"How do bears keep cool?"
Neema perked up. "They employ a variety of strategies," she began, but he was already lumbering off on all fours. "I was being rhetorical," he called over his shoulder...
So Neema created a new list – Six Ways Bears Keep Cool – and told it to the walls, because she had to tell someone. [loc. 3438]
The first time I started reading this novel, I stopped halfway through the first chapter. Yana, a young woman of noble blood, her family fallen from grace due to treachery and deception, is summoned by the Emperor. Gosh, I thought: another Chosen One. I thought I could predict at least some of her story, and it didn't interest me.
Reader, I was wrong -- and happily so. Yana is not the protagonist, though what happens when she meets the Emperor does shape the rest of the story. Our protagonist is instead Neema Kraa, the eponymous Raven Scholar: a Black woman in her thirties, lacking in social skills but extremely good at her job. She doesn't believe in the Eight -- animal Guardians who have saved Orrun seven times, but will destroy it on their next Return -- but is happy to pay them lip-service.
It's time for a new Emperor, the incumbent having served his twenty-four years: eight contenders, one for each Guardian, must compete in a series of mental and physical trials to determine who will become the next Emperor. The Raven Candidate is an old enemy of Neema's from her student days: she alone knows a terrible secret of Neema's. The Fox Candidate, Cain, is Neema's ex. And the Tiger Candidate is Yana's twin brother Ruko. When one of the Candidates is murdered, the Emperor charges Neema with finding the killer.
I liked Neema a great deal, and I loved the twistiness of the plot. There's violence but there's also affection, loyalty and kindness. And there is, in singular and plural voices, the Raven. ("Respect, that’s all we demand. Recognition of our magnificence. Offerings. Love. Fear. Trembling awe. Worship. Shiny things. Blood sacrifice, some of us very much enjoy blood sacrifice. Truly, we ask for so little." [loc. 4048]) It's a great murder mystery with elements of romance, epic fantasy, comedy and tragedy. The characters are rounded, consistent, flawed and gifted, with motivations and biases that aren't at first apparent. (Sometimes they do seem younger than they're stated to be: perhaps that's because of the whole 'tournament of trials' setup.) Also another delightful raven, Sol (short for Solitary Raven) who initially manifests as a magical book.
Having proved myself wrong about the nature of the story, I tore through this in a couple of days: I found it immensely addictive and intricately plotted, and I cared about the characters. I am so looking forward to rereading it in preparation for the sequel, probably due in 2026.
Meanwhile, I note that Antonia Hodgson has also written a quartet of crime novels set in the 1720s...
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