Amazon.com
The Black Raven is Book Two of The Dragon Mage and the 10th volume of the Deverry series, a fantasy epic consisting of three interrelated quartets. As Katherine Kerr says, the past and the present are woven together in these novels, and the final volume will link with the first to reveal an overall design akin to a Celtic knot threading back and forth upon itself. This is a strange, pseudo-Celtic world in which reincarnation is a reality and past lives forever affect the present in surprising and unexpected ways. So, while The Black Raven can stand alone, it is advisable that readers begin with the first book, Daggerspell.
In this complex novel of civil war, sacrifice, and power, what impresses most is that Kerr uses an epic canvas to tell a strongly characterized and very human tale of hatred and destructive evil, and of the consequences of past malevolence on both the heroine Lilli and the Prince Maryn. By keeping the narrative tightly focused around a small number of characters, and by maintaining strict limits on the rather elaborately conceived elements of magic and the supernatural, Katherine Kerr ensures that her fantastical history does not overwhelm the more personal and affecting dimensions of the tale. The result is a polished, emotionally involving, and powerful novel in which even the dreams of a dragon may come evocatively to life. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern.
The Black Raven
Her latest tale shifts effortlessly between the shattered lands of the Rhiddaer and Dun Deverry itself. At the historic end of the Civil Wars, Lilli, newly apprenticed to the dweomer, fights with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil. Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life. But her malice will draw the intervention of astral powers--and unleash the ravaging rage of Rhodry's guardian dragon. Only another untried dweomer can buy safety for the city and the berserker himself--and only at a most fearsome price....
Book Description
It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunters eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one manloner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherines neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst. Raven Black is a haunting, beautifully crafted crime story, and establishes Ann Cleeves as a rising talent in psychological crime writing.
Customer Reviews:
a dissenting voice.......2007-09-21
i ordered this after reading the first paragraphs, which create quite an atmosphere. as i continued reading, however, the author's short, choppy sentences started to annoy me.
unlike the other reviewers, i wasn't taken by the various characters. they and the plot seem fairly formulaic to me and i couldn't feel much interest in any of the situations, at least one of which will probably be used to create tension in the next book (or more) of the series. i will add that the plot is well-enough handled that the identity of the murderer is not obvious or unlikely.
the most off-putting part of the book was the number of shallow, petty, vindictive and provincial characters. if i thought they represented the islanders, i'd stop planning on visiting there the next time i travel to scotland.
i can understand how this book won a prize--the writing style and the bleak view of people and relationships are popular in the literary circles that set award standards.
if i were to recommend a mystery, i would suggest one by either david handler or louise penney, among others. i would not recommend this.
Ann Cleeves rediscovered.......2007-08-21
I had temporarily forgotten about Ann Cleeves and that was ungrateful of me because for several years she provided me with hours of rich entertainment. Moreover I once had the pleasure of observing her serving on a panel of writers at a mystery writers' convention (London, 1990). I do not remember the other three panellists, but the total and very entertaining illusion that I was watching an extraordinarily bright, witty sixth former, barely subduing her amusement at the whole business, lives on. She began by writing stories based around `twitchers' - UK-speak for birdwatchers - which were as informed by insider experience as they were well plotted and well furnished with interesting characters. `Twitchers' visit many interesting haunts around the British Isles so it was a well-conceived basis for a series infused with a strong sense of place. Then she launched a new series centred in Northumbria with a regular police inspector to solve her mysteries. These I found even more successful. Now she turns up nineteen novels later with Raven Black, set in the Shetland Islands. Ann Cleeves' sense of place is as strong as ever and I suspect that any readers who have longed to retire from it all among the hills and wild beaches of Shetland will find this book a bracing douche of reality. However, to each their own. Some years earlier a young girl vanished and a local, slightly retarded, loner was suspected, even more by the community than the police. Now Catherine, a sixteen year old schoolgirl, who with her only friend, Sally, had recently called at the earlier suspect's cottage, is found dead with ravens pecking her viciously. Inspector Perez arrives from Lerwick. He is not in charge of the case, but is the local man and the man in the field. An odd man, born on Fair Isle, a tiny island even more remote than Shetland, descended (according to legend) from the survivor of an Armada wreck, almost too sympathetic both of suspects and victims, he doubts the `scapegoat's' guilt. He wanders the community, drinking tea, listening more than questioning. The community has fewer secrets after the passing of this gentle man. Ann Cleeves has matured into a novelist capable of deeply observed characters. I shall rush to catch up on other novels from recent years.
