This novel promises to follow a young woman, Jenna, who witnessed the traumatic death of her mother on a lone forest road as a teenager, when evil comes after her once more. This description piqued my interesting and I was excited to pick it up. I also really enjoyed the first chapter and the dread it built.
However, this novel suffers for two reasons: It is too long and the summary does not even hint at a major change in plot at around the 25% mark of the book. As some other reviews have mentioned and which I wish I had read before requesting a review copy of this book, the summary could use some rewording to let readers know which direction the story will go. While the first chapter is really well written and delivers the dread I was hoping for, the story soon switches to that of a pregnant woman kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend and locked up with intention of forcing her to deliver his baby (which is not something I would have picked up had I known as it is not the type of story I enjoy). While it does ultimately tie together with the overall supernatural plot of the story, it was not what I was expecting at all and so definitely negatively influenced my enjoyment of the book.
When the first escape attempt immediately starts after she gets kidnapped, it was clear that one was doomed from the beginning and it was really interesting to read. However, due to the sheer quantity of running away and hiding and running and hiding (and on and on and on) it soon became too much and felt repetitive and tiring. From around 30% to 60% of the story I found myself very bored, as most of it was focused on (a variety of) escapes and particularly the second escape attempt dragged out even longer due to constant POV switches. Despite the many changes in scenery the actions of the villains as well as Jenna’s actions are soon repetitive as well. In the last quarter of the book my attention was piqued once more, as finally the lore was being revealed and we learned more about what exactly was going on and why all these things are happening to Jenna specifically. While I found that part interesting again, at that point unfortunately it was not enough to raise my opinion of this book higher.
I found the heavy inclusion of British vernacular intriguing and enjoyed reading the dialogue. I also liked the short flashbacks to the Templar’s which show which past events caused all this. In general, I think this could have been a fascinating horror story if it was shortened and the description revealed what can actually be expected of the story. All in all, I cannot give this story more than 2 stars.

Tw: slight fatphobia, death of parent, violence and injury, forced confinement, kidnapping, imprisonment, threats of rape, impregnation through deception (hole in condom), forced birth, threats of forced medical impregnation, gun violence, murder, forced institutionalization, graphic attempted suicide, homophobia, (past) bullying, violence, burning alive

This book gave me the full blown CREEPS!!!!

Jenna's mother disappeared when Jenna was a teen and she knows what she heard.... That night never left Jenna.

Present day, Jenna is a mess. She is pregnant with a baby she doesn't want but as she goes to the clinic she is kidnapped!

Things are not what it seems and there is something lurking that is not human..

The creature is CHILLING!! Its basically a horror/thriller twisty ride that you can feel breathing down your neck!

It could have been a bit shorter. That's my only issue but I love the writing style and I was fully absorbed into this book!

4.5 stars

This is the second book i have read from the author Daniel Church and once again i really enjoyed The Ravening. The author has very good talent for indulging the readers with his description and portrayal of horror elements. Filled with action, horror and suspense i went into the book anticipating said genres and i liked it a lot.

The characters were written really well, i liked Jenna she was a tough girl. Each of the other characters had all different personalities so it was easy to feel for them and feel the characters developments. We also learn about Jenna's past which i found really intriguing and was constantly wondering what was going on which is something i really love when reading horror books and this one definitely had all the right elements and is a eye catching read. The overall plot and development as the book goes on is dark and engaging and will keep you turning the page to the very end.

A true horror but claustrophobic read that i would recommend to others to read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Angry Robot for the copy of this arc in exchange of my full honest review.

Sadly I am dnfing the Ravening. DNF @ 25% It started so good, Iwas expecting a five star horror read but this is not what's being promoted. I also find it repetitive and uninterested. Took me a long time to come this far and I'm not even slightly curious about what is happening. I have to accept that this is not for me. I don't want to see the word lovey for a long time.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with this book. The story dragged on too much for me as of the second half of the book - I was just not as captivated by it as I would've liked to be.

Loved this book! Loved the plot and it kept me hooked highly recommended. Was a quick read for me and hoping to read more from this author.

Which is scarier? Finding a monster in the kitchen or instead a strange person staring at you? Horror is about the reaction to the situation and a human acting menacingly can be even scarier as it feels as if the rules of our society are being broken. In Daniel Church’s action-packed horror tale The Ravening we swerve between the horrors of the human and the demonic to create something with a return to that unusual sub-genre the occult thriller. It’s a tricky one to talk about but was a fun ride!

