{"id":3711,"date":"2015-01-28T14:49:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T18:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=3711"},"modified":"2015-01-28T14:55:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T18:55:09","slug":"book-review-gabriel-finley-and-the-ravens-riddle-by-george-hagen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-gabriel-finley-and-the-ravens-riddle-by-george-hagen\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle<\/a><\/em> by George Hagen<\/p>\n

Schwartz & Wade, 2014<\/p>\n

ISBN-13:\u00a0978-0385371032<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio download<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once humans and ravens were friends, and then one day a desperate raven, told he could achieve immortality by eating human flesh, betrayed a human friend and transformed into a murderous valraven, an immortal bird with an insatiable appetite for gore, but otherwise identical to ordinary ravens.\u00a0 Unable to tell the difference, human\/raven relationships dissolved.\u00a0 Now, the only way to tell the difference between an ordinary raven and a valraven is by asking a riddle.<\/p>\n

This is the background of Gabriel Finley\u2019s story.\u00a0 Gabriel\u2019s parents have both mysteriously disappeared, leaving with his loving but distracted Aunt Jaz, and a lot of unanswered questions. \u00a0When his father\u2019s childhood diary appears, Gabriel begins to discover answers to some of those questions. The desire of the valravens for immortality has tainted his family, which has always had a special relationship with ravens. It is up to Gabriel, Paladin (his new raven friend), and a motley group of companions, to save Gabriel\u2019s father and the world.<\/p>\n

The journey Gabriel must take requires all of his wits, for the only way a raven or his companion can be identified as trustworthy is by solving riddles. And there are obstacles in the way\u2014runaway writing desks, thieves, bullies, owls, and tyrannical houseguests. Gabriel\u2019s father taught him to love riddles, though, so he has a fighting chance.<\/p>\n

There is so much that feels familiar about Gabriel Finley and the Raven\u2019s Riddle<\/em>.\u00a0 The boy who leaves home on a quest to find a parent and save the world; travels through a strange, underground world; animal companions; solving puzzles and riddles; selflessness that saves the day. All these are familiar tropes in a children\u2019s fantasy adventure story, and at times certain aspects reminded me of other books I\u2019ve read: Gregor the Overlander<\/em> also includes an underground quest to save his father, and animal companions; Chasing Vermeer<\/em> takes place in a modern school setting, with puzzles and riddles a major part of the story; A Wrinkle in Time<\/em> depends on selflessness and love to save the day. None of those books are really like Gabriel Finley and the Raven\u2019s Riddle<\/em>, though; instead, Hagen has successfully taken the familiar and made it new, giving us a fresh take. Children aged 9-12 and Harry Potter<\/em>\u00a0readers looking for their next fix won\u2019t want to put down this Gothic-touched, magical, contemporary fantasy. Highly recommended.
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\nContains: Some gore, violence
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\nReviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen Schwartz & Wade, 2014 ISBN-13:\u00a0978-0385371032 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio download   Once humans and ravens were friends, and then one day a desperate raven, told he could achieve immortality by eating human flesh, betrayed a human friend and transformed into a murderous valraven, an<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[129,34,2190,2386,2387,1508,2388,11,1217],"class_list":["post-3711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-reviews","tag-childrens-books","tag-contemporary-fantasy","tag-gabriel-finley-and-the-ravens-riddle","tag-george-hagen","tag-harry-potter","tag-ravens","tag-readers-advisory","tag-scary-books-for-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3714,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711\/revisions\/3714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}