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The Raven Tower
Ann Leckie
2019 · Fantasy
How it reads
The Raven Tower is fantasy (mythic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are power and politics, faith and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something melancholy
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something funny or hopeful
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- fictional world
- Setting: time
- timeless or multiple
- Mood / feeling
- melancholy
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- power and politics, faith, identity
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The Winged HistoriesSofia SamatarShares: fantasy, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- The Slow Regard of Silent ThingsPatrick RothfussShares: fantasy, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The BindingBridget CollinsShares: fantasy, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- AsunderKerstin HallShares: fantasy, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, ambiguous ending
The Forgotten Beasts of EldPatricia A. McKillipShares: fantasy, heavy and literary tone, mythic fantasy, slow burnThe Goblin EmperorKatherine AddisonShares: fantasy, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, set in an invented world
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