RAVEN BLACK.......2007-08-17
Have you ever read a new-to-you author and wondered what on earth took you so long to discover them? RAVEN BLACK is Ann Cleeves 19th novel and I'm wondering why I wasn't aware of her before now. She has two series and a number of stand-alones to her name.
RAVEN BLACK is the first of a planned quartet of books set on the Island of Shetland, one of a large group of small islands to the North of Scotland of which only fifteen are inhabited. It's a small place, easily cut off from the rest of the world if the weather is bad. Everyone knows everyone else and people feel comfortable going out and leaving their house unlocked. This sense of security is shattered when sixteen-year-old Catherine Ross is found one cold January morning lying in the snow, strangled to death with her own scarf. The obvious suspect is old Magnus Tait who everyone knows isn't "the full shilling". Magnus lives alone in the cottage of his late mother and was the prime suspect a number of years earlier when a young girl named Catriona disappeared.
Detective Jimmy Perez is the first investigator on the scene. He grew up on the neighbouring Fair Isle and is familiar with the locals and the way of life. Determined to get a head start before the Senior officer and his team arrive from Aberdeen on the mainland
<. ,> Jimmy begins to question the locals. Luckily for Jimmy his senior officer, the driven energizer-bunny Inspector Taylor, is wise enough to recognize that Jimmy's local knowledge is an asset and allows him to have his head. Together they try to unravel the inter-connecting relationships and secrets to discover who killed Catherine.
RAVEN BLACK works well on a number of levels. First off it's a first-class whodunit. All the clues are there if you can figure it out (I didn't). On top of that, the author gives the reader a glimpse of life in a small isolated community. A fascinating layer-cake of things determine attitudes: an unacknowledged hierarchy revolving around how long a given family has lived on the island and their prosperity or otherwise; open secrets that aren't spoken about; the difficulties recent arrivals have in being accepted and a whole host of other things. I could give you examples but that would spoil half the intrigue of the book.
On Ann Cleeves' website (...) Anne has given her reasons for planning on writing only four books in this series. To quote the author "While Shetland couldn't sustain an indefinite series - there are limited plot lines and it would stretch credibility to have too many murders in such a small community - I would like to write more about Jimmy Perez. The islands lie so far to the north that seasonal variation is dramatic. I think Shetland could carry four novels, each set at a different time of the year. It will be like reading about four different places. The pace and flavour of each book will be different, reflecting the season in which it's set."
I shall look forward to Cleeves' next Shetland book with a great deal of anticipation.
Mystery With Great Characters.......2007-07-11
This mystery is set in the Shetland Islands which gives it a different and somewhat mystical air from the start. But far better than the setting are the plot and the characters.
There is not a cut-out character in this book. From the retarded old man/prime suspect to the police inspector to the single mother divorcee, the teens, one of their mothers and on and on. Every character is drawn with complexity. They are likeable and detestable and they all draw the reader in from the outset. "Knowing" so many characters in a book is rare and makes for a rich novel whether or not it is mystery.
The plot, too, is terrific. Immediately upon the discovery of the body, the town suspects the old man since the population has always "known" he abducted a girl years before. It's a bit too obvious, or so the inspector thinks. As characters enter the scene, every one waves a flag of suspicion. There is motive and opportunity aplenty. Until the very end there is suspense and mystery.
This is a great mystery that deserves the awards that Ms Cleeves won. The police inspector is such a great character - intelligent, calm, conflicted in his personal life (without dark cynicism so popular these days) - that I hope Ms Cheeves brings him out in another novel.
strong Scottish police procedural .......2007-06-23
In Scotland's Shetland Islands, an unknown perp strangled teenage Catherine Ross; her corpse was found half buried by the snow. The locals including the police believe Magnus Tait killed her as circumstantial evidence is very convincing. He is a strange individual who was the last person known to have seen Catherine alive; besides which Magnus has a history when eight years ago he was the prime suspect in a girl's disappearance, but most locals feel he got away with murder.
The only person seemingly to have major doubts that the eccentric Magnus is the killer is Police Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez, who leads the investigation into the homicide. Not willing to rule out anyone as the culprit including Magnus, Jimmy begins to look closely at those who knew the victim as a family member, a friend, or intimately. The DI begins to uncover dark secrets that make the Shetlands seem even colder, but one of them has the darkest secret of all: being a killer hidden by a facade of lies., Perez (and readers) wonders which one?
Readers will quickly understand why Ann Cleeves won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award as she provides a strong Scottish police procedural that keeps the audience guessing until the climax of this enthralling whodunit. The entertaining story line provides a strong sense of place and season especially through the secondary cast. However, the novel is owned by the likable dedicated DI, who methodically battles the cold wintry weather and the increasingly colder suspects seeking to solve the murder mystery to the delight of the fans.
