The Raven Scholar (Hodgson)
Jun. 15th, 2026 06:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahn3+/5. The Emperors of Orrun have been chosen for hundreds of years by a multi-part contest between candidates from the different Houses factions of the Empire: Raven, Fox, Tiger, Ox, Bear, Monkey, Hound, and Dragon. It is now time to pick a new Emperor, and this AU Triwizard tournament, as isis put it in her review and now I can't unsee it these Trials are about to begin again. Neema Kraa, the emperor's brilliant and socially awkward Raven High Scholar, who obtained her position from an act in her past that causes everyone else to look at her askance, is drawn in to the Trials in a way that she didn't expect.
Before I start going on, a couple of things: The first thing you should know about this book -- and fortunately I did look this up halfway through -- is that it is the first book of a trilogy, and though it comes to a coherent conclusion, it's sort of like saying The Empire Strikes Back comes to a coherent conclusion.The second thing I should say: I was "spoiled" for this before I read it and it was a good thing -- the prologue of this book (which is very very long) is not an accurate representation of what the rest of the book is about (see the first paragraph). (I have my doubts as to whether the prologue should even be there -- I see why the author felt it should be, but it just feels like there might have been better ways.) Okay, onward!
This was a very interesting book to read after The Everlasting, because although it's not a perfect book, it's a book and not a fanfic, and I ended up liking it much better than Everlasting as both a book and as a Hugo candidate (and probably ended up liking it much better in general than I might have otherwise, in fact). There's a ton of worldbuilding, a ton of characters -- the world feels much more lived-in -- and a ton of plot, and it was rather a relief after dealing with ersatz worldbuilding and only three characters.
The thing I do find that it shares with Everlasting is its compelling nature. After the prologue (which did drag for me), I always wanted to know what happened next, and I never thought "gosh this is going on too long," even though it's a long book. Then again, I am an absolute sucker for the whole Triwizard-ish setup of "the candidates have tests, the tests say something about them, plus which there's external weirdness going on that they have to navigate" (see also: Gideon the Ninth) so, I mean, I was never going to really get tired of that. But also there's enough plot, and even though the prose is a bit odd (see later) it is compelling, which counts for a lot, for me.
One aspect of it that becomes more and more important as the book goes on has to do with the anthropomorphic-animal factions of the Empire, which are also worshipped as gods. There was a bit in the middle where I was kind of unsure about the integration, but I was mostly convinced of it by the end. Though I do sort of roll my eyes a bit at books like this one where half the characters are atheist, and then oh, hey, it turns out that the gods have a long-standing history of involving themselves in the world. Yeah, actually, I think the culture of the world would be different in that case, especially considering it took thousands of years for our not-so-god-involved world to get to the point where large numbers of people were atheist! People would still have religious issues in such a world, they'd just be different -- are the gods actually good? do we have free will? what does that even mean? etc. -- it's one of the reasons I really like Bujold's Chalion books -- anyway...
I mentioned it's not perfect. It's really actually quite flawed in a number of ways. First, it's a long book, and there are parts that just aren't consistent in terms of characterization, etc. For example, there's a passage where Neema ruminates on how the emperor is the only person she trusts without question, and I'm all, "wait, you mean the guy who literally condemned you to death a few chapters back? That guy?" (I do wonder whether I should blame this on the author or the editor -- seems like a lot of this kind of thing should have been caught during edit.) Gaida Rack, the Galinda-type figure, is also very weirdly characterized; half the time as "everyone loves her," and the other half of the time as "she's so mean that everyone should hate her," and I am still not quite sure what was going on with her. These kinds of things sound nitpicky but are actually really important for a book such as this that lives or dies on its plot and characterization-as-plot (which is a big part of it). There's a major plot element I'll talk about in the spoiler section that doesn't land like it could have because of it.
