Name: The Ravens
Rating: 3.722689075630252 (119 reviews)
ISBN: 9780358098232

Kass Morgan

Danielle Paige

Loner Vivi Deveraux is thrilled to join Westerly College's Kappas, who are secretly witches, until she meets perfect, polished Scarlett Winter, who will stop at nothing to be the sorority's next president.

The Ravens

Alexa M

so fun! always love the witchy and sisterhood vibes.

Elisa Bieg

This book was simultaneously exactly what I expected, more, and less. 

The writing is oversimple, almost shallow; but the main characters are distinctive and fairly well fleshed-out for the most part, which draws you into their individual challenges in the same way that the sorority draws them in — particularly if you prefer character-centric narratives. 

What isn’t quite as well done as it could be is... 
  all
 the secondary characters. They are basically there as accessories, as framing for the main characters; to the point where it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart. That lessens the impact of group scenes, which have a certain weight here, as the coven itself is a character as well — the title character, in fact.

But this is at least partially balanced by something that we don’t always see, and that I really appreciated: highlighting female friendship, and the way the characters choose to prioritize it over petty squabbles (over boys or other stuff). It does start our with a hint of 
  Mean Girls
, but I hate that cardboard villain image and the pitting girls against each other bit, so I’m glad the authors turned that around. 

Overall, it’s slightly weak but still very entertaining, so I’m giving it 3 1/2 STARS and plan on reading the sequel.

Brandyn

Victoria Alexandra 

I thoroughly enjoyed this ya fantasy, can’t wait for the next one! I’m hoping there is more history of the ravens in the next book.

Katharina Hoffmann

Before I get started on my review I just wanted to say that even though I didn’t really enjoy the book, I really love the fact that it doesn’t pass the reverse Bechdel test and I’m LIVING for that.


Vivi wants nothing more than to escape her life of constantly moving around with her mum, so she signs up for college where she hopes to finally make some long-term friends and be free of her hippie mother who does tarot readings for a living and who never manages to stay at the same place for more than a few months. At college, Vivi attends a party held by one of its most exclusive sororities, The Ravens. They are an all-girls society and only a few freshmen are selected each term to join their ranks. Vivi is shocked and surprised when she is picked, thinking that she doesn’t fit in with the way more glamorous girls. She is even more surprised when she learns that the ‘The Ravens’ are a coven of witches who call themselves ‘sisters’, and that she herself is a witch. Together with a few other girls, she learns how to access and harness her powers, all while trying to navigating college, parties, and a crush on the boyfriend of one of her sorority sisters.

The book is told from two different perspectives, one belonging to Vivi, the other to Scarlett Winter, coming from an established family of witches, and a senior member of 'The Ravens' who is gunning for president this term. She seems to have everything: a perfect boyfriend, a great supporting best friend, but there is a secret she’s trying to keep, something that happened during her own freshman year that is now coming back to haunt them all.

The two different perspectives managed to liven up the story and it was fun to read from two girls who have such different lives and experiences of college.
However...


Because of her difficult childhood, Viv is shy and awkward. Her character is very cliché, especially in combination with the college setting that we know from so many YA rom-coms. She was super bland and I wish she’d had more spice.


Because of her character, Scarlett’s POV was more interesting to read but I wasn’t emotionally invested in her story either. She was the typical gorgeous, ambitious girl that is pressured by her family to do extremely well at college and in her sorority. The character is Black but except for mentioning it once or twice the author didn’t include it as a factor that shapes Scarlett’s every-day experiences and highschool-life which felt a little tone-deaf, given that they go to a college in the Deep South of the USA.

This book is very YA with its teenage drama, highschool relationships, parties and kisses. Very soon after moving in, Vivi falls for Mason (INSTALOVE, AHHH; GO AND SEEK SHELTER), who happens to be Scarlett’s boyfriend! *eyeroll intensifies*
There is just something so insulting about two girls fighting over the same boy. Really? In this economy? 


Mason is just as bland as Vivi and has nothing to recommend him except for the fact that he is tall and *looks at smudged writing on hand* good-looking? Can he get even a little more boring? Oh, wait, he studies HISTORY and used old-fashioned words!
In short, the romantic sub-plot added zero to the story-line. It would have been way more fun if Vivi and Scarlett had ended up falling for each other or if at least one of them had been gay. There is a lesbian relationship but I thought it was poorly executed and I’m not sure the two girls were given more than 20 words of dialogue. The book was simply too hetero.