Harriet Klausner
Customer Reviews:
interesting,exciting and fun - enjoy!.......2000-07-03
The story is exciting,the suspects are hard to decide on,and the end result is great.It's an interesting,funny,suspenseful mystery - enjoy!
Book Description
Black Tortoise, Red Raven, the compelling sequel to the novel White Tiger, Green Dragon, continues to weave a captivating tale as it follows the courageous pilgrimage of a young woman scholar as she travels the length of the Yangtze River. Scholar Li, the daughter of Tu Ming and Shen Tao, flees a revolution in eastern China and travels west with a caravan of rug merchants. A Taoist intellectual and master of the tantric arts, the teenager encounters spiritual masters from unfamiliar traditions during her 1,500-mile expedition toward the foothills of the Himalayas. As she journeys to the Red Raven Temple, her spiritual understanding grows and she learns important life lessons from yogis, “crazy Zen” practitioners, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews. Just as she is about to reach her final destination, Li's life is forever changed when she encounters an extraordinary stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance to a historical figure. Black Tortoise, Red Raven not only opens the doors to personal growth and spiritual understanding for Li; it will also lead anyone who has a receptive spirit, open mind, and loving heart on the same journey to finding their true purpose in life.
Average customer rating:
- Better Than SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED
- Good stuff
- Outstanding!
- a brilliant series keeps getting better
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Black Swan, White Raven
Manufacturer: Avon Books
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Binding: Paperback
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Datlow, Ellen
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Snow White, Blood Red
ASIN: 0380786214 |
Amazon.com
This is the fourth volume in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's ongoing anthology series that invites modern authors to rewrite classic fairy tales. Like many of the original stories themselves, these retellings are often dark, and many contain erotic subtexts. While some of the authors choose to stick to the more traditional aspects of folklore, others reinvent their tales entirely, such as the seven dwarfs who turn into "Three Dwarfs and 2000 Maniacs" at the hands of author Don Webb. As usual, Datlow and Windling have managed to enlist an impressive roster of professional writers for their project, with headliners such as Joyce Carol Oates, John Crowley, and Jane Yolen. These seasoned veterans are mixed in with some relative newcomers to create a collection that is as diverse as it is unique. --Craig E. Engler
Book Description
A stellar assymbly of many of today's most creative and accomplished storytellers has gathered around the tribal fire to embroider well-worn yearns with new golden thread. BLACK SWAN, WHITE RAVEN revisits the tales that charmed, enthralled and terrified us in our early youth--carrying us aloft into the healthy, beating heart of cherished myth to tell once again the stories of Rumpelstiltskins and sleeping beauties, only this time from an edgy, provocative and distinctly adult perspective. The themes and archetypes of our beloved childhood fiction are reexamined in a darker light by tweny-one superb teller of tales who deftly uncover the ironic, the outrageous, the enigmatic and the erotic at the core of the world's best-known fables, while revealing the sobering truths and lies behind "happily ever after."
Customer Reviews:
Better Than SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED.......2003-02-20
Why is this fairy tale anthology out of print? It's got a great collection of stories! I liked practically everything that was in here. SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED may have been the first volume in editors Datlow and Windling's series of such books, but this fourth one is hands-down more gripping... the stories are better written, in my opinion.
Among my favorite selections from this volume are:
SNOW IN DIRT by Michael Blumlein
SPARKS by Gregory Frost
THE REVEREND's WIFE by Midori Snyder
THE TRUE STORY by Pat Murphy, and
GODMOTHER DEATH by Jane Yolen
I hope BLACK SWAN, WHITE RAVEN is published once more so I can grab my own copy. I have the first three anthologies and haven't read number 2 and number 3 yet, but that was only because I had to finish this one in time to return it to the library. Thank goodness they have it!
If you like this series, then I definitely recommend getting your hands on this one.
Good stuff.......2001-05-26
Black Swan, White Raven is an excellent anthology of new fairy tales based on the traditional stories. In this series, all the stories are dark, based on the fact that fairy tales were originally written/told for adults, and their relegation to the the nursery occurred with the Victorian era. Particularly strong and memorable stories are the Rapunzel one by Anne Bishop, the Snow White one by Pat Murphy, and the Tin Soldier one by Nancy Kress.
Outstanding!.......2000-05-13
This is the first book that I have read in the series. Outstanding collection of short stories! These stories bring to light different aspects of the fairy tales we all grew up with. I highly recommend it.
a brilliant series keeps getting better.......1999-04-01
The team of Datlow & Windling have put in their 4th collection of adult retellings of classic fairy tales, and this is the best yet. Strong, haunting tales that are truly not the Disney fluff we grew up on are what this collection is made of. Stories are drawn from many different cultures, not just the familiar Brothers' Grimm type; they also end up in many times/places, not just the dragons and castles type. The entire series is well worth your time.
