Crowfall cover art

Crowfall

The Raven's Mark, Book 3

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Crowfall

By: Ed McDonald
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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About this listen

Crowfall is a gritty epic fantasy for fans of Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch and Daniel Polansky.

A sorceress cataclysm has hit the Range, the final defensive line between the Republic and the immortal Deep Kings.

Tormenting red rains sweep the land, new monstrosities feed on fear in the darkness, and the power of the Nameless, the gods who protect the Republic, lies broken. The Blackwing captains who serve them are being picked off one by one, and even immortals have learned what it means to die. Meanwhile the Deep Kings have only grown stronger, and are poised to deliver a blow that will finally end the war.

Ryhalt Galharrow stands apart from it all.

He has been deeper into the wasteland known as the Misery than ever before. It has grown within him - changed him - but all power comes with a price, and now the ghosts of his past, formerly confined to the Misery, walk with him everywhere.

They will even follow him, and the few surviving Blackwing captains, on one final mission into the darkness.

©2019 Ed McDonald (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Royalty Scary Magic Users

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All stars
Most relevant
So I need to start this review by saying that I read a LOT of fantasy books and I can make the next statement without a shadow of doubt in my mind.
This book, and the trilogy in general, is very possibly the best written trilogy of the past five years.
The character development, the pacing of the plot, the plot twists, the world building, just everything was absolutely spot on. There were aspects of the world I would have liked more of an explanation for but, strangely enough, this didn't bother me. Maybe not strangely actually because it was the characters that really made this trilogy into what it was. Not just Ryhalt but all the supporting cast as well. They had a depth and sense of "realness" that I've rarely encountered in a fantasy series before.
Ryhalt reminds me of a funnier Fitz (Robin Hobb) in many ways - his fierce loyalty, his almost pathological disregard of his own self interest in his actions to save those he loves, his addictions. However, whilst I love Fitz, it was sometimes difficult to be inside his head because it was so unremittingly dark. Ryhalt had that dark, sarcastic wit that you sometimes see in career soldiers and that humour really made a difference to the reading experience.
The other thing that really struck me about these books is how the disparate threads of the storyline are expertly weaved together, both within each book but also over the trilogy as a whole.
This made the ending of this book all the more satisfying as we saw a resolution that we'd been waiting for since book one.
I can't wait for the next book the author writes and he's definitely going onto my, very short, list of authors that I will buy whatever they write without checking reviews or even plot summaries first!

Best trilogy of the past five years

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What a final book to the Trilogy! OMG twists and turns and ..... ok.... no spoilers .... awesome ...
Colin Mace narrated all 3 bks brilliantly.

Utterly Awesome

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I’ll start off by saying that Crowfall did not disappoint. It had so much going for it in terms of story, back story, character development and a few twists and turns that I did not see coming or, in some cases, realise they were happening until they were upon me.

We are, as ever, treated to Colin Mace’s narration that just oozes the audio image I have for Galharrow: a grizzled, gritty, weathered veteran that is as bleak as the world he lives in. Perhaps the only negative with Colin’s narration is the pacing. At times it feels like things are moving too slow and I did struggle to keep my enthusiasm at points due to this. And, if I’m honest, it wasn’t a constant thing regarding his narration, so it may have just been parts of the prose that were incredibly slow-going.

I mentioned the character development earlier. Boy, is there a lot of it. Galharrow just keeps adding layers onto his personality and the people surrounding him just continue to get more interesting with every passing book. I do feel like a few things fall into place a little easily as far as character development goes, but that’s only a minor thing and barely noticeable. Might even be non-existent. Who knows, perhaps I’m just being super-picky?

Oh! There’s even a bit of development as far as some of the creatures that dwell in the Misery are concerned, but I’ll not mention which or how.

We all know that The Misery is a huge aspect of the Raven’s Mark series. That bleak landscape that is ever-shifting and chocked full of gruesome and inventive ways of killing a person (Gillings are still, and always will be, my favourite. Just for the sheer horror of imagining myself waking up to find one eating me painlessly, their numbing saliva seeing to that. All the while chanting numbers at me, promising they’re a good boy or asking if I’d like a good time, while doing it). The Misery is, perhaps, more of a thing in this book than the previous two combined. There is also a hearty amount of misery (the emotion, not the place).

Plenty of misery, of all sorts, to go around! Huzzah! I was always of the opinion that Fitz from the Robin Hobb books was the most miserable, unlucky and depressive character going. Ed McDonald’s Galharrow gives Fitz a run for his money. Lord knows over the course of the series the man has had more than his fair share of badness come his way. But that just makes him one of those characters you want to see rise above and succeed.

I’ll admit that I’m not too clued up on how many books were due out in this series but, having thought it was a trilogy, I am pleasantly surprised that there has at least been a little wiggle room left over for potential future books set in the same universe. Whether that’s going to be the case or I’m just not ready to let go and am full of wishful thinking remains to be seen.

Regardless of the answer to the above, the ending is truly a great ending. It made everything that happened before it, across all three books, so worthwhile. All the pain, struggles, heartache, trials and tribulations, all amounted to the end of this novel and, in my opinion, it smashed it out of the park. It certainly made a slow day at work incredibly exciting.

Looking back on the three books of the Raven’s Mark, I genuinely feel content and satisfied, even if future books aren’t a thing. I feel like things were left in a state where I can walk away and be happy with the series I have experienced.

PS

The cover, as always for this series, is absolutely gorgeous.

PPS

This book really gives a new meaning to the whole 'being haunted by the ghosts of your past' thing.

Full of grim misery. Loved it

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A great ending to a brilliant trilogy. Worth reminding yourself of the story so far before you start.

Won’t disappoint

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Colin mace was an excellent choice for this book, with a voice gruff enough to picture the grizzled Galharrow but it's the writing that brings this book to the fore. I am not entirely sure I would consider it grimdark, it's more Dark fantasy in my opinion as there is a very clearly defined good guy bad guy line, even though neither are entirely good or bad at their core. the pace and planning of the entire trilogy has been impeccable. I had been meaning to read this for a while and now regret the delay now though I did devour the entire series straight through when I had not really intended to. usually a jump between series as I finish a book but I enjoyed this so much i went straight on buying the next and next. I love how it ends too but don't want to add any spoilers but if you are thinking about getting this, don't hesitate

brilliant book brilliantly performed

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