The Ravens – Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige
Here it is, my first review for a book out in 2021 (I think!). I’m so glad that this year is almost over and I thoroughly hope for a quiet 2021. But The Ravens starts the year off with a bang, and if this is anything to go off, we’re in for a great year reading-wise. Situating itself in that very top end of YA that really should be New Adult, The Ravens is a college-set mystery about a sorority of witches. And if that isn’t the ultimate temptation for guilty pleasure reading, I don’t know what is – and it’s also a fantastic book!
Many thanks to Kate Keehan and Hodder for the eARC of this wonderful novel, and as usual, all opinions are my own.
STAR RATING: 4.5/5 ✶
PUBLICATION DATE: 05/01/21
SUMMARY: At first glance, the sisters of ultra-exclusive Kappa Rho Nu – the Ravens – seem like typical sorority girls. Ambitious, beautiful, and smart, they’re the most powerful girls on Westerly College’s Savannah, Georgia, campus. But the Ravens aren’t just regular sorority girls. They’re witches.
Scarlett Winter has always known she’s a witch – and she’s determined to be the sorority’s president. But if a painful secret from her past ever comes to light, she could lose absolutely everything…
Vivi Devereaux has no idea she’s a witch. So when she gets a coveted bid to pledge the Ravens, she vows to do whatever it takes to be part of the magical sisterhood. The only thing standing in her way is Scarlett, who doesn’t think Vivi is Ravens material.
But when a dark power rises on campus, the girls will have to put their rivalry aside to save their fellow sisters. Someone has discovered the Ravens’ secret. And that someone will do anything to see these witches burn . . . (from Hodder)
OPINIONS: I loved loved loved The Ravens. I stayed up late and read the whole book in a single sitting as the story was so captivating I simply needed to know how it ended. I think part of what I enjoyed was that it featured the university experience rather than the high school experience of much of YA, which again, feeds in the need for the industry to lean into a New Adult category. The characters were just this tad more adult in the crossover space, dealing with issues in a different way that how YA readers might be used to.
Another of my favourite aspects was the way the world was built around a magic based on tarot cards. And I’m kind of obsessed with tarot cards right now, so that’s right up my alley. In this world, every girl has the potential to be a witch, some stronger, and some less so, and those that end up in Kappa Rho Nu definitely have magic.
The Ravens is a story of magic, sisterhood, but also betrayal and the corruption caused by too much power. It is well-written, excellently paced and lives up to the expectations raised by the concept. I highly recommend picking up this wonderful book for a night of escapism. Although: trigger warning for a parent with terminal cancer, as that might be hard for some readers to stomach.
If you want to join Kappa Rho Nu yourself, you can do so on Goodreads here, and copies of The Ravens are available on Bookshop here. (Affiliate link)