Book Review- Raven by Nuayma Jeggels

Title: Raven

 Author: Nuayma Jeggels

Series:  The Violet Jewels Series #1

Published:  13 July 2011

Length: 190 pages

Source: Author in exchange review.

((which is very late. I read this around September and meant to review it and forgot. So I re-read it so I oculd write a review. Sorry for the wait!!))

Summary :A girl, a coma, a Plague, and an empty grave. 
When Shardaie wakes up, she doesn’t know who she is, why she can’t understand emotions, why she has been unconscious for nearly nine of her thirteen years, or why the dead just won’t stay dead. The only clue to her past is a locket, but the Plague, which finally stretches its unnatural hand to her village, forces her to leave and to learn to protect herself. But everything has a cost: the protection against the undead reveals a secret that Shardaie and her classmates just don’t want to accept, and at the end, Shardaie realises that some secrets shouldn’t be revealed. Secrets have the power to destroy, and the power to change her view on humanity for ever. 

Review: Raven has woken up from a coma. Of eight years. The world she wakes up in is one with zombies, infected, so the dead rose again. From then on, we get the story of her at the Temple, learning how to protect herself, and finding out secrets that maybe should be kept quiet.

The world building was very good. The planets we learnt about were all distinctly different, yet familiar-the Cantchi people, for example Chiyo, was what you’d get if the Japanese all emigrated to this new planet. It added a little familiar touch to a brand new world.

We got a really clear account of the magic and the magical laws surrounding it. And the zombies....i love the take on them in this book. It’s original,  and with a cool twist on them.

At the start we got bogged down quite a bit with the world building. We needed to be introduced to the characters and the context, which I find is good, but as we kept switching places from chapter to chapter it was  a little confusing.

Shardaie/Raven(I only figured this out halfway through)was an interesting character. As interesting as you can get for a character who’s been asleep for more of her life than awake. But I think the mystery surrounding her added quite a lot to it, making you want to read on and see if you can work things out about her life.

We got a nice lot of character development, from Chiyo especially. The interaction between the students and teachers was realistic and friendly, and it was easy to follow.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a good story with good characters and a great fantasy new world.