Received arc from Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for honest read and review.
Second book in series centering around Vaelin and Sherin who are fighting the Darkblade, who sees himself as a god.
Brilliant conclusion to this 2 book series.Loved it. Vaelin is such a hero even if his song has changed.And Mr Ryan keeps getting better and better.
Thoroughly recommend this one.

I loved the first book in this series and liked this one.
It's entertaining and engrossing even if the action is lacking in some parts.
The world building and the character development are as good as they were in the first novel and the plot flows.
I assume there will be other books in this series, this one is recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really loved The Waking Fire and Blood Song but I just couldn’t get into this one. I think it’s probably me and will try again in future. There’s nothing especially wrong with the book as far as I could see from twenty percent of it I read, but it just wasn’t holding my attention.

All the stars for Vaelin and this is yet another action packed book that solves the cliffhanger of 'The Wolf's call'.
Felt like there is room for a couple of more books in this world created by Anthony Ryan

My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
An absolute quality read the Author is a expert of this type of book, absorbing clever engaging intriguing and imaginative. Superb characters and some of the most gruesome action scenes since the last book I read by this Author, and there are plenty of them. This is the second book, and hopefully there are more to come, but would work as a standalone story.
A master at work completely and utterly recommended.

If the first book in this series ("The Wolf's Call") had everything I wanted from a fantasy, then "The Black Song" has all of that and a little bit more. I love Anthony Ryan's writing, and the ability of this author to pull you into a tale is first class. We will have more from Vaelin and Co? I hope so! This world and the characters are too good to let them end here...
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The black song is the second and final book in the Raven's Blade series. Do not read this book until you have finished book 1, "The Wolf's call". I'm going to mention a few things about book 1 in this review. Stop reading if you have not read book 1.

Whilst I didn't love book 1, I did like it and enjoyed reading it. Having read the Amazon description of book 2, I knew Vaelin would get his song back. I think it spoiled "The Wolf's call" for me. I kept expecting to find out what happened yet had to keep waiting till Vaelin drank Ahm Lin's blood to regain power. Vaelin's journey to the west, the venerable kingdom, iron steppe and the Stahlhast were a delight to read. The siege at Keshin-Kho and it's eventual fall set a dramatic scene for "The Black song."

Once again, this book is a return to form for Anthony Ryan. After the disappointing book 2/3 in the Raven's Shadow trilogy, it's a pleasure to see this book remains focused on the story of Vaelin. We follow a running retreat from the Steel Horde as Kehlbrand grows increasingly powerful, insane and isolated. Vaelin has his blood song back; however, it's far different from the partnership he used to have. His new bloodsong is more a devil than an angel, forcing our hero into acts that cause him to question if he is a hero anymore.

As our protagonist flees south, we finally learn something about the Temple of Spears. I say something instead of more since we're left with as many new questions as questions answered. It's fascinating to expand the magic system, leaving options to develop further and grow the mythology. What lies beyond after death? What are the wolf and the tiger?

Throughout the book, we see far more action and adventure. Constant battles and wars after book 1 established the plot. Whilst the book focuses on Vaelin, we are lucky enough to see the other characters grow.
Nortah, Ellese, Luralyn and Sho Tsai continue to grow. Their characters and many others become richer and more vivid, personalities and motivations fleshed out. They become more real.

Vaelin's struggle with his new bloodsong whilst fighting a seemingly impossible war is the real star though. There was a point in the book when I thought it might end in a Mulan fashion. Remembering the maps, I realised there was more to the plot and figured out the rest of the story around a third of the way into the story. Despite this, I really enjoyed reading the book, a credit to how well Anthony Ryan can write.

The book has three parts, with Luralyn's account introducing each part. Through this all, there are a few side story that adds to the pleasure. Obvar, in particular, makes an excellent foil to the protagonist. We are treated to a story set to a nice pace. No section seems too long though some can seem short as the speed is relatively rapid. The action-packed book spans a continent, multiple great battles, magic, possible gods, mysterious powers, pirates and philosophy.

The story treats us with a thrilling conclusion. The tale of Kehlbrand, part of the story of the Wolf and the Tiger ends satisfyingly. It also leaves open an obvious path into another series about Vaelin. This is a great book; anyone who liked book one will love book two. I am happy to recommend you buy this book.

The Black Song is a fitting conclusion to the Raven’s Blade duology. It wraps up the story in a suitably epic and violent manner, yet it leaves the story open enough for other books to be written in the world.

The story picks up from the end of The Wolf’s Call with the fight against Kehlbrand, The Darkblade, continuing. The opening narration to each part changes from Luralyn to Obvar, which shakes things up a little but his narration is very interesting to read. The rest of the novel is told from Vaelin’s perspective which is good since he’s the best character. Tower Lord and Queen of Fire were less interesting because the POVs were spread out so much and you didn’t get to spend so much time with Vaelin so, thankfully, Raven’s Blade has rectified this issue.

The story is very well written and I often found myself getting lost in the narrative. The fight scenes are brutal, just as you would expect from this series, and there is a lot of death. I very much enjoyed reading it.
And the characters, can’t not mention them. I’ve already stated how much I love Vaelin but the rest of the characters work really well. I especially like that the duology reintroduced Sherin since that thread was very much left untied in the first trilogy.

Everything in the novel just works really well together and if Ryan writes more books set in this world, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick them up. I was really disappointed by how The Raven’s Shadow turned out, especially since Blood Song was so good but The Raven’s Blade duology has renewed my faith in this overall series and the world it is set in.