At fifteen Jenna and her mother are travelling on the south coast to meet up with her father to start a holiday. But their car breaks down and when Jenna’s mother goes to try and fix the engine something horrific comes from the darkness and leaves Jenna traumatised in her seat, the car damaged, and her mother is never seen again. Many years later Jenna is a very closed off person rarely sharing her past and rarely ever making a connection. After a particularly difficult relationship with a controlling upper class boyfriend Jenna has started a new happier relationship with Holly. Possibly the first person that Jenna has ever felt comfortable with but Jenna is shocked to discover that she is pregnant and really does not want to become a mother. Before anything can be done though Jenna finds herself kidnapped and held prisoner. Many now want Jenna to serve their own agendas and the monsters from her past are lurking in the shadows.

This is very much a book full of reveals swerving in directions that I was not quite expecting. The opening chapter with young Jenna and dangers in the woods suggests we are in the folk horror genre that is very common at the moment but soon we are back in gritty Manchester and the villains appearing next are very human. We seem to switch genres into human psychological horror with Jenna being held prisoner and this gets into quite dark territory on issues of consent and woman’s right to choose. In many ways these sections hark back to the horror stories and films of the 1970s and 1980s where people would find themselves under the spell of people who want control for various agendas. Horror can have a vein of social commentary and puts you into the horror of feeling oppressed and out of control. Jenna is very clear what she wants, and her captors refuse to see her as a human being. There is no nuance here and actually that feels right to show us the stark lack of control a woman can experience even when your captors are ever so polite and posh. Church makes it quite stark and brutal and making this is all about money and power ensures it feels very tense.

But simmering alongside this is that early mystery of Jenna’s mother and we move back and forth into supernatural territory and even the mysterious world of dreams and nightmares. Jenna has to battle enemies in both our world and the magical plains and there are moments of racing action with moments of hope being quickly dashed which raises question of can the ultra-loner Jenna actually trust anyone. The democ entity we face here is vividly disturbing and has a great name I will let you discover but it feels a dangerous presence whenever it appears. This is why this feels more the realm of the occult tale that was prominent in the 1950-70s where normal people suddenly find in villages and country estates with strange powerful people making very bad demonic bargains. Here this feels a 21dst century take on the idea with a bisexual heroine rather than lantern jawed hero and a damsel in distress taking the lead roles. We still have lots of guns appearing and weird changing dreamscapes that very accurately bring to life parts of the Northwest (a refreshing take on the usual southern country estates the old genre takes focused on - Surrey really was quite popular back then)

There are a few things that I wished had got expanded upon. Jenna finds herself up against several villains, but they often feel a little shallow. Although there is a great and unusual sequence where Jenna calls one out about their agenda being so small and empty which was very refreshing. Villains who can banter are fun but sometimes I really wanted to know a little bit more about how they had got here. The other issue is the book has a coda that for me feels a little too fast to be effective and needed a few more pages to breathe and make us take stock of what’s been going on before the action resumed.

Despite that this was incredibly readable, and I sped through it wanting to know what happened next in one night. Church is skilled at getting action focused plots in a recognisable Britain that feels like it is in the 2020s even if it respects past traditions and that the final outcome never feels very predictable means I’m quite engaged. Highly recommended for horror fans.

The Ravening is a horror/thriller, and while aspects of both genres were present throughout, it felt less like a mix than a 50/50 split. The first half of the book was heavy thriller, with an adult Jenna trying to escape a house where she is being held against her will for nefarious reasons, then the horror really amped up in the second half as Jenna fought an ancient evil for control of her body (and not in the way you might be thinking). It was a pretty cool shift from “Oh no, the bad guys are these people!” to “Oh dear god, this is also terrifying in a crazy supernatural way!”

As a main character, Jenna felt a bit one-note. She has (with good reason!) a very hard time trusting people and opening herself up to love, and while I’d expect that to be mentioned a fair bit, it’s really the only deep thing we learn about her. The story is told in third person from her POV and she has a lot of conversations with her inner voice, which, when it responds, calls her ‘babe,’ and it drove me crazy. A ‘babe’ here and there would have been okay, but almost every time her inner voice said anything, it threw a ‘babe’ in there. I think it’s because Jenna sometimes thought the inner voice sounded like her girlfriend, Holly, who calls her ‘babe,’ but even so, it was just too much. Otherwise, Jenna was easy to sympathize with and root for, and I formed some pretty strong feelings for a couple other characters too. Like big time hatred! But I was supposed to hate the people I hated, so it was a good hatred.