The setting was somehow just as bland as the characters. They’re all attending college and yet there are minimal mentions of Vivi attending classes, of having to do homework and the usual things that go along with college. There is no real world-building (I guess the author thought it wasn’t necessary since the story takes places in the present?). Everything in this story felt a little half-baked. More details would have made for a better book.

The magic system was… fine, I guess. The witches take inspiration for their craft from tarot cards and their powers are divided between the five major arcana. The spells they use rhyme which was kind of neat but they did feel a bit like nursery rhymes. It felt like the author didn’t bring anything new to the table concerning witches or magic in general.

All in all the book was a quick, albeit bland, and not very memorable read. There were a few interesting twists at the end and the book tells a strong story of sisterhood and friendship, but it’s riddled with too many dull characters and boring YA tropes.

Allison

Loved it. Definitely picking up the sequel next month :)

Jordan Heustis

6.7/10 on the cawpile scale. This book started out pretty awesome. It made me fill a bit nostalgic about my freshman year, and I was enjoying it! As it went on, it became a bit illogical to me. I started enjoying the characters a little less. I especially was not enjoy the relationship between the two main characters. It just felt like their feelings changed in one paragraph. However, I was enjoying the twists in the end and it was an easy read!

Anna Wilson

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this audiobook of The Ravens! This for sure has snuck in and made it as a favorite book of the year! 
We are following Vivi and Scarlett as they make their way thru a typical college semester. Vivi is the new girl, she’s always been the new girl. She just wants to go to college and have a normal experience. She gets invited to a rush party for the Kappas and every thing changes. Scarlett has it all, perfect boyfriend, a strong sisterhood, and on her way to becoming Kappa president. The two girls meet at a rush party and quickly get off on the wrong foot (because don’t they always). Oh and did I mention that the Kappas only accept pledges if they possess magical ability (aka they’re witches?!) 
I absolutely loved everything about this book! It gave me major nostalgia being back in college in my own sorority! I highly recommend to anyone who loves witches, magic or Greek life! 
OH AND THERE IS A SEQUEL?!? I can’t even wait!!!

Gemma

The Ravens has such a distinctive Dark Academia feel, perfect reading for fall 2021. The story is told in two POVs, Scarlett and Vivi, two people with different motives that must come together to solve a mystery. 

While the premise was exciting, I found myself truly disliking both characters. Scarlett is ambitious with big plans for the future, but malicious while we're in her head. Vivi is naive and new to campus, but her general romance towards Scarlett's (ex)bf left me with a negative impression of her. 

I did like the attempts at sisterhood and the twist at the end. Although the romances were the weakest part of the book, I can overlook that if the sequel continues the strong storyline.

Lisa W.

That was a quick read... very to the point. However also very predictable. Even the plot twists weren’t that interesting. 
The concept of a sorority coven with elemental magic was very cute and clever. 

I appreciated they didn’t make Vivi a chosen one just because she was a powerful witch. She didn’t bypass the freshman college experience and show up her big. Especially since it was from a dual POV. I wish we got to see more of Vivi’s bond with Ariana and sonali but I appreciated their appearance. 

Scarlett eventually grew on me which I am thankful for. I didn’t want to dislike a strong black female character. Her ethics and loyalty were aligned. Her choices were always the right one and she obtained my respect. 

Yes 👍🏾 Jackson 
No thank you to Mason 👎🏾

Although I quickly gobbled up this story I don’t foresee myself picking up the sequel. It’s targeted perfectly for young adults.

Jayarna La Bozzetta

I'm feeling hateful today so this book doesn't even get half a star in an attempt to redeem itself. 

I love witches. I love books set at a school and I love sororities, especially exploring the darker side of them. I imagined one revolving around witches, with that beautiful black and pink cover, is a book I'm going to love - right? 

Wrong. The book is dual POV, which I think makes for a smart narrative setup. Vivi's POV shows us what it is like to enter the sorority as a clueless pledge, and Scarlett has known she is a witch her entire life, and I'm pretty sure she's a junior. 

