Despite owning a legitimate stack of Jonathan Janz novels, I had yet to read him prior to The Raven (with the exception of an old short story he did early on in his career). This one was receiving a lot of early buzz, which led me to requesting an ARC for review before they were even ready. As the months passed, more excitement built around the novel, and now I know why - Janz has created a wonderfully diverse (yet familiar) world of monsters here. Its post-apocalyptic setting not only screams dark fantasy, it provides a vivid backdrop that (surprisingly) brought to mind The Lord of the Rings.