Rovan is a 19 year old bloodmage in hiding, doing what she can to avoid the kingdom\u2019s other bloodmages who have been assigned undead spirits as guardians. It\u2019s a way for the king to control them and their power, and Rovan is determined to remain unknown to the king and therefore also unguarded.
But when her lover and friend Bethea has an accident, Rovan uses her bloodmagic to save her life, exposing herself as a bloodmage. She\u2019s instantly brought to the palace by the king\u2019s men and is assigned a guardian of her own. Desperate to escape, she befriends some unlikely people in the palace and together they uncover secrets that will change everything and destroy their kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Ravenous Dark is an interesting read. It\u2019s full of queer representation in a way that doesn\u2019t focus on the queer experience, but it\u2019s treated as any romance subplot, the romance just happens to be f\/f, m\/f\/f etc. And there\u2019s also representation of nonbinary and asexual characters in the book, which is another thing I really like about it.
So, the queer rep here is prominent, it\u2019s a big part of the book the way they discuss their sexuality and gender identity within the group and how they are so open about it. However, (and I hate to put a however here), the thing is that even though I love the representation here and how they talk about it, they do it a little too much in my opinion. And I\u2019m not saying that because I don\u2019t enjoy their conversations and their thoughts here, it\u2019s because considering their current situation plot-wise, it doesn\u2019t fit in. I really don\u2019t understand how these characters can spend every moment they\u2019re together talking and joking about sex or the lack of thereof and gender and sexuality and all that when everything is falling apart around them, when people are dying, family is dying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their conversations flow so natural though, and I wish that things would be as easy in real life. But, like I said, the conversations and the tone of them didn\u2019t feel like they fit into the story and what was happening around the characters at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plot is great and interesting and the characters are also well developed and fun to follow, and I like that they are funny and share witty banter between each other. But it\u2019s not believable that the first thing that crosses your mind after you, your lover and your mother has been taken captive by murderous maniacs is \u201cwow, that princess is gorgeous, and they too, and oh wow, the undead spirit who\u2019s here to keep me under control is also out of the world beautiful and I just want to f*ck them all\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another thing in the same line as the above is the constant mention of how beautiful people are. Rovan constantly tells the reader that everyone is so stunning and gorgeous and beautiful and it gets tiresome. Just show me, don\u2019t tell me. We got from the first moment we saw the princess that Rovan finds her beautiful, we don\u2019t need it repeated a hundred times over. But it\u2019s seemingly all she thinks about when it comes to her friends (and enemies). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As while I\u2019m on the romance here, it\u2019s unfortunately not believable either. These people don\u2019t know each other, and they move way too quickly. There\u2019s no chemistry between them at all, it\u2019s just \u201cwow they are beautiful\u201d and then it goes from \u201cI hate them\u201d to \u201cI love them\u201d without any real chemistry or progress. It all just ended up feeling like Rovan would jump into bed with anyone who she found pretty enough, which in this world was basically everyone except the guy she was to be forced to marry.
There\u2019s no love in this book, it\u2019s all just lust. Which would have been fine had it been called what it was.
And I hate that I don\u2019t like it, because I wanted to like it, because I loved all the LGBTQ+ rep here, but I can\u2019t let a book get away with poor romance just because I love that it\u2019s queer. There still needs to be tension between characters, development in the relationship. I still need to feel the love between them, not just be told that they are beautiful and then suddenly the main character loves them (and they love her back despite her being a selfish asshole).
Now, to the plot. It\u2019s well developed with plenty of twists and turns that make it very interesting. It\u2019s one of those plots that make you want to turn the page and get the answers, and it\u2019s fairly fast-paced and there\u2019s always something happening. Lots of death and gore and blood, and well vampires, sort of.
So, by plot alone, this book is a clear four star read for me, the lack of proper romantic development, however, makes me inclined to bring it down to three stars. But I\u2019m feeling generous today, and compared to other books I\u2019ve recently read, this holds up well and I read it in just a couple of days. So, I\u2019m going to give it 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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