The story is interesting with a unique premise. I’ve never come across anything like it and I enjoyed it. I want to talk about some specific bits but when I consider the blurb, I feel like anything I say could be a spoiler. There were some excerpts from old texts inserted between chapters throughout the book that gave vague information about the ancient evil, allowing the reader to piece things together, but as soon as you read the final excerpt, everything is explained by someone anyway. We’re given the same explanation, but less vague, as if the author doesn’t trust the reader to have figured it out. So the excerpts feel sort of purposeless. My favorite part of the book was the dreamlike sequences that reminded me a lot of some fantasy I’ve read and I think horror fans who are also fantasy readers would enjoy those scenes as much as I did. I wasn’t expecting such a strong fantasy feel but I liked it!

This was definitely a dark story about a girl, Jenna who at 15 sees the disappearance of her mother and then 15 years later she is still not over her traumatic experience. I have to say there was parts of this story I definitely did not expect based on the synopsis, but it was still a good horror story. I did read this relatively fast only to see what was going to happen next. It was interesting and dark.

The Ravening had the potential to deliver a gripping horror narrative but, unfortunately, fell short of expectations. While the premise of supernatural elements mixed with Templar lore intrigued me, the execution felt tedious and uneven. The story quickly became repetitive, weighed down by excessive wordiness and infodumps that detracted from the tension and pacing.

The plot itself struggled to maintain plausibility, with key events and characters feeling unrealistic and unconvincing. This made it difficult to immerse myself in the story, and the suspension of disbelief required felt insurmountable. What should have been chilling or dramatic moments were often undercut by clumsy plotting and strained believability.

Furthermore, the novel touches on deeply sensitive themes such as miscarriage, rape, forced pregnancy, and child killings. These topics, which require careful handling, were approached too lightly, missing the nuance and gravity they deserved. The lack of thoughtful exploration of these issues diminished their emotional impact and left me feeling disconnected from the narrative.

While there were flashes of clever ideas and moments of tension, The Ravening ultimately failed to come together as a cohesive, engaging story. For those familiar with the author's previous works, this novel may be a disappointment.

I was unpleasantly surprised by "The Ravening". I loved the author's previous works, and though I did realize the comparison to Stephen Graham Jones was a bit of an hyperbole, I expected something equally well-written and riveting as Church's other books. It was not to be. I found the story repetitive, tediously wordy, with several unnecessary infodumps. The plot felt totally unrealistic and unconvincing, and the suspension of disbelief required proved too much for me. I did finish the book, but it took me a long while. The story also touched too glibly on such controversial themes as miscarriage, rape, forced pregnancy, baby and child killings, and abortion. Even a debut novel would have taken some time to write thoughfully about them, put them into perspective, and tighten everything up. I'm unsure what happened but I cannot recommend this book.

I want to start by saying I think I went into reading The Ravening with too high of expectations. I saw the comparison to Stephen Graham Jones (who is a horror god, in my humble opinion) and set the bar too high for how good this book should be. 

This is not to say that I hate the book. I don’t. I think Church had very clever and unique ideas with his story. I’m always a sucker for anything related to Templars and the supernatural and subverting the “damsel-in-distress” stereotype. Let me tell you, Jenna takes no shit from anyone and it is wonderful to see. 

The story begins, after a brief prologue about a Templar battle and one Templar who may have mysteriously disappeared, with Jenna and her mother being lost in the woods. The scene is dark, foreboding, and eerie. It’s everything you want in a horror novel. Needless to say, Jenna’s experience in the woods is traumatizing. So traumatizing in fact, that she carries it with her until we see her again as an adult. It’s what made her strive to never be defenseless again and she certainly succeeds at that. Jenna seems to have finally found happiness in her new girlfriend Holly, at least until her ex-boyfriend kidnaps her and all hell breaks loose. Jenna has to fight against horrible acts committed by humans but also the pursuit of the supernatural being that has haunted her since that fatal night in the woods from her childhood. All Jenna wants is a happy ending with Holly and just when it seems like it’s finally within her grasp, it’s taken away again. Church very kindly leaves readers with a neatly wrapped-up ending, which isn’t always something you get from a horror novel. It was certainly a pleasant surprise and was greatly appreciated. 

And now we get to my “okay so…” While I do think Church’s writing style is riveting and I think his characters in The Ravening are all unique and written well, I was not fond of Jenna. Now that’s not always a bad thing but with Jenna's particular plight, it made it hard for me to get into the story. Jenna had a very traumatic life, trauma that she never addressed nor tried to seek help for so it's understandable that she would be as angry and untrustworthy as she is. Even though her behavior and the reasons for it are understandable and logical, it still wasn't easy to like her. I did warm up to her a little at the end which she’d softened up a bit but I don’t think I can say that I ever liked her. 

