The Raven Scholar -- Antonia Hodgson, Paperback

From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar's quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists--the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor's brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won't let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

Author: Antonia Hodgson
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 04/15/2025
Pages: 704
Binding Type: Paperback
Size: 9.25h x 6.00w x 1.76d
ISBN: 9780316577229

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/20/2025

About the Author

Antonia Hodgson is a freelance editor, and author of the bestselling Thomas Hawkins historical crime series. Her first novel, The Devil in the Marshalsea, won the CWA Historical Dagger Award and was shortlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year. She lives in Kent, England, where she has been visited by a fox and a raven, and a tiger in the form of her neighbour's ginger cat. No dragons as yet.