https://kyanitepublishing.com/home/catalog/ravencrestomnibusone/
“So, what book/author is your writing most like?”
I don’t know about you, but as a writer, I think that is the question I hate the most. While there are plenty of stories and authors out there who inspire us, we all are trying to write a different take on the same old song and dance. We try as authors to bring an original spin to the myths, fables, legends and even genres that are embedded into our cultures.
“What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
There is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9
I think what I enjoyed most about BK Bass’s the Ravencrest Chonicles is that it was NOT like anything I had read before. I have always read a lot, and I was a huge fan of the Dragon Lance Series as a kid. I’ve read Tolkien and just about every Stephen King book there is. I can’t tell you that he’s like Tolkien, or RR Martin, or Stephen King. But if you’re a fan of any of the above, you will like Bass’s Ravencrest. This writing is the cross-section of Fantasy meets Gothic Horror. Rather than a novel, Bass weaves together a collection of novellas, short stories and poems that paint a dark and compelling picture of a bustling port town full of colorful characters that is being haunted by something…supernatural.
Now, I said in the previous paragraph that his writing wasn’t like a particular novel or author, but his setting of Seahaven reminded me of many of the seaside towns I have lived in since ditching the small desert town I grew up in and joining the Navy. I can taste the dank salt air, and feel that bone-penetrating chill that comes from the moisture that never dissipates with the seasons. I can picture Seahaven’s close-packed-hastily built buildings nestled against the rising cliffs. A crowd of sorts, clamoring for the wealth of trade coming from the sea, all the while, ignoring the dark shadow hovering over the city above, in the form of the nobility. At the start of the story, I wondered why the hell the people in the town put up with it, but Bass does an excellent job answering that question.
Oh…that’s why…You know, I have to admit, I would so be on the first ship out of this place…just saying.
Bass does a great job of showing and not telling in these stories. As previously mentioned, I love Tolkien, and Martin. However, Tolkien’s never-ending descriptions left me wanting to scream “are the hobbits ever going to get to the freakin’ mountain?” Or in Martin’s case, his need to not only describe every detail of a character’s appearance, but the ornate and in-depth details of their clothing (I found myself wondering at times, Is this Westeros Fashion week or something?).
Instead, Bass jumps right into the action, showing me his characters. I got the impression of this cutthroat town of Seahaven as being a sort of medieval Mos Eisley. A melting pot of thieves, murderers, pirates, whores and devils. Meanwhile Bass pulls back the layers on a very unwilling protagonist: Gareth Vann, master thief, turned unwilling hero. Gareth along with his rag-tag network of sparrows, young orphans like he once was, and pirate friends, will defend the city against the shadows encroaching from above and below.
What I also enjoyed about this story was that Bass keeps you guessing as to who is the good guy and who is the bad. At the risk of spoilers, I will leave it at that. But I did really enjoy how no one is quite as they seem.
**I do have to say, the end story—I totally saw that coming, but I enjoyed every…delicious…minute of reading it.
Finishing this book, I felt a quandary. It left more questions than it answered, but in a good way:
- What’s Helen’s backstory?
- Is Marcella going to get more of a story of her own?
- Am I going to get to hear about the origins of the Bloody Wench and her first captain?
- There’s lots of references to sirens, so will that be a legend Bass brings onboard in the next book?
- There’s lots of hints about Hatha, will she get a story of her own?
- And many more…
Okay, dammit. I’m hooked. When’s the next book, Bass? I’m waiting.
