Book Review

The Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife

B

Genre: Nonfiction

The best thing about The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London is that it makes you want to read more. This memoir by Christopher Skaife, Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London, details Skaife’s day-to-day life with the ravens of the Tower. It’s a serious responsibility, since legend states that if the ravens abandon the Tower, then the kingdom will fall.

Skaife’s narration is casual and conversational. It’s science and history-lite, meaning there’s plenty here to inform and entertain but not a lot of intense detail. The bibliography lists an abundance of books about ravens and about British history, should the book lead you to want to read more. Skaife covers the origin of the legends about the ravens, some basics about the Tower, and his day-to-day schedule, as well as how in his role as Ravenmaster he changed some previous practices in hopes of keeping the birds as wild as possible.

Skaife also talks about his military career and how this led to him becoming a Yeoman Warder. It’s interesting to see how he uses a lifetime of training in precision, tidiness, and observation to ensure that the ravens have good care and a stable routine, and how he uses other military training to manage, if not outwit, foxes, tourists, and the ravens themselves who love chaos and order in equal measure. Here are the rules he lives by, and as a parent and former preschool teacher I noticed that they are strikingly similar to the rules I try to follow in working with young children (with the possible exception of #2):

DO NOT hurry the ravens.
DO NOT attempt to change the pecking order.
DO NOT try to cut corners.
DO remain calm at all times.
DO allow the ravens to follow the same routine every day.
Do prepare for chaos if you break any of the above rules.

Ravens are incredibly intelligent and Skaife details their many escapades, which include stealing entire cans of Pringles and removing the lids, exploring the Tower when they are supposed to be in their nighttime enclosures, pecking cameramen, and cursing (in English) at schoolchildren (one of several reasons that Skaife does NOT allow his aides to teach the ravens to talk!). It’s a funny and sometimes sad book, and sometimes lyrical:

Even the humble raven contains within its blackness a whole spectrum, a whole rainbow, a chord of black. The black can be sooty, soily, glazed, cindery, blackboard black, kohl black, coal black, noir, schwarz, nero. I don’t know how many words and phrases there are to describe black – slate black, cast-iron black, jet black, flat-screen TV black, ink black, burnt black, liturgical black, hell black – but the raven’s black is as various and as dense as there are meanings and values attached to the very idea of black.

I feel that this book earns a nice, solid B because it’s approachable, entertaining, and lightly informative. However, for me the biggest plus of the book is that it sparked my curiosity. Having spent the last year or so reading a lot about cephalopods (octopus, nautilus, squid, cuttlefish) perhaps it’s time to move on to corvids (crows, ravens, magpies). After all, corvids are ubiquitous in romance and fantasy. The Smart Bitches have very much enjoyed the Call of Crows series by Shelly Laurenston (The Unleashing, The Unyielding, the Undoing). Meanwhile I’m a huge fan of the Shadow series, a Western fantasy series by Lila Bowen (Wake of Vultures, Conspiracy of Ravens, Malice of Crows, Season of Hawks).

What other raven and crow themed books do you recommend? Is there a Yeoman Warder of the corvids in romance?

This book is available from:
  • Available at Amazon
  • Order this book from apple books

  • Order this book from Barnes & Noble
  • Order this book from Kobo
  • Order this book from Google Play

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!

The Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife

View Book Info Page

Add Your Comment →

  1. Elva says:

    Master of Crows by Grace Draven is a great romantic fantasy, and the Others series by Anne Bishop has shape-shifting crows (Crows that shift to human – not the other way round). I actually live in a place that has a lot of Ravens (no crows) – and they are deeply woven into our mythology and culture. Very smart birds and they seem to have a sense of humor too! I am very fond of them.

  2. HeatherT says:

    I loved The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie — just published this month!

  3. Vivi12 says:

    A Queen From the North by Erin McRae and Rachel Maltese features the royal ravens as magical creatures who’s activities have significance, but I didn’t realize it was based in reality. The book is set in an England in which the War of the Roses wasn’t resolved and there’s magic, and is really atmospheric, recommended.

  4. EJ says:

    Not books about Ravens specifically, but I learned about the Tower Ravens from the Lady Julia Grey mysteries. She ends up with one as a pet, and hers definitely cusses.

  5. Heather M says:

    For corvids in romance, I gotta shout out KJ Charles’ Charm of Magpies books which include, among other things, some very interesting magpie tattoos.

  6. Kris Bock says:

    Ravens are remarkable. When they chatter, you can almost believe that if you listen hard enough, you’ll start to understand.

