The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson – Review

Published: April 15, 2025

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: Eternal Path #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 667  (Kindle)

My Rating: 5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

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Prior to picking up The Raven Scholar I had skimmed over a few positively glowing reviews from some fellow bloggers whose opinions I trust, so I went into this with high expectations. Yes, it’s a chunky book and that can be a little intimidating for some people, but this story was SO worth the time spent immersed in this layered, complex world. It also has a little something for everyone without feeling like any of the aspects are unbalanced or taking precedent over the others. 

The Raven Scholar starts out following one set of characters, then switches to another after leaving your jaw on the floor, and then does a little time jump to continue following Neema Kraa, the titular Raven scholar. Neema is the High Scholar to Emperor Bersun and as such, has been assigned the task of overseeing the preparations and the execution of the trials that determine the next emperor. In this world a new emperor is chosen by a series of trials every 24 years and each of the Eight gods has their own trial. Neema is looking forward to a quiet retirement, but nothing goes right and she finds herself at the center of a murder investigation AND participating in the same trials she helped research and design. Neema hasn’t been trained to compete against the best representatives of the Eight, but she has her own guardian that even she isn’t aware of – the Raven itself.

I mentioned before that this book has something for everyone and it really does – a competition, political intrigue, a murder mystery, and even a romantic subplot that simply delighted me. This is a layered book with fantastic world building, well rounded characters, and some plot reveals that absolutely gave me whiplash. I literally would have thrown my Kindle after one particularly unexpected twist if I had less self control – I was shook. The balanced blend of all these elements just worked for me and I ended up loving this book so much! Also, if you like the idea of unsettling animal companions then you’ll probably the Raven aspect that Neema deals with – it’s a demanding and melodramatic thing!

This is the first book in a series and I’m hopeful I won’t have to wait much longer than a year until the sequel comes out. I should really jot down some more spoilery notes than what I included in this review because I think I might forget quite a few of the more salient details. Either way, The Raven Scholar was an excellent story and it encouraged me to actually go back and check out Antonia Hodgson’s backlog, which it turns out I’ve had on my Goodreads TBR for a few years now!