Ravencry: Book 2 of the Raven's Mark by Ed McDonald

When I finally put all my ducks in a row, get published (self or otherwise), and get on the scene, my first order of business will be to befriend Ed McDonald and talk shop over pints of thick strong stouts, porters, and ales of the chest-hair growing variety. I get the sense that he’s a pretty cool guy. I’m following him on Instagram, so it’s a start. Maybe when this post goes live I will make mention of it on the “Insta”—something I should do more often anyway. Based on one of his more recent posts, I’m pretty sure we share a similar writing style—the difference being he has 2 books published with a 3rd coming out in June while I have a series of rough drafts ranging in degrees of roughness similar to grades of sandpaper. He obviously has the discipline in which I lack.

I enjoy his writing style and the 2nd book of the Raven’s Mark series, Ravencry maintains the hard and sharp edge introduced in his first book. The character of Ryhalt Galharrow is what you get when you take Ian McShane’s, Al Swearengen and throw him into a magic-fill, apocalyptic fantasy, where he is able to swear and murder his way through all matter of monster and conspiracy. Galharrow drinks profusely, swears excessively—if not poetically, and cares very little for how he presents himself to the nobility.

Two Ian McShane “Swegen” posts in a week. Time to re-watch Deadwood!

And yet somehow, he is a character with heart, who cares for others—not necessarily society as a whole but perhaps just those closest to him. And those people—few and meager as they may be, he does not want to see them eaten by what may crawl out from the Misery—a seemingly endless stretch of land plagued by magic, more radioactive than ethereal.

As for my second order of business: Revenge. Swift and brutal revenge. Or Creme Brulee.

Revenge

A dish best served with caramelized sugar and a butane torch.