spoken. I actually wasn’t a fan of seeing Lady Ragna having doubts…I kind of just wanted her to always be evil? That’s probably terrible to say, but her doubting her goals makes her feel wishy-washy, which she was not that way at all in the prior books. However, I was very satisfied by the ending.

This fantasy trilogy has been a journey and I’m glad that I finally read it and can mark it off of my TBR. It definitely had its good points and not-so-good points in my eyes, but overall, I can see why so many love it. Older girl who are big fantasy fans would probably enjoy this series the most.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!