Neema, the main character, is written rather oddly to my eye; she's self-aware enough to sometimes realize she's not doing things in the way calculated to win friends and influence people, and she also has been in the Emperor's court long enough to analyze a lot of the social games that are being played, but at the same time she is all angsty that people don't take her seriously because she's not playing the court social games at all... which is an odd combination. (And sometimes I wanted to just shake her; look, if you're making the choice not to play the game, then fine, but own it, don't just sit around unhappily angsting about it, you have been around court long enough that you demonstrably know what's going on!) Also I was shocked to realize, after reading reviews of the book, that she's in her 30s; the whole time I was reading (since chronology is not my strong point) I thought she was in her early 20s, in the way of being very un-self-aware and very angsty but also the way that she's so concerned with fitting in, at the same time as she's clearly not fitting in at all. (Saffy, in The Incandescent, is maybe a decade older, I think? but is a much much more realistic character in my opinion, in the sense that she both understands and plays the game sometimes, and sometimes doesn't do either, and also has kind of dispensed with worrying about fitting in and has mostly accepted that sometimes she does and sometimes she's just going to be unhappy about not.)
The tone is also weirdly inconsistent. Sometimes you have, you know, standard Epic Fantasy tone. Other times you get stuff like this: Cain had to admit, she looked hot. They both did. Rivenna was like an evil butterfly and Ruko was like a big, sexy wardrobe that might kill you, and these were both very much Cain's type. Cain had a lot of types. Maybe it's just because I grew up reading 80s-90s epic fantasy, but I'm weirded out by this kind of tone! (Also, I always am annoyed by fantasy books where everyone speaks English and uses Arabic numerals and an English-introduced symbol for infinity: did you worldbuild in such a way that any of this makes any sense? No you did not!)
Okay, so, 80% in where we find out that the Emperor is not Bersun's brother Gedrun pretending to be Bersun (which was set up as the big reveal) but actually Andren Valit, the great Traitor, using magic to pretend to be Bersun and using Gedrun's form and face to do so???? I loved the reveal on first encountering it -- I haven't been so surprised by one for a long time -- although on second thought I think it could have gotten set up a lot better. We get reveals late in the book, after the Emperor reveal, about how the Emperor, who made a big deal about reforms that uplifted commoners
more, actually hates commoners and is working behind the scenes to bring back the aristocracy's power -- if any of those reveals had come earlier than the Emperor reveal, I think I would have bought it in a way that was kind of hard to, as it was. Characterization as plot, again!
While I'm here in spoiler-land: One thing that was never explained to my satisfaction was Gaida Rack. Did she have a reason for always being so mean to Neema? And if she was just catty, why did she explicitly name Neema when she thought something might happen to her and she hid her notes hoping someone else might find them?
This review makes it sound like I didn't like it, and I did! I think it's the kind of book that is super entertaining but it's very interesting to discuss its flaws (whereas for The Everlasting I found it more interesting to discuss why it was compelling). I think it's sufficiently flawed that I don't want it to win the Hugos, but I enjoyed it enough that I will definitely read the sequel if it pops up on Hugo lists next year, and I am also interested in voting for Hodgson for the Astounding award, because I think it's ambitiously flawed. Ack, this means I need to read the Astounding part of the packet now. We'll see if I get around to that.
isis put it in her review and now I can't unsee itBefore I start going on, a couple of things: The first thing you should know about this book -- and fortunately I did look this up halfway through -- is that it is the first book of a trilogy, and though it comes to a coherent conclusion, it's sort of like saying The Empire Strikes Back comes to a coherent conclusion.The second thing I should say: I was "spoiled" for this before I read it and it was a good thing -- the prologue of this book (which is very very long) is not an accurate representation of what the rest of the book is about (see the first paragraph). (I have my doubts as to whether the prologue should even be there -- I see why the author felt it should be, but it just feels like there might have been better ways.) Okay, onward!
This was a very interesting book to read after The Everlasting, because although it's not a perfect book, it's a book and not a fanfic, and I ended up liking it much better than Everlasting as both a book and as a Hugo candidate (and probably ended up liking it much better in general than I might have otherwise, in fact). There's a ton of worldbuilding, a ton of characters -- the world feels much more lived-in -- and a ton of plot, and it was rather a relief after dealing with ersatz worldbuilding and only three characters.
