Review: The Crow

The Crow by Alison Croggon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The Crow is very different from the first two books of the Pellinor series. It switches completely to Hem's point of view, going back to follow him through his experiences adjusting to the School in Turbansk, coming to love the city, and realizing the impact of the advancing war with the Dark.

At first, I found it hard to switch from Maerad's perspective to Hem's. My feeling at the end of The Riddle was an urgency to continue immediately to find out what was going to happen next - only to discover I had to wait for book 4 to read anything further about Maerad! That was tough. Switching to Hem was like starting a new story - getting to know a new character from the beginning, new surroundings, new conflicts. It took me a while to switch gears, but once I did, I came to love Hem's part as well. It turns out he's more important than we all thought, and deserves a whole book to himself.

As we join Hem in Turbansk, there's a change from the travel narrative of the previous books to impending siege and war. Hem feels very much like a boy out of his element at the beginning of this book. But as the siege approaches, he is jolted out of those petty troubles and is forced to look outside himself. He is too young to be directly involved in the fighting, but he finds important roles to play in defense of the city, learning about his own gifts along the way. His growing maturity as he experiences war and siege and flight is natural and profound. I hardly recognized him at the end.

Honestly, though, Saliman is really my favorite character in this. His generosity, kindness and laughter, along with his seriousness and strength in the face of disaster make him one of the bright points of the story - and it doesn't get much brightness once things begin to fall apart. He is the solid point around which everyone moves, and he does far more than fill the role of mentor and father to Hem.

Once again, Croggon's powers of description vividly bring to life the city of Turbansk so that you wish you could reach out and take a mango from a tree in one of the gardens. She really makes you care about this beautiful city, to feel it personally that this warm, lush, vibrant home is being destroyed by such overwhelming evil forces. We witness first-hand the fear and destruction brought by the Dark, making it more immediate than the visions Maerad had. Now we are not just being told that bad things are going to happen, we feel the impact and understand the urgency of Maerad's quest in a much more personal way. And somehow Croggon is also able, in just a few words here and there, to make you feel the loss of a close friend, or the depth of the sacrifices made by those who are fighting. The story is often heartbreaking and grows darker and more depressing as the conflict rises.

Because it was difficult to get into at the beginning with the sudden switch to Hem's perspective, and because it was much darker, I'm only giving this one 4 stars. I still loved it, and love the series, but I can't say I enjoyed it as much as the first two books.



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