Sisters of the Raven [Paperback]

Sisters of the Raven is a novel of magic and mystery, with political and religious intrigue. As usual, Hambly sets the scene very well, and it was nice to get away from the characters she's known for and to get to know some other people. With an interesting world and good characters to populate it, Hambly recovers from her last fantasy debacle (Dragonstar) to hit one out of the park.

Ahhhhh, a stand-alone novel from Barbara Hambly. I've been waiting for this for a long time. Hambly has such a good touch with characters and setting that I've been wanting to see something original from her for a long time. She has two long-running series (Benjamin January and the series that takes place in the world of Dragonsbane) that I was beginning to wonder about her. But no more. Here, she shows off her creative talents once again. The world she creates lives and breathes. The characters leap off the page in full three dimensions (except when it's not necessary). Her descriptions of everyday life are scrumptious. As characters walk down the street, you get the feeling that you're walking down the street with them. She is a wonderful scene-setter, and you never know what detail is going to be important because she provides you with so much. The setting is so rich that I have no complaints, but if you don't like a lot of description, you may find yourself skimming this book (and most of her others) at times. Personally, though, I think that'' one of her strengths.

As I've pointed out before, though, this only works when the story she's telling is good and the characters are interesting. It can really drag when the rest of the book doesn't support it. However, that's not a problem here. Even the bit characters are distinctive, even if they don't truly have a third side. She has created a very interesting society, where women generally don't even have their own names, but instead titles: the Summer Concubine, Corn-Tassel Woman, Pomegranate Woman. Even so, you can always tell them apart. The only time it's difficult is if they don't appear on the page but are only talked about. But even then it's not too bad. Oryn and the Summer Concubine have a wonderful relationship based on love and trust. She acts as she does because society demands it, but she also wields great power behind the scenes, and Oryn trusts her completely. Raeshaldis is the other main character, and she's remarkably drawn as well. Hambly does a wonderful job of crafting her. We see the naivete of a young woman who's a little bit out of her element, but she is confident in some of her spells (such as the cloak that hides her when she walks around sometimes). She's ridiculed and hazed by the other male students at the college, and it hurts her. But she's strong-willed and willing to do what it takes to learn her trade. She's courageous when she has to find out what is stalking her and the other female mages around the city. And she's intelligent. Hambly puts all these character traits together and produces a character that you want to read about.

The villains aren't badly done either. Mohrvine, Oryn's uncle, is power-hungry, but he's practical as well. He'll use whomever he needs to use in order to take over the throne, but he's not afraid to side with the good guys when he has to. He's the ultimate opportunist, but he does believe he's doing what's best for the realm. Oryn has always been a bit of a dandy and Mohrvine doesn't think that he's strong enough to be king. Lohar is not as well drawn, and he's more of a plot device then a true character. He's fairly one-note (though instantly recognizable when he's on the page), and his religious rantings did grow a bit tiresome after awhile. Thankfully, while he does appear a lot as the unrest in the city gets worse, his parts are in small doses so he doesn't outstay his welcome. And the way Oryn finally gets him is priceless, and perfectly in character for Oryn.

The plot is small and local, which is a nice change of pace from the threats to the entire world that inhabit so many other fantasy novels. There is great magic involved, but it's all done on a small scale, with individual characters and one society being affected. As I stated before, Hambly's descriptions are wonderful, but her prose in other areas is good as well. There isn't a whole lot of action, but what's there is clearly described. The final confrontation is breath-taking. The dialogue is good as well. The only thing that mars it just slightly is some of the repetition involved. I know it's there for effect, but it grated a bit after awhile. This repetition is mainly when characters think the same thing over and over within the section that they're in. It's used to show how important what they're thinking about is, and how it weighs on their mind, and can be effective in small doses. I think Hambly overuses it just a little bit.

Still, that doesn't detract from what is a wonderful fantasy novel. The best thing about it is that it's self-contained. I don't see any sequel coming out of this one, and I think that it would be forcing it to produce one. The story ends, the society goes on, and the conclusion seems natural. As much as I loved the book and the characters in it, I really hope Hambly doesn't revisit them. I think, like what happened to Dragonsbane, further books would only cheapen the magic that this one carries.

