Highland Raven is a 2014 historical fantasy novel by Melanie Karsak. It's the first entry in the Celtic Blood series and was published by Clockpunk Press in December of 2014. The novel was originally released under the title Lady Macbeth: Daughter of Ravens before being rebranded and re-released under the Highland Raven name. As the original title suggests, the novel series tells the untold story of Lady Macbeth. The novel can be purchased here from Bookshop.org

Destined to become Queen of Scotland. Bound by blood to the Celtic gods. Scotland, 1026--Gruoch, descendant of the line of MacAlpin, should have been born into a life of ease. But fate is fickle. Her father's untimely death, rumored to have been plotted by King Malcolm, leaves her future uncertain and stained by the prophecy that she will avenge her family line. Escaping to one of the last strongholds of the old Celtic gods, Gruoch becomes an adept in arcane craft. Her encounters with the otherworld, however, suggest that magic runs stronger in Scotland than she ever imagined. Haunted by dreams of a raven-haired man she's never met, Gruoch soon feels her fate is not her own. She is duty-bound to wed a powerful lord, if not the Prince himself; however, she's not sure she can stop her heart when she meets Banquo, a gallant highlander and druid.

As previously mentioned, this book tells, or at least begins, the story of Lady Macbeth, portraying events long before the start of the play. The reader is told in the prologue that the protagonist will one day be Lady Macbeth. I struggled with the character of Gruoch, not because she's the future Lady Macbeth, but because the story went out of its way to make her even more special and unique. She's Lady Macbeth and, because this is a historical fantasy novel, she learns witchcraft. To add some extra stakes, she's also very closely related to King Malcolm, making her politically important. She isn't just a witch related to the king though, she's also a reincarnation of an ancient warrior and destined to join a powerful coven and an incarnation of a Celtic god. That's a little too much uniqueness for one character. I feel like the author wanted to make Gruouch distinct, aside from being Lady Macbeth, but went a little overboard with all the ways in which she's special and all the expectations for her future. It's a lot to introduce in one book and it's a lot to put on a single character. It's hard for a reader to connect with or root for a character like that.

I didn't mind the plot of this book for the most part. It's the beginning of Gruoch's story, so while we don't see her fully turn into Lady Macbeth, we see some hints at her future. The story does a lot to give some needed depth to her character. At its core, it's a story of her coming into her power and introducing the conflicting forces in her life. The ending felt very abrupt, however, as did the last 20% of the book. There is a sudden shift in setting, tone and plot direction around the 75-80% mark. If this had been the end of the book, it would've been an effective cliffhanger, but there's another 20% of the book before the abrupt ending. During that last section of the book, the plot consists of the main character being sad and exposition being told to the reader, none of which is relevant yet. As a result, the novel as a whole feels unfinished, given the abrupt ending, or it feels like the author picked a bad point to end the story. An earlier ending would've given the novel a great cliffhanger, and a later ending would've concluded part of the story very well. Unfortunately, neither happened to the ending is just kind of "blah".

I found the magic elements, including Celtic folklore elements and the fae, to be very interesting. The magic added a sense of mystery and intrigue to the story. The magic didn't just involve Celtic folklore but also Druid customs and a few others. It also fit very well with the setting of the medieval Scottish highlands. The magic and the setting gave the story an overall eerie feel and I appreciated how much effort went into crafting both to fit together so well.

I'm somewhat torn on how I feel about the writing in this novel. On one hand, the author did a good job in general with the prose. For the most part, it didn't feel too flowery and did a good job of giving the reader enough information without going overboard. There were some scenes though, mostly romantic and sexual scenes, where the writing felt completely different. It was purple prose and reading those sections felt tiring. The author also didn't do the best job of "connecting the dots" when crafting the story. Events happen, but sometimes it feels like nothing has occurred to cause them to happen or no one in the story questions why they've happened.

In my opinion, the author didn't know what kind of retelling/origin story she wanted this to be. At times, it feels like the author is leaning heavily into the fact that the main character and narrator is the future Lady Macbeth and puts in details to make that clear. At other times, the characterization is meant to be a complete departure, so that Gruoch's "fall" feels that much more heart-breaking when it occurs later in the series. Since it keeps switching back and forth, the expectations are neither completely subverted or completely adhered to and it feels inconsistent.

Highland Raven was kind of a disappointment for me. The setting and the magic were great, and I liked the majority of the plot. The ending felt abrupt, however. The main character came off as a bit too perfect and unrelatable and the writing was hit or miss. This book was trying to do too many things at once and as a result, none were done very successfully. Maybe my expectations for this book were higher than they should've been, but I doubt I'll read the next book in the series.

Rating: 2.25 Stars

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