The thing I do find that it shares with Everlasting is its compelling nature. After the prologue (which did drag for me), I always wanted to know what happened next, and I never thought "gosh this is going on too long," even though it's a long book. Then again, I am an absolute sucker for the whole Triwizard-ish setup of "the candidates have tests, the tests say something about them, plus which there's external weirdness going on that they have to navigate" (see also: Gideon the Ninth) so, I mean, I was never going to really get tired of that. But also there's enough plot, and even though the prose is a bit odd (see later) it is compelling, which counts for a lot, for me.
One aspect of it that becomes more and more important as the book goes on has to do with the anthropomorphic-animal factions of the Empire, which are also worshipped as gods. There was a bit in the middle where I was kind of unsure about the integration, but I was mostly convinced of it by the end. Though I do sort of roll my eyes a bit at books like this one where half the characters are atheist, and then oh, hey, it turns out that the gods have a long-standing history of involving themselves in the world. Yeah, actually, I think the culture of the world would be different in that case, especially considering it took thousands of years for our not-so-god-involved world to get to the point where large numbers of people were atheist! People would still have religious issues in such a world, they'd just be different -- are the gods actually good? do we have free will? what does that even mean? etc. -- it's one of the reasons I really like Bujold's Chalion books -- anyway...
I mentioned it's not perfect. It's really actually quite flawed in a number of ways. First, it's a long book, and there are parts that just aren't consistent in terms of characterization, etc. For example, there's a passage where Neema ruminates on how the emperor is the only person she trusts without question, and I'm all, "wait, you mean the guy who literally condemned you to death a few chapters back? That guy?" (I do wonder whether I should blame this on the author or the editor -- seems like a lot of this kind of thing should have been caught during edit.) Gaida Rack, the Galinda-type figure, is also very weirdly characterized; half the time as "everyone loves her," and the other half of the time as "she's so mean that everyone should hate her," and I am still not quite sure what was going on with her. These kinds of things sound nitpicky but are actually really important for a book such as this that lives or dies on its plot and characterization-as-plot (which is a big part of it). There's a major plot element I'll talk about in the spoiler section that doesn't land like it could have because of it.
Neema, the main character, is written rather oddly to my eye; she's self-aware enough to sometimes realize she's not doing things in the way calculated to win friends and influence people, and she also has been in the Emperor's court long enough to analyze a lot of the social games that are being played, but at the same time she is all angsty that people don't take her seriously because she's not playing the court social games at all... which is an odd combination. (And sometimes I wanted to just shake her; look, if you're making the choice not to play the game, then fine, but own it, don't just sit around unhappily angsting about it, you have been around court long enough that you demonstrably know what's going on!) Also I was shocked to realize, after reading reviews of the book, that she's in her 30s; the whole time I was reading (since chronology is not my strong point) I thought she was in her early 20s, in the way of being very un-self-aware and very angsty but also the way that she's so concerned with fitting in, at the same time as she's clearly not fitting in at all. (Saffy, in The Incandescent, is maybe a decade older, I think? but is a much much more realistic character in my opinion, in the sense that she both understands and plays the game sometimes, and sometimes doesn't do either, and also has kind of dispensed with worrying about fitting in and has mostly accepted that sometimes she does and sometimes she's just going to be unhappy about not.)
The tone is also weirdly inconsistent. Sometimes you have, you know, standard Epic Fantasy tone. Other times you get stuff like this: Cain had to admit, she looked hot. They both did. Rivenna was like an evil butterfly and Ruko was like a big, sexy wardrobe that might kill you, and these were both very much Cain's type. Cain had a lot of types. Maybe it's just because I grew up reading 80s-90s epic fantasy, but I'm weirded out by this kind of tone! (Also, I always am annoyed by fantasy books where everyone speaks English and uses Arabic numerals and an English-introduced symbol for infinity: did you worldbuild in such a way that any of this makes any sense? No you did not!)
