Quite a long time ago (cringe), Maggie Secara sent me e-copies of The Dragon Ring and King’s Raven, book 1 & 2 of her Harper Errant series. I read/reviewed The Dragon Ring, but never got around to reading King’s Raven, until now.

Description from Goodreads:
The heart of Faerie is the heart of the world.

While Oberon, immortal king of Faerie, lies under a terrible curse, the artistic spirit in the world is slipping away. The King’s Raven would do anything to lift the spell, if only it hadn’t also stripped him of his magic and flung him into an iron-bound past with a damaged memory.

The only thing that can save them both is sealed inside a riddle wrapped in a puzzle that spans the centuries. Even with the help of an Elizabethan magus, a Victorian spinster, and a mad reporter, can mortal musician Ben Harper find Raven in time to solve the riddle, stop a witch, and restore the creative heart of the world?

Review:
This is one of those books that was well written, probably well researched (I don’t know the subject well enough to know, but it feels right), and well edited but not a real hit with me. I mean I liked it. I still very much enjoyed Raven. I still appreciated Ben and I still thought their dynamic was fun. I still liked the creative side characters and the way things tied together. So, there is no argument that this is a good book.

Stylistically, however, it didn’t click with me. There is a lot of hopping back and forward in time and between characters and this is a technique that crawls under my skin and chafes. I don’t enjoy it. So, unfortunately my basic enjoyment of the story was compromised. It made the book feel overly long, I think.

Other than that one complaint (which is based on my personal preference) I have no reservations about recommending this book to fantasy readers. It’s well worth picking up, though I recommend reading The Dragon’s Ring first.