I loved the Templars, I loved Jenna’s Bonewalker, and I loved the reason why everyone was after Jenna. But I don’t feel like they flowed together well. Church drew connections. He set up hints and plot points but when the time came for the big reveals, they felt…flat to me. Again, I admit this could be because I had gone in with such high expectations. I take full responsibility for that. 

For this particular book, I can't say I wouldn't recommend it, because I do know people who would genuinely enjoy it. I don't think you should steer clear of The Ravening. It has really interesting ideas and not the generic route you usually see when you think of when you mix Templars and the supernatural. Truthfully, I'm considering giving it another chance to see if my opinion changes.

This sadly was a DNF for me at about 25% in. In the beginning it grabs your attention and has eerie vibes to it but that quickly fades and the story becomes a little too drawn out and boring. I lost interest and I couldn’t stand the main character. Sadly this wasn’t for me…

The Ravening is a little bit The Ritual, and little bit of Handmaid's Tale.

At times very horrific and visceral, The Ravening is Jenna's story of losing her mother to something in the woods and the repercussions of it years later. The plot was so full of surprises I had no idea what would happen next. As soon as I thought "oh I've got this book figured out", woosh another twist.

I just had a bit of an issue with repetitive writing, so much "babe" and "lovey" that became tedious to read. Other than that, the writing style itself was very easy to read and especially for the first 50%, I was SEATED and ready.

I didn’t love this one quite as much as I did Daniel Church’s previous book (or indeed some of the books published under the author’s real name). The ensemble horror of The Hollows is replaced by a much tighter focus on just one character, and Church does a good job of getting into her head and explicating her past trauma, her fearfulness and resilience, and the walls she needs to break down. She’s a compelling character, and her supernatural antagonist is a memorable creation, one that you can almost smell off the page. It’s the human bad guys that let me down a little bit, as I just didn’t believe that their schemes, especially the first one, could ever work - when it was outlined, my reaction was, oh come on, and what about..... The suspension of disbelief was wobbling. Yes, I was completely on board with an ancient evil that’s twenty feet high and made of bones, but a villainous toff was just pushing it too far for me. Go figure.

Daniel Church BLEW ME AWAY with the RAVENING!

The Ravening is the latest thrilling horror adventure from Daniel Church and it is truly phenomenal. Not only is this book action-packed right from the opening chapters, but it doesn't relent until the last page. When I say that I devoured this story, I truly did. I found myself unable to put it down and it's just fantastic. Daniel Church does an amazing job (which is a reminder to read The Hollows if you haven't yet) of building suspense and building toward a magnificent conclusion that pulls all of the loose strings together.

The Ravening gives a summary description that does not EXACTLY tell what to expect in this book. However, in this case, it works WELL! The starting part of this story is full of twists and turns, which many readers are going to LOVE. There is action, heartbreak, desperation, and gore. Then it builds from there. There is no slowing of the pace for this story. It is a mad dash race to the end with everything building with generations of secrets being revealed to give some great answers to some hard-hitting questions.

All in all, this is a true masterpiece and I loved it. It has so much to offer to readers of any genre. It is character-driven, with an ending that I was desperate to know. (Seriously this ending is truly worth everything. I loved every single minute of it)!

Check this out! You won't be disappointed!

The inclusion of trigger warnings for sensitive topics such as pregnancy, kidnapping, and trauma in literature is a crucial consideration. If these themes had been clearly indicated, I would have refrained from requesting the Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC). Due to the absence of such warnings and my personal aversion to these subjects, I chose not to finish the book.

The Ravening is so good. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic and the story is a perfect example of originality.

I really wanted to like this book but I just didn't. I felt mislead by the synopsis and that is not a feeling I enjoy. It started off strong, however things quickly fell apart and I ultimately had to make the decision to DNF for my own peace of mind. This is not a decision I make often or lightly.

I will not be leaving reviews outside of netgalley.

One of the things I usually enjoy is thriller combined with woods and a great back story of some ancient creature. And this book has it all. But sadly it didn't work for me.
The first half of the book had me hooked and the traumatic back story that happened to Jenna had a payoff making her character at the beginning a bit "insufferable" but I get it. It's hard to get through trauma and of course it affects the way people behave.
It is a very atmospheric reading, creating a dark ambiance but I felt it dragged too much, even at the beginning, almost three chapters with her mother until her disappearance and that continues throughout the whole book. I believe it could have been condensed a bit.
I feel the book needed trigger warnings about pregnancy, kidnapping and trauma over all. I feel that that's not for me and if I had known about that being on the book, I wouldn't have requested it.
It is over all, very entertaining and easy to read. But it wasn't quite for me.