Average customer rating:
- Cute!
- Leave the series as it is!
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A Horse Called Raven (Black Stallion)
Steven Farley
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Fiction
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ASIN: 0679891420
Release Date: 1998-09-22 |
Book Description
Danielle is working at Alec Ramsay's stable, but she still has a long way to go before she can buy back Redman. When a dangerous flu virus strikes a neighboring farm and most of the horses are moved, Danielle is crushed to learn she's temporarily out of a job. Then the little black colt to whom she's beginning to grow attached falls ill, and Danielle's priorities begin to change...
Customer Reviews:
Cute!.......2002-04-28
Steven farley's books aren't quite as good as his father's, but I really like them. I think they should be longer though. It's just not enough reading! I love that he made Alec cute. I always knew he was! Hehehe. Anyway, i highly reccomend this book to anyone who's already read all the Black Stallion books and still hasn't had anough!
Leave the series as it is!.......2001-01-17
I don't know if he's just trying to make money off his father's famous series, but I think he should've come up with his own idea for a children's series. The Black Stallion books that Steven Farley is writing stick out like a sore thumb.
Average customer rating:
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Ravens and Black Rain
Elizabeth Sutherland
Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary
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General
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ASIN: 0552131814 |
Average customer rating:
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Castle Raven
Laura Black
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0755104994 |
Customer Reviews:
thriller.......2001-04-11
this book and the other 15 stories are scary, exiting and they dont drag. It's fun to read because it's not only a book but a game too!!
With it's multiply endings,it's a new adventure every time!.......1999-11-18
This book is explained as a "which way book", which means the story starts the same, but at the end of the page you get to pick one of two options which allows you to bring the story where you want. So every time you read it, it's like reading a different book. It's well written and each story is interesting. My kids can't stop reading it!
Book Description
The World of Tibetan Buddhism is the definitive explanation of Tibetan Buddhism by the world's ultimate authority, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. First providing a general overview of the most elemental Buddhist concepts and terms, the Dalai Lama then goes into reasonable depth on Buddhist values and the Tibetan practice of Vajrayana Buddhism, with a focus on Tantra. A Q&A section and glossary are included.
Customer Reviews:
Exxcellent but for advanced.......2006-07-05
Marvellous book, however, the two parts are more for people that already know about Buddhism from practice, those who have their Kleisha yet cannot understand about void or Tantra, aspects that cannot be understood without the deep moral basis attained by following the Four Noble Truths. Thus the First part of the book is for everybody who wants to learn in general about Buddhism, but then the book starts to be very complicated, what a pitty for neophytes.One is not that surprised the write has gained so many doctorates, his intelligence is sparkling from the text, but this would be for a different review...
A BEAUTIFUL BOOK.......2001-03-01
This book is just what the title implies, an introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. As I read through the pages of this book, what transpired was an overwhelming sense of spiritual peace and tranquility. In today's "crazy world," so many people are looking for peace of mind and "a haven from the storm" that will sustain them through the everyday trials and tribulations of life. If you are not familiar with Buddhism and are still searching for that "safe haven," I think you will, indeed, find this book on the philosophies of Tibetan Buddhism both enlightening and enjoyable.
A good introduction to Buddhism.......2000-03-31
Before reading this book, I didn't know much about Buddhism, and reading it made me realize just how little I really knew. It gave me a good perspective on Buddhist practice and especially the difference between Zen Buddhism (what I knew a little about) and the rest of the Buddhist world.
It may change your life..........1999-07-29
...for the (very) better!I just wanted to do my bit to put the general rating nearer were it should be. This book will put light, wisdom and happiness in your life... how can anyone rate it below five stars is beyond me! If you love life, you'll love this book (whether you are Buddhist or not)!
Customer Reviews:
The World of Tibetan Bubbhism.......2007-09-06
Every since I read Hermen Hesses Siddartha and A Journey to the East. Buddhism has greatly interested me. This book has so much core current up to date information I was amazed I did not realize the Practice of buddhism fully intil I read this book. I have always loved the Philosophy of Buddhism but this book realy gave me anew up to date like with buddhism.
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- The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
- The High-Tech Knight (Adventures of Conrad Stargard, Book 2)
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The Fire Dragon (Dragon Mage, Book 3)
The Red Wyvern (Dragon Mage, Book 1)
Days of Air and Darkness (Deverry)
Days of Blood and Fire (Deverry)
A Time of Omens (Novel of the Westlands)