If you're a fan of magic and creativity, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.

David Roy

Sisters of the Raven could be considered a companion work to The Ladies of Mandrigyn and The Witches of Wenshar. Each involve women learning to use magic, but this novel includes the men losing magic at the same time that the women are acquiring it. There are no words for a women with magical talent or a female magic user. Of the whole animal kingdom, the only females thought to have magic are the ravens; hence, these magic using women are known as Ravens.

Most men don't even believe that women have gained such talents and many others are adamantly opposed to the whole idea. Some men suspect that female magic is interferring with male magic. Since the loss of male magic has prevented the Sun Mages from calling the spring rains, the Ravens are blamed for the drought conditions. Moreover, the Mouth of Nebehkt says that the god will withhold the rains until these abominable women are curtailed.

The King, Oryn, is not alarmed by the occurence of the Ravens -- his beloved Summer Concubine is one -- and he sponsors the girl Raeshaldis as a Sun Mage novice. The other novices, however, have a different opinion and raise the expected hazing to a furious pitch. Even some of the masters are hesitant, but the Archmage Hathmar is desperate enough to try anything to restore magic.

While the loss of magic is a personal tragedy to the effected mages, such losses also disrupt society as a whole. Vermin are not being repelled from food supplies, illnesses are not being healed, the teyn -- semisentient inhabitants of the land -- are not being contained, and desert raiders are not being detected. The kingdom is falling apart.

Oryn is having an aquaduct constructed toward a reliable source of water 200 miles away. It has only reached 12 miles and already the nobles and populace are complaining about the taxes. Since the drought has precluded any sowing of seeds, many men are out of work, but don't want to work on the hoists bringing water from the nearby lake or on the aquaduct. The town is also being stirred up by the followers of Nebehkt. Riot and rebellion are rampant in the populace.

With all these troubles, the Sisters discover that someone or something is killing Ravens. Raeshaldis is attacked within the Sun Mage citadel itself, but uses her talents to escape and defend. Corn-Tassel Woman disappears from a locked and guarded room. And even Summer Concubine feels as if she is being watched.

Throughout this novel, the nobles play the game of court politics, some mages pretend to retain their powers, and, except for a small shower, the rains continue to be nonexistent. In the meanwhile, the price of water is going up and the populace is growing more desperately dangerous.

Sisters of the Raven has a Farsi (Persian) flavor, with the desert, djinni, harems, concubines, eunuchs, and women with fanciful names who are the property of their menfolk. Some reviewers have cast apersions at this created milleau, but much of the background matches what we know of the later Persian empire. Not to mention Iran today. (Oh, you didn't know that Iran was the homeland of the ancient Farsi? Iraq, too, was part of the Persian empire, with the capital at Bagdad.)

As usual, Hambly has written an excellent and entertaining work. Of course, I would read her works if she only wrote toilet paper labels, but I am pleased that she has returned to worlds of her own devising. Now, everybody go out and buy several copies so she can continue to create novels like this.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I love Barbara Hambly and have read nearly everything she's ever published. But I have to agree with the reviewer who noted that this novel is not up to speed with Hambly's usual efforts.

There was so much left not explained in this book. Why was the magic fading? Why were there many scenes regarding the teyn but these creatures never came to anything? Why were only men able to work magic in the beginning? None of this was explained, only kind of hinted at "there might be more" (maybe a sequel...) We were left hanging on far too many topics.

And I'm afraid that this effort came across as a little too "women are downtrodden" for my taste. Ms. Hambly often has a strong female as the central charactor which is great -- as a female myself, I find this refreshing. But she doesn't usually "man-bash" her male charactors. This novel had quite a bit of abusive men, lazy men, violent and stupid men. The women had to "suffer" being regularly beaten by their husbands. Men had real names but women were named strange things (often by their husbands) like "Summer Concubine Woman". If an unborn baby was male, a regular healer was called in for the birth. For a girl, the women handled it on their own. This kind of thing might be alright in setting a scene or describing an environment. But it was pretty heavy-handed in this novel and, I think, detracted from the book itself.

All-in-all, just not up to Barbara Hambly's usual excellence.