Name: Raven Song
Series: Inoki's Game (Book 1)
Paperback: 290 pages
Published Date: March 14, 2016
Publisher: Lucid Dreams
Publishing
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1944674004
ISBN-13: 978-1944674007
Blurb:
A
century ago, the world burned. Even now, though rebuilt and defiant,
civilization is still choking on the ashes.
Jackson,
a smuggler, lives in the shadows, once a boy with no memory, no name, and no
future. Ravens followed him, long-extinct birds only he could see, and
nightmares flew in their wake. Once, Jackson thought himself to be one of the
lucky few touched by magic, a candidate for the Order of Mages. He is a man
now, and that dream has died. But, the ravens still follow. The nightmares
still whisper in his ear.
Anna’s
life was under the sun, her future bright, her scientific work promising. She
knew nothing of The Bombings, the poisoned world, or the occult. One day, she
went to work, and the next, she awoke in a box over a hundred years in the
future, screaming, fighting to breathe, and looking up into the eyes of a
smuggler. Anna fears she’s gone crazy, unable to fill the massive hole in her
memories, and terrified of the strange abilities she now possesses.
The
Coalition government has turned its watchful eyes towards them. The secret
factions of the city move to collect them first. And, old gods stir in the
darkness, shifting their pawns on the playing field.
If Anna
and Jackson wish to stay free, they must learn what they are and why they
exist.
Unfortunately,
even if they do, it may be too late.
Raven Song is the first of a four book
adult-oriented dystopian fantasy series, a story of intrigue, love, violence,
and the old spirits in the shadows who wait for us to notice them again.
Readers of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Charlie Human will enjoy this dark
magic-laced tale rooted on the bones of what our world could become.
Goodreads ~ Amazon
~ Barnes
& Noble ~ Kobo
PROLOGUE
A boy
lay on the broken sidewalk, eyes closed. He was pale and thin, looking not a
day over ten years old. His half-clothed body shuddered against the chilly night
air. His bony frame scraped against the grime of the street as he curled into
himself, trying to keep back the cold. Overhead, the stars hung bright and
lonely.
In the
alley, almost invisible against the midnight darkness, a man stood tall over
the boy. His well-pressed suit was as black as the shadows, as his skin, and as
the raven on his shoulder. The way he hovered over the child, he seemed a
strange guardian. But his eyes were turned upwards to the sky, away from the
boy’s plight, as if it was no real matter. In those black eyes the stars were
mirrored, impossible and brilliant. Those eyes stared back into the past, when
the celestial lights were loved and revered, when each constellation had a
story.
Once
upon a time… this was when the world had sung to him, the dream-walker, the
song-weaver, the star-stringer.
Once,
before humans had forgotten his name.
Now,
the starry sky was almost hidden by the glowing blue haze of the Barrier, a
shield cast over what was left of the city: proud New York, ruined, rebuilt,
defiant.
The
stranger kept staring upwards into oblivion, even as the boy let out an unhappy
whimper, chills wracking his weak frame. The raven flew from the stranger’s
shoulder then, alighting onto the sidewalk, picking past the weeds and rubble.
It rejoined its fellows who had settled amicably around the child, oblivious to
the fact that ravens were all supposed to be dead. One hundred years ago,
poison had leeched into the earth, into the grass, into the grazers, and into
the corpses left behind. The blight spared little, its kind no exception.
Regardless, this impossible creature affectionately brushed at the boy’s dark
hair with its beak.
At the
touch, the boy awoke with a start. His wide, uncomprehending eyes took in the
world as he struggled to sit up, his head swinging around wildly; past awnings
and high rises he had never seen, past scrawled words and graffiti he could not
understand. He teetered to his feet, then fell back down again as his knees
gave out, sending the birds around him into flight.
He saw
no starry eyes in the darkness, no stranger standing nearby. He was halfnaked, shivering,
hungry, and alone, his head aching down to his teeth. The nameless boy shook
off the dreams he couldn’t remember and wondered where he was.
If
there had been any passersby on that cold autumn night, they would have sworn that
this boy hadn’t been there a minute ago, and no stranger or ravens had been
there at all.
Quotes from the Book:
Jackson
let the implication settle on his shoulders, and his voice dropped to a
whisper, even though no one was there to hear. “The Coalition wants to smuggle.
With us.”
“They’re
not here for our generous bulk discounts on three-day shipping, boss.”
________________________________________
And
there, behind the glass, was no gun stash, no bombs, no drugs, no illicit data
chips.
It was
a woman, a young woman, eyes closed as if asleep.
Jackson
blinked.
“Well,
shit,” Frank said for both of them.
___________________________________
In the
end, she didn’t have a plan.
But,
she did have the inner voice that had urged her on when the NNSS was attacked.
It was the same voice that saw her lead the breakout. You’re going to do it,
the voice said. You don’t know how yet, but you will. You have to. Why else
would you be alive, after all this? To die here?
Anna
decided to call this voice courage, and she hoped it was right.
Quotes from Reviewers:
“Raven
Song does not wait long and throws the reader into an action adventure starring
likable leads from the very start.”
–
Moonike, Goodreads reviewer
________________________________________
“The
descriptiveness of these scenes is amazing and keeps you turning the page....
you get the sense of a meld between Mad Max and some drug addled dream sequence
at times.”
– Mark,
Goodreads reviewer
________________________________________
“Ashcroft
has a brilliant imagination coupled with an eloquent writing style that draws
the reader in, makes us feel a wide array of emotions, and holds us captivated
to the very end. I anxiously await the next volume in this series.”
– K.
McCaslin, Amazon reviewer
My Review:
Over a hundred years ago the world was destroyed by bombs. A
young girl Anna wakes in a glass box struggling to breathe and to get out with
no knowledge of the world being destroyed. Anna was there when the world ended,
when the bombs fell. One day she goes to work and the next thing she knows she
is staring into the eyes of a stranger.
Jackson is a smuggler and is hired to go in parts of the
world that is still high in radiation to retrieve a package. When Jackson arrives
at his destination the ravens that only he can see are there and they lead him
right to his package. When he looks to where the Ravens are he sees a glass box
and upon looking in the box he sees a young girl inside the box staring up at
him.
When Anna awakens she finds that she has magical abilities
and that she is not the only one as Jackson has some magical powers as well. The
Coalition government wants Anna and Jackson so they can run test on them. Anna
and Jackson must find out who and what they are if they don’t want to be prisoners
of the Coalition.
Raven Song is filled with lots of action from the first page
until the last that will keep you hanging on for more. Raven Song is highly engaging
and filled with so much emotion that you feel as if you are standing there with
the characters experiencing and feeling everything they do. The world building
is amazing and out of this world. You can picture everything in your head as
you are reading as if you are there and seeing the domes and the wastelands.
I would recommend Raven Song to anyone who loves the tv show
The 100 and all dystopia fans.
Author Bio:
I. A.
Ashcroft has been writing fiction in many forms for almost twenty years. The
author's first book, written at age seven, featured the family cat hunting an
evil sorceress alongside dragons and eagles. This preoccupation with the
fantastical has not changed in the slightest.
Now,
the author dwells in Phoenix, AZ alongside a wonderful tale-spinner and two
increasingly deranged cats. Ashcroft writes almost exclusively in the realm of
darker fantasy these days, loving to entertain adults with stories of magic,
wonder, despair, violence, and hope, bringing a deep love of mythology into
every tale penned. The author also loves diverse and intriguing casts of
characters.
When
not buried in a book, one might find Ashcroft learning languages, charting road
trips, and playing tabletop RPGs with clever and fun people.
Contact the Author:
Organized by Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws
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