Okay, so, 80% in where we find out that the Emperor is not Bersun's brother Gedrun pretending to be Bersun (which was set up as the big reveal) but actually Andren Valit, the great Traitor, using magic to pretend to be Bersun and using Gedrun's form and face to do so???? I loved the reveal on first encountering it -- I haven't been so surprised by one for a long time -- although on second thought I think it could have gotten set up a lot better. We get reveals late in the book, after the Emperor reveal, about how the Emperor, who made a big deal about reforms that uplifted commoners
more, actually hates commoners and is working behind the scenes to bring back the aristocracy's power -- if any of those reveals had come earlier than the Emperor reveal, I think I would have bought it in a way that was kind of hard to, as it was. Characterization as plot, again!
While I'm here in spoiler-land: One thing that was never explained to my satisfaction was Gaida Rack. Did she have a reason for always being so mean to Neema? And if she was just catty, why did she explicitly name Neema when she thought something might happen to her and she hid her notes hoping someone else might find them?
This review makes it sound like I didn't like it, and I did! I think it's the kind of book that is super entertaining but it's very interesting to discuss its flaws (whereas for The Everlasting I found it more interesting to discuss why it was compelling). I think it's sufficiently flawed that I don't want it to win the Hugos, but I enjoyed it enough that I will definitely read the sequel if it pops up on Hugo lists next year, and I am also interested in voting for Hodgson for the Astounding award, because I think it's ambitiously flawed. Ack, this means I need to read the Astounding part of the packet now. We'll see if I get around to that.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-19 05:31 am (UTC)It occurs to me that The Incandescent is very specifically emphasizing that the main character is a Grownup, and specifically pushing back against that YA-ish “kids handle everything” type of narrative. And that seems rare enough to be refreshing, in a fantasy context. (It sounds like The Raven Scholar is not so much “kids handle everything” as “everybody acts like kids,” but it kind of comes to the same thing…)
I always am annoyed by fantasy books where everyone speaks English and uses Arabic numerals and an English-introduced symbol for infinity: did you worldbuild in such a way that any of this makes any sense? No you did not!
Gah, so annoying! (I remember reading a secondary-world fantasy story a while ago in which someone recognizes trigonometry because there are thetas in it… like, really, you have a Greek alphabet in your world? And that same letter happened to get repurposed to represent angles?)
Not reading the spoilers now, because I do think I will probably want to read this at some point, despite likely sources of annoyance. :)
no subject
Date: 2026-06-20 12:55 am (UTC)Yessss! I absolutely loved that the kids' role was to tell a trusted adult and then to get out of the way! That should be their role! :)
(It sounds like The Raven Scholar is not so much “kids handle everything” as “everybody acts like kids,” but it kind of comes to the same thing…)
Ha, yes. They really all act weirdly like college students, and in my head that's what age they are (which I guess helped me not get annoyed by it??)
(I remember reading a secondary-world fantasy story a while ago in which someone recognizes trigonometry because there are thetas in it… like, really, you have a Greek alphabet in your world? And that same letter happened to get repurposed to represent angles?)
Oh nooooo! Yeah the infinity sign is actually kind of used a lot in this book and it annoyed me every time.
I mean... I am not actually sure if I should recommend it! I definitely thought, for example, that Incandescent was both much better written and much more chewy (even discounting it being highly relevant to your interests ;) ). But as long as you don't go in expecting too much, it's definitely entertaining.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-30 09:00 am (UTC)I think Saffy is only like 3-4 years older than Neema (who is 34; I had to do the math several different ways to convince myself that was the intended age because yeah, she felt very teenage / early 20s in her POV - and so did everyone else).
I also felt like the characterization was inconsistent, and in a way that prioritized the wild twists over consistent characterization (the whole thing with Benna was the most distracting to me in that regard, but on reskimming my highlights, certain things the emperor says also don’t make any sense with the final reveal).
And yeah I don’t think anything about Gaida is explained to any satisfaction. I think she’s just a Mean Girl (also ridiculous at 34). I think the reason she left her research to Neema rather than anyone else is that she both knew Neema wouldn’t walk away from a puzzle (good call!) and that she would be smart enough to figure out the same thing Gaida had (consistent with their monastery history).
