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A review by cassberrie
The Raven and the Dove by Kaitlyn Davis
3.0
*Received a free e-copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!*
What happens when you take one of the most famous love triangles in medieval literature and add a dash of fantasy with a handful of feathers? You get The Raven and the Dove by Kaitlyn Davis.
The Raven and the Dove is the tale of two starcrossed lovers: Lyana, princess of the doves, and Rafe, the illegitimate brother of the prince of the ravens. A whirlwind romance leaves them both in an impossible place, stuck between their feelings for each other and their political positions. While this is happening in the skies, in the world below, a conspiracy rages as King Malek seeks to fulfill an age-old prophecy, using whatever means necessary.
My favorite part about this whole book is the beautifully lush world-building. I love the concept of the different avian cultures and the lore behind the magic system. It's all wonderfully fantastical and makes me excited to read more stories set in this realm. I also quite liked the backstories of each of the characters and how they were shaped by the circumstances which were out of their control.
That being said, this book was certainly always going to have to fight an uphill battle. Love triangles are notoriously difficult to pull off, and this one struggled a fair bit. In the best love triangles, you feel equally torn between both options, creating an absolute maelstrom of emotions. For this triangle between Lyana, Rafe, and Xander, I couldn't bring myself to root for Lyana and Rafe, our Iseult and Tristan analogs, because I could not get fully invested in their romance. To me, it was too fueled in physical attraction and wonder without either party bonding over their own insecurities and similarities. As such, by the time the great reveal happened, I did not believe in the romance enough to quite justify Lyana's continued tolerance of Rafe with the betrayal hanging over them.
The whole time, I was rooting instead for Xander, who worked so hard to make the relationship work despite everything. He, too, is caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to be a good man despite having his happiness snatched away from him. My sympathy for Lyana and Rafe always dissipated whenever I thought about what they were doing to him, and that made this book incredibly frustrating in the worst way possible. In fact, at the climaxwhen he gets stabbed in the heart, I feel a smidge more horror than when Rafe gets his wings cut off just based on how attached I am to him.
You know what they say: bros before hoes.
At the very least, we have an interesting player in Cassi, who has her own fair share of secrets. The end of the first book places her in a unique position to act as her own agent for the first time in her life. But she's in for a lot once the truth comes out. Can't wait to see that whole thing unravel.
The setup for the rest of the series is intriguing enough given how many tantalizing hints about the world below we've been given. This book falls into a very predictable plot structure, but since most first books in a series do, I'll give it a pass. Here's to hoping that the plot gets more windy and complex with the rest of the series.
What happens when you take one of the most famous love triangles in medieval literature and add a dash of fantasy with a handful of feathers? You get The Raven and the Dove by Kaitlyn Davis.
The Raven and the Dove is the tale of two starcrossed lovers: Lyana, princess of the doves, and Rafe, the illegitimate brother of the prince of the ravens. A whirlwind romance leaves them both in an impossible place, stuck between their feelings for each other and their political positions. While this is happening in the skies, in the world below, a conspiracy rages as King Malek seeks to fulfill an age-old prophecy, using whatever means necessary.
My favorite part about this whole book is the beautifully lush world-building. I love the concept of the different avian cultures and the lore behind the magic system. It's all wonderfully fantastical and makes me excited to read more stories set in this realm. I also quite liked the backstories of each of the characters and how they were shaped by the circumstances which were out of their control.
That being said, this book was certainly always going to have to fight an uphill battle. Love triangles are notoriously difficult to pull off, and this one struggled a fair bit. In the best love triangles, you feel equally torn between both options, creating an absolute maelstrom of emotions. For this triangle between Lyana, Rafe, and Xander, I couldn't bring myself to root for Lyana and Rafe, our Iseult and Tristan analogs, because I could not get fully invested in their romance. To me, it was too fueled in physical attraction and wonder without either party bonding over their own insecurities and similarities. As such, by the time the great reveal happened, I did not believe in the romance enough to quite justify Lyana's continued tolerance of Rafe with the betrayal hanging over them.
The whole time, I was rooting instead for Xander, who worked so hard to make the relationship work despite everything. He, too, is caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to be a good man despite having his happiness snatched away from him. My sympathy for Lyana and Rafe always dissipated whenever I thought about what they were doing to him, and that made this book incredibly frustrating in the worst way possible. In fact, at the climax
You know what they say: bros before hoes.
At the very least, we have an interesting player in Cassi, who has her own fair share of secrets. The end of the first book places her in a unique position to act as her own agent for the first time in her life. But she's in for a lot once the truth comes out. Can't wait to see that whole thing unravel.
The setup for the rest of the series is intriguing enough given how many tantalizing hints about the world below we've been given. This book falls into a very predictable plot structure, but since most first books in a series do, I'll give it a pass. Here's to hoping that the plot gets more windy and complex with the rest of the series.