The Raven Spell: A Novel (A Conspiracy of Magic Book 1)

Having enjoyed The Vine Witch trilogy, also by author Luanne G. Smith, I picked up The Raven Spell without really knowing what to expect. What I found was a delightful gothic mystery permeated with magic. The Vine Witch & it's two sequels were quite good, but I have to say that the evolution of Ms. Smith's writing was apparent to me. This book felt more polished than the others I have read by her. The premise of the story is a bit on the dark side. Edwina Blackthorn is our main character. She & her twin sister, Mary, are witches who simply want to be allowed to live & let live. However, they have been forced to move many times in their past, primarily due to the macabre nature of Mary's gift: that she can see "corpse lights" of the dying or newly dead, & is capable of coaxing the memories out of these recently deceased. Because of this grim gift, it has been difficult for the sisters to find welcome even among communities of their own kind. The story kicks off with Mary & Edwina stumbling onto a man who has been attacked on the riverfront & left for dead. Despite Edwina's misgivings that the man might be saved, she allows Mary to convince her he is beyond help & watches as her sister takes the man's memories (which she saves in the form of sparkling marble-like "baubles"). But Edwina's worst fear comes to life when the man appears on the doorstep of the curiosity shop the sisters run. He is unable to remember a thing about his life— except for the image of the two sisters standing over him while they took something irreplaceable that he cannot name, but knows he is incomplete without. I will not spoil the ensuing events as Edwina helps the man restore his memories, except to say that Ian, the man in question, turns out to be a private eye who was investigating a series of robbery/murders in the area. The mystery was quite gripping, & I really enjoyed following the characters from point A to point B as they suss out clue after clue. The author did an excellent job instilling suspense into the story. The mystery developed quite organically & was all very believable (aside, of course, from the obvious supernatural aspects with have already called for suspension of disbelief) & well written. The whole story flowed beautifully & at no point did I find it slow or boring. Pretty much everything that happens is relevant to the plot in some way. The Raven Spell is book 1 of a series but the primary plot of this book is fully wrapped up, before an epilogue adds a final unexplained occurrence to entice readers to the next book. Without the epilogue the book could be read as a satisfying standalone, although I personally am glad that there is more to come, since Edwina is an interesting character, & we hardly got a taste of the romance developing between she & Ian. Bottomline, I greatly enjoyed this book & I would recommend it to anyone who likes urban fantasy or paranormal stories, particularly those about witches. The Raven Spell is also a work of historical fiction, & the author did a good job of conveying that time period, so it might appeal to readers of historical fiction who don't mind a little paranormal weirdness mixed in. If you do like this book, I would definitely recommend Ms. Smith's Vine Witch trilogy as well.

I do not like to give away spoilers, so reviewing this one is difficult for me. I will say that I really enjoyed both the story's development and conclusion. Well edited. Great flow. Plot twists that add interest. It is a 2-book series (not sure if the author may decide to write further books, as it could easily be done). It is fantasy (fey, witches, etc...), but the characters are adults. No sex scenes for those who are concerned. I would most surely read any additional books in this "series" if written.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.Thoughts: Previous to reading this, I had read Smith's "The Vine Witch" which I didn't love. I thought "The Vine Witch" was slow with characters that were hard to connect with, as a result I did not finish that series. I thought "The Raven Spell" was better, but it still had some of the same issues that "The Vine Witch" did.This story starts with us following Mary and Edwina Blackwood. These two sister witches make their living finding shiny things on the Thames riverbank and selling them at their store. One day Mary finds a dead man, Ian, on the shore and steals his memories (as she likes to do with the dead), however...he wasn't quite dead. This triggers a series of events in which Edwina gets pulled into the mystery Ian was investigating about the missing son of a prominent witch.As mentioned above, this had a lot of the same issues for me as "The Vine Witch". The story moves very slowly and is flat out boring at times. The plot is very predictable and I didn't like any of the characters. All of the characters come off as a bit selfish, distanced and hard to engage with.There is some beautiful description in here and I enjoyed the idea of a Victorian London with some magic added (although, let's be honest, this has been done a million times before and better done). Edwina has a sort of peaceful aura to her that some might enjoy, but to me she just felt distanced.It takes a long time for things to get moving in this book and I thought the way everything was wrapped up was very anti-climatic. You would have to be blind not to know where the mystery is going and I was disappointed that nothing surprising happened. The book has the very overdone...are they dead, or maybe not? ending to lead you into the next book in the series.My Summary (3/5): Overall this was a mediocre read for me and I don't plan on continuing the series. There really isn't anything special here. The world-building is weak, the mystery predictable, and the characters hard to engage with. There is some beautiful description and a peaceful-feeling slow burn mystery with some fantasy elements if you are into that sort of thing. At this point I won't be picking up any more books by Smith, her writing style just doesn't work well for me.

