I'll be honest, when I read the premise of Sisters of the Raven I figured 'oh great, a men-are-evil-only-women-are-good kind of story'. Being a guy, I'm not really into that. It's not that men can't be evil and women can't be good, but when it's driven by a male-bashing feminazi agenda, I can't really get into it. Well, I had time to kill.

I couldn't put the freakin' book down!

This is a book masterfully plotted, filled with great characters, gut-tightening suspense and extremely clean and tight writing. In other words, this is pretty much a perfect book. Now, it's not a perfect book as there are plot threads left dangling--though one hopes this might lead to sequel. It is, however, as near to a perfect book as one can expect, and much more complete and entertaining in one volume than many books that span multiple such volumes.

This is the story of magic fading from the men of a decidedly, militantly patriarchal society and growing in the women of the same society, who are second class (or not even considered to be) citizens. The men whose power fades become bitter, and some women become victims to this bitterness. The king of the land is a peacock that no one really takes seriously, and the magic spells that usually bring the rain to the desert kingdoms have proved fruitless.

As I mentioned above, this could be an excuse for male-bashing, for showing how pig-headed and violent men can be. This society, though, is not so far from reality, and is not as harsh as some (the Taliban come to mind, though there are other areas in the world in which such societies still exist). In the pre-industrial world, this type of female repression was the norm rather than the exception.

Ms. Hambly does not attack men any more than she beatifies women. Some of the male characters are irretrievably evil, some are morally upright, but most walk that same line many of us do between the ethical and the damnable. And most of the women balance on that line as well. Those who are evil have understandable and human (or otherwise) motivations for the acts that are reprehensible. This is not a diatribe but a socially conscious story, with believable, well-rounded characters.

The plot is fantastic (in the sense of fantasy as well as excellent), complex and suspenseful. There are nail-biting moments interspersed with moments of awe and rounded out with glimpses of the prosaic. This novel begs a second read after revealing the truth of the situation. Clues are dropped, but I was too caught up in the story to worry about figuring it out. I knew it would all come together at the end. I knew the author wouldn't leave me hanging.

The characters who populate this book became as real to me as the guy next door I talk to as we wait for the elevator every morning. Sure, I don't know everything there is to know about him, but I know him, and he's real to me. These characters had everything a real person has. Believable, they grabbed my sympathy and support with little effort. They wrapped the book around me and bound me to it so tightly I almost drained a flashlight battery while reading the last half in a tent while my wife and I were camping.

This book has everything I love about fantasy fiction. I can't recommend it enough. Granted, if you just want sword-swinging, blood flowing, evil overlord and prophecy, look elsewhere. If you want tight, nigh-perfect prose, a gripping, wrenching plot and characters that walk off the page and sit down beside you at dinner, buy this book.

I pray that someday I can write fantasy fiction half as well as Barbara Hambly.