H.H.Pak of “Never Eaten Vegetables” is also up for Astounding and I think they are currently beating out Hodgson for me, but is also be fairly happy with a Hodgson win, because I agree the book is ambitiously flawed!
no subject
Date: 2026-07-06 01:29 am (UTC)I also felt like the characterization was inconsistent, and in a way that prioritized the wild twists over consistent characterization (the whole thing with Benna was the most distracting to me in that regard, but on reskimming my highlights, certain things the emperor says also don’t make any sense with the final reveal).
Haha
I think the reason she left her research to Neema rather than anyone else is that she both knew Neema wouldn’t walk away from a puzzle (good call!) and that she would be smart enough to figure out the same thing Gaida had (consistent with their monastery history).
Oh, this makes sense!
H.H.Pak of “Never Eaten Vegetables” is also up for Astounding and I think they are currently beating out Hodgson for me, but is also be fairly happy with a Hodgson win, because I agree the book is ambitiously flawed!
This is fair!
no subject
Date: 2026-07-04 04:05 am (UTC)I think you're right about the story prioritizing plot twists over characterization. I'd go with plot twists getting priority over almost everything else. Or thinking that the final change of Emperors will sweep a lot of issues under the rug. "Oh, it's Andrien's plot. Tigers always think ten steps ahead."
The plot twisty-ness somewhat undermines the implicit reader contract, I think. The close-third protagonist switch from Yana to Neema is somewhat ameliorated by the endnotes hinting at a wider frame, but not effectively enough I'm sold. Tolkien gets to have a random wild fox PoV in one chapter of Fellowship because he basically founded epic fantasy as we know it today, and it doesn't work for every story. Jumping from Neema investigating a murder she's been accused of (improbable) to having the murder investigation handwaved away also disrupts the reader expectations. Condensing the seven or eight day festival plan to four mid-event is just plain rude to the people planning the later days. My suspension of disbelief may have been knocked to the floor and shattered by an intrusive vision of the event planning teams losing their minds. Pour one out for the Tiger, Ox, Bear, and Monkey mid-level project managers losing sleep and sanity mid-Festival.
The question is, does Hodgson do things that are interesting enough that Rule of Cool carries the day? I don't think so. Not unless something really interesting happens in the sequels. Gaida Rack retroactively revealed to be tripping on dragonscale and forced to leave her secret notes to her disliked school colleague by visions of the future; time travel; Tala as protag of sequel novel? Invention of the steam engine? A treatise on public sanitation? Fantasy!Victor Hugo cameo? Is it possible I just don't appreciate epic fantasy most of the time?
no subject
Date: 2026-07-06 01:34 am (UTC)Yes! I think characterization stood out to me just because it's the most important thing for me in a lot of ways, but I think you're right that it's over everything else.
The close-third protagonist switch from Yana to Neema
The whole prologue thing I thought wasn't the most effective way of telling the story she wanted to tell.
My suspension of disbelief may have been knocked to the floor and shattered by an intrusive vision of the event planning teams losing their minds.
HA. You have a very good point! Wait, wasn't Neema the head of event planning??
Is it possible I just don't appreciate epic fantasy most of the time?
hee! I was just impressed that I got through it, which often doesn't happen with me and epic fantasy. But we'll see if I ever get through a second one. I liked it enough that I'm willing to give it a try if it gets nominated, but I have a pretty bad track record with second books in fantasy series.
no subject
Date: 2026-07-06 05:43 am (UTC)I wonder if there was a plan to rotate PoVs more consistently? Or was Hodgson trying to avoid fridging accusations?
Wait, wasn't Neema the head of event planning??
She was in charge of setting up the Festival plan, and of the opening ceremonies, but I got the impression the day-of activities were coordinated by each palace or delegation. I could be wrong! In which case, everyone involved in event management had an even worse time of it, because their leader / chair / director got fired on Day One of eight (ish) and the event timetable got shredded halfway through the event. After that, the end of novel semi-coup, caging of the guardians, etc, was probably a relief, because that was demonstrably not the event planning team's fault.
I liked it enough that I'm willing to give it a try if it gets nominated, but I have a pretty bad track record with second books in fantasy series.
Hmm... any pattern? Beyond "it's not The Two Towers," of course.