I picked this up as a Kindle First Read because I’d enjoyed the author’s previous book, The Vine Witch. There is nothing wrong with the story, and if you’ve enjoyed the author’s work before I would recommend it.Unfortunately, for me, there were basic errors that came up too frequently for them not to grate. The insistence on calling Sir Henry Elvanfoot “Sir Elvanfoot” is a basic one that a little research could have resolved. Likewise some anachronistic language that would not fit the supposed period in Britain.I can see that there is a suggestion that this is the first in a series. I can only hope that if any more of the series is to take place in the UK, that the author does the appropriate research or finds a willing British reader - I’m happy to volunteer! - to proofread the sequel.

Rating: 3.8/5Having felt somewhat uninspired when I first saw this month's Amazon First Reads selection, I ultimately decided to take a chance on this historical fantasy by Luanne G. Smith. I have to confess that my expectations were not that great, but I am now very glad that I made this particular selection. "The Raven Spell" is the first in a new series of books by the author and it presents an appealing mixture of murder mystery and magic in Victorian England.I tend to read far more novels from the mystery / thriller genre than books that venture into the realms of fantasy, but I found this to be much more readable and engaging than the standard fantasy fare. I won't spoil your enjoyment by divulging key elements of the plot - there is enough in the official synopsis to get you started. Suffice to say that there is plenty here to appeal to many readers who may not be regular devotees of this genre with a very solid (and intriguing) mystery structure underpinning the plotline.The story is well-paced. Not only is there no slow-burn in the opening stages, but neither are there any particular lulls in the proceedings as developments unfold. The characterisation is solid and there are plenty of engaging protagonists that are easy to visualise emerging from the pages of the book. The chosen backdrop of Victorian London, just prior to the end of the 19th century, is nicely portrayed and evokes a genuine sense of atmosphere. If I were to be very picky, I would suggest that it is a pity that one or two blatant Americanisms were allowed to slip through the editing process. On the occasions where they crop up, they seem strangely out of place in a narrative that is otherwise reassuringly appropriate for its setting.Nonetheless, this is a thoroughly entertaining read and one that I have no hesitation in recommending - even if, like me, you are not automatically drawn to this genre. I will certainly be coming back for the next book in the series.

Not bad, but not great either. Clearly written by an American, with no idea of true Victorian British history, geography, language or customs. I found the supposedly Scottish speech especially annoying! Pretty tedious & very predictable.

Read in a day, as the story was gripping and I wanted to find out what happened next....The story revolves around twin witch sisters who run a small shop in London, selling items they've found whilst searching the muddy banks of the Thames at low tide (they don't think of themselves as 'Mudlarks', like the humans trawling the stinking mud - they search at night, when they find it easier to see the coins, watches, hairpins, buckles, etc, shining in the starlight).They discover what they initially think to be a dead body on the foreshore, but find that he's still (barely) clinging to life.The story takes us through the mystery of who this man is and why he came to London and what brought the sisters to the capital. Meanwhile, there's a murderer on the loose....It was well worth reading, right up to the last page (no spoilers).I really recommend it, even if fantasy novels aren't your thing.

I've enjoyed books from this author before so The Raven Spell was a nice surprise when it popped up as a choice. Good story, good pace, interesting premise, likeable characters. As some other reviewers have said, some basic mistakes with language and phraseology that a good British editor would pick up and correct. But these minor issues did not detract from the enjoyment or the pace of the story. Looking forward to the sequel, so please, please Luanne, get a British editor to cast their eye over your work.