The gods will play their games

I read The Raven Scholar in January and it was my first 5-star book of the year. It was so good, I have doubts anything will top it for the rest of the year - though I'd love to have a bunch more as good to vie for top spot. This has everything; a deadly competition for the throne, political and court intrigue, dangerous gods interfering in the lives of mortals, a murder mystery and all set in a wonderfully realized fantasy world.

Neema Kraa is a Raven Scholar who has risen in the court of Bersun the Brusque. As his 24 year reign is coming to an end, Bersun is overseeing a competion to find his successor from among the seven houses. When the representative of the Raven is murdered Neema is not only assigned to investigate the death, but forced to take their place in the imperial contest. Facing competitors who have trained for years and knowing she doesn't have much support anywhere else, Neema has to put all her wits to work to not only solve the mystery but survive the competition. As she delves deeper, she finds that there are much larger forces at work and world-changing conspiracies at play.

I'm stopping there with my description as I want you to be as wonderfully surprised as I was. The story kept branching out and in less sure hands would have become a muddled mess. Not so with Hodgson. Each thread and character has a place in the wider story-arc and the author seeds them into the narrative exactly when and where they're needed. Masterfully done. I predict this will be a big one this year, so here's your chance to get on board early.