  7. Reetta R says:

    Thank you for the fascinating review. The book sounds really interesting. I don’t have any other raven recommendations but I can add a random bit of trivia.

    Ancient Romans believed that ravens crawed and said word “cras” which means tomorrow. Author Ovid tells the origin of this thus: God Apollo sent raven to bring him water for a ritual but he got distracted by figs that weren’t ripe yet. He waited for them to be edible and was very late. Then he tried to make excuses but Apollo knew he was lying. As a result, the raven was forbidden from drinking until the fig trees bloom in the spring and that’s why their voices are so harsh.

  8. Geralynn Ross says:

    In Norah Roberts Year One ,and Of Blood and Bone, Cross are a symbols and literal sign of Evil.

  9. roserita says:

    There is a sub-series in Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series featuring a pair of girls, Nan and Sarah. In the first Nan-and-Sarah book, “The wizard of London”, Sarah’s missionary parents send her an African grey parrot, and Nan is adopted by one of the Tower ravens. The birds are powerful in their own right. Nan/Neville and Sarah/Grey also appear in “Home from the sea”, and a couple of short stories. Lately they seem to have taken over the whole Elemental Masters series, since the last three have featured them solving mysteries with Sherlock Holmes: “A study in sable”, “A scandal in Battersea”, and “The bartered brides.”

  10. roserita says:

    I almost forgot. In case anyone is bummed that the “The Call of Crows” is a finished trilogy, she actually created the Crows in a earlier book called “The Gathering”. It’s also the start of a trilogy/series, but she abandoned it, moved the action to California, and rebooted the series as “Call of Crows”. Neecy, the heroine of “The Gathering” does have a cameo in “The Undoing”.

  11. Ashley M. says:

    It’s fantasy YA, but Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology is fabulous and also (as you may be able to tell from the title) does have references to crows.

  12. Heather says:

    The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

  13. KateB says:

    I really enjoyed THE RAVENMASTER. I follow the author on Twitter and he is always posting videos and pics of the birds. It’s delightful!

    I read AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS by Margaret Rogerson two years ago and liked it. The heroine is a painter, the hero a faerie prince.

  14. Kareni says:

    What a fun review. Thank you, Carrie! My first thought was Anne Bishop’s the Others series which has already been mentioned.

  15. QOTU says:

    Not romance, but have romance:
    The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. Book 1, the Raven Boys opens with the intriguing premise of a seer meeting the boy who she foretold killing through her kiss. YA fantasy
    Ravens play a small part only

    Set in the tower: mystery series Daisy Dalrymple (set in 1920s, historical fans) #16, the Boody Tower by Carola Dunn. I think You can read as a standalone without too much trouble.

  16. ClaireC says:

    Not romance, but I know Charles deLint has a pair of characters called the Crow Girls that pop up in many of his Newford books.

    I also second the rec for Master of Crows by Grace Draven, and add that there are several novella-length sequels.

    And I also recommend the documentary “Beak and Brain” on Netflix, all about the intelligence of the New Caledonian crow and the New Zealand kea. Adorable AND informative!

  17. Susan says:

    Maybe a little bit of a stretch, but I very much enjoyed Patricia Briggs’s Raven duology, Raven’s Shadow and Raven’s Strike. I think those books, along with the Hurog duology, don’t get enough book love.

    And I’m glad Lady Julia’s raven was mentioned above.

  18. Denisetwin says:

    Anne Bishops Other Series features Crows, second book title is Murder of Crows although the crows are in all the books.

  19. chacha1 says:

    Thanks for featuring this book, had never heard of it and definitely want to read it. That paragraph on ‘black’ is wonderful.

  20. Rachel says:

    Master of Crows by Grace Draven and is amazing and everyone should go read it.

  21. QOTU says:

    Okay, totally forgot about Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice / Daughter of the Lioness duology which has a crow that turns into a man. More YA, but he features in romantic subplot.

  22. Taylor says:

    Another vote for the magpie lord series. My favorite Charles’ books, by a lot!

  23. Taylor says:

    Another vote for the magpie lord series. My favorite Charles’ books, by a lot!

  24. Katherine says:

    Magpie by Kim Dare had magpie and raven shifters as the main characters.

  25. Nicolette says:

    Not romance at all, but I learnt about the Tower of London’s crows from Paddington Bear. The crows were the thing I wanted to see most when I was taken to London, in an overseas family trip, as an 11 year old.

Add Your Comment

Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

↑ Back to Top