Tak! reviewed The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
5 stars
I thought The Raven Scholar was refreshing and original.
It has some familiar tropes (the unappreciated, hypercompetent loner; multiple factions competing in a deadly tournament), but does a great job of avoiding cliches and subverting expectations.
There were a couple of places I was annoyed by the narration seeming to jump between character-limited and omniscient, but this is a minor quibble.
Despite apparently being the opener of a trilogy, it does a good job of telling a complete story and wrapping up the first phase of events.