So we get to see two sides of the coin, giving us double the chance to explore this concept deeply.

But both perspective's contained barely any personality, and they're almost interchangeable, except for Vivi's confidence issues. There is no dive into who they are, and any mention of backstory is followed up with weak nods in their behaviour which I think only count as trauma and motivation if you squint hard enough. Neither of their perspectives are handled with much nuance, so the dual POV becomes virtual useless and basically shows how terribly bland these author's character work is. 

The pacing also had serious issues. We are halfway through the book when the main plotline wraps up and another is introduced in its place - meaning the book loses tension and intrigue, and we don't have enough time to delve deep into the characters within this conflict. What i thought was the main conflict was setup that went for half the book. 

Personally, I would've enjoyed this to be a little darker too. Mentioning blood all the time doesn't count, alright? this reads like a book for 14-year-olds which, yes, it's YA, but it's set at college. It includes mentions of alcohol and again, a lot of blood and some dark imagery but the actual attitudes of the MC's resemble high school teens.

I was waiting the entire time to feel excited by this and I just couldn't. I guess I better just go read Bunny again. That's what I really wanted from this, and it's definitely not what I got.

Deborah Kerr

3.75/5 stars.

I had a good time reading this book, but it wasn't a particularly mind-blowing experience. I'm always down for witches, and when I read "witch sorority," I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough. Unfortunately, it was a slow start and build, and the characters are pretty luke-warm personalities.

Scarlett is a typical Queen Bee pretending to be a bitch to hide her angst about the high expectations placed upon her. While Vivi is literally just a room temp glass of water--she didn't have a single characteristic outside of existing and, apparently, is a very powerful witch (even though she didn't know about it?). 

I also did not enjoy the Scarlett-Mason-Vivi issue. I'm just over this entire trope. OVER IT.

The side characters were the best part, honestly. Give me more of the Kappas just hanging out, being witches.

It was an easy read, and there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, but there also wasn't anything particularly memorable about it either.

Wiktoria Balcerak

Jasmin Rogalla

The Setting felt more high school than college. I had expected more. A little disappointed but you can always get me with witches.

Kelsey Holtaway

** spoiler alert **
           Ultimately, I had a lot of fun reading this book, and a huge part of my rating is based on enjoyment. 

There were some places it fell flat though. 

First of all, we're following from the perspective of two people- Vivi and Scarlett. Vivi is a college freshman, Scarlett is a Junior, and we're following their perspectives as Vivi rushes for the super exclusive sorority of witches that Scarlett is a part of. 

Scarlett and Vivi start out with some tension, with Scarlett looking down on Vivi from the beginning, and then subsequently appointed as Vivi's "Big" which creates even more tension. They come from different backgrounds, have different aspirations, there's a run-in with a boy, etc etc. 

As they continued to have their differences, and I was assuming we'd be focusing on their relationship as they form their bonds in sisterhood and move from tension into acceptance and forming a bond. But that didn't really happen? They were enemies and then one thing happened and they were then fine with each other. But we didn't really explore their relationship or get to know the characters through each other's eyes. They didn't like each other, a thing happened and they then liked each other, and then they each had their own shit to do. I *really* wish their relationship was fleshed out more. 

And the other thing that was off for me was some of the logic. It was one of those stories where we get to the end, and I'm not quite sure where the plot points at the beginning matched up with where we ended up. Or why we spent so much time on them to go somewhere completely different. 

I know I've got a lot of critiques! But like I said at the beginning I ultimately had fun reading this, which is why I rated it so high. 

Once I was able to really sit down with this book, I ended up flying through the pages. And while there were some things that were off for me, I enjoyed the setting, the pace, the focus on sisterhood/ discovering their witchiness over focusing on boys (there is some light romance, I thought it was the perfect amount for this story), and the adventure.

Tejumola Niquel

I really enjoyed this book by the end, and the last chapter had the tears brewing. The beginning was a little juvenile in terms of writing style, and it was really annoying that everyone was described by their race first and their features second. I didn’t feel connections with any of the character until about 75% of the way through, and I thought the romance pieces were unnecessary. But in the end I really did enjoy it for what it was.

The Ravens

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