The Seventh Raven is a powerful retelling of a classic Grimm tale.

Robyn has never felt like he fit in with his six brothers; he was fated for something more, something . . . different. When their baby sister is born sick, their parents lament transforms the seven brothers into ravens and heals their little girl. For the first time in his life, Robyn feels like he's where he belongs. His little sister, however, feels like something is missing from their lives, and sets off to find her brothers.

This book is a good for for those who enjoy folk and fairy tales as well as stories in verse. The pictures are also gorgeous.

DNF. Couldn't get into this book, this book just wasn't for me, sadly. Thank you for approving me and I'm sorry I didn't enjoy the book.

This was a very uniquely written, retelling of The Seventh Raven. It’s set up in verse format and used a lot of rhyming. I thought it was a short, quick read but a bit repetitive.

I am always a fan of a novel written in verse! Between that and the fact that it is not that long, this is a total win for reluctant readers. The story is interesting and the pages are not intimidating.

The jumping between perspectives might be a little jarring for students who struggle with reading, but most should be able to handle this just fine.

This is a bit of a newer novel told in verse. That's right! Poetry! which if I'm being honest I have never been the biggest fan of but I liked this one because the subject matter was fun. An old fairy tale retold in several different styles of poetry. It can be repetitive because of this which makes sense as it's following the same point over and over but the lyrical aspect really kept me reading. It was creative at times and I think this would be a great book to see younger readers give a try instead of the old boring classics.
Full review to come on YouTube.

This is a story in verse. I feel like that needs to be stated up front. And this is also not a lengthy story, just under 200 pages. So because it is short and because it is in verse, it does not take all that long to read it, at least not when interested in the story.

There were times when this story just couldn’t hold my attention. Some of the chapters read almost lyrically and I found myself drawn into the words and the tale, but other chapters felt more like I was going through the motions.

I don’t know, this one definitely had its ups and downs, but I enjoyed more than I didn’t. I also liked the intentions behind thoughts and actions and then the consequences of those actions and how it rippled out to the other characters.

Because with the chapters we don’t simply follow April and Robyn, but also a bit with their parents and their other brothers, and seeing those other perspectives, and getting a sense for the feelings of others helped to grow and develop our understanding of the whole story.

And the illustrations are lovely. If I had only read the e-galley I received from NetGalley, instead of a little bit from the proof and a little from the finished copy, I might not have realized that. So many of these digital proofs are missing the illustrations or maps or other visual references in books, and in some ways that makes you miss out on some of the important information.

Anyway, overall I enjoyed this book, but I definitely wouldn’t call it my favorite novel in verse.

Children's author David Elliott astounds again with this third amazing novel in verse for young adults. The Seventh Raven is a Grimm's fairy tale retelling using numerous poetic forms which the author discusses his endnotes. The pacing and energy of the verse has a bold, dynamic, forward-marching quality that drives the drama and danger of the story. Enhanced with black and white drawings, this is a stunning novel-in-verse that I wanted to reread as soon as I had finished. Each character has a distinct unique voice and this modern retelling does not lose that dark, foreboding tone of original Grimms' tales, in which characters must live with the consequences of their impulsive, selfish or ill-informed actions. Yet the story concludes with a redemptive flutter of a happy ending.

I received this and as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for giving me access.

This was a very quick read. I wasn't much of a fan of the writing style, poetry is not my cup of tea. Going into it, I wasn't aware that I was getting myself into poetry, I thought the synopsis just had a tad bit just for kicks and giggles and we would see that in a prologue or first chapter. No, that was essentially the whole thing.

The the story was good once you got past how it reads, but it was repetitive. This would have been better served as a regular novel with all the details fleshed out.

This lyrical retelling of the Grimm fairy tale will appeal to readers who like novel in verse. I especially liked how Elliott explained in the back of the book how different characters had different verse structures, it makes you appreciate the novel that much more.

The Seventh Raven by David Elliott is a young adult fantasy retelling that is told in verse. The story is based on The Seven Ravens that is in The Brothers Grimm about the only daughter of the family trying to save her seven brothers from a curse that will turn them into ravens.

I’m sure my problem with this one that ended up with my rating at two and a half stars will not be a problem for others in the fact that I’m not usually a fan of poetry. At the time I picked this one up it wasn’t clear that the entire book was written in verse so that alone had me as not a huge fan. While this one wasn’t for me simply based on the style of writing I’m sure others out there may enjoy it as it did seem sort of a cute story just the poetry aspect made it rather repetitive to me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was pretty interesting I hadn't heard of the Seven Raven tale before so this was all new to me. I did however love this story and will have to read the org. story now as well. I loved the different kinds of verse that was in this story. It made it very unique and made it feel like there was so much emotion.

I would first like to thank NetGalley for sending me an EARC in exchange for an honest review.

I definitely did not get what I assumed this book would be. It threw me off greatly. I was expecting a book with long chapters and paragraphs not this sweeping poetry I got.

I am not much of a poetry lover but I loved this. The rhyming just sweeps you into the story and before you know it you've read the entire book.

Also, adding elements like animals, trees, and an axe with feelings just made this all the better. It really showed the emotion that the author was trying to portray. (With it rhyming, too!)

The book actually started out sadly because the entire family had wanted a daughter. It was kind of cute that the brothers wanted a sister especially Robyn.

Robyn was my favorite brother of them all because he was different than his brothers. I did feel a little sad for him at the end but I rejoiced when I heard he still kept his wings.

April, herself, was also a favorite but in a more "Aw-she's-going-to-save-her-brothers" kind of way. She was right to do what she did for her other eight brothers but not Robyn.

The father was one of my least favorite people because he did curse his son's so he could have a daughter and kind of didn't care. In my mind, that's rude.

Overall, I would totally recommend this to someone who is new or likes poetry especially with the variety of different poems included!!!!

THE SEVENTH RAVEN is a captivating verse-style retelling of a Grimm fairy-tale of a girl's determination to break a curse that has turned her brother's into ravens. The cover is gorgeous, the illustrations are vivid and beautiful, and the premise of the story is stark, yet filled with hope and reflection.

My favorite part about the book is the love April has for her brothers, despite never meeting them, and her steely determination to bring them back to humanity, but deep down, she also has a kind, understanding, and respectful soul, which helps her to honor Robyn's decision in the end. She's able to understand that not transformations are a curse; some might be blessings that reveal who we truly are.

If you're a fan of fairytale retellings, sibling bonds, and powerful messages of how even our best, most pure intentions can lead to the worst outcomes, then THE SEVENTH RAVEN is the fantasy book for you.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

I don't believe I was familiar with this particular fairy tale, though I've read others that were similar. Maybe I'd find this book more compelling if I were. As a verse novel, it's a pretty quick read but not especially action driven. We have to assume a lot of actions from context. Elliot is doing some interesting things with poetic structure here, applying different structures to different characters based on personality. And there's some messaging about desire, longing, and duty. It's a valiant effort but more of a reflection than a narrative.

This wasn't very readable as an e-arc because the lines ran together but I waited for publication and read it as an e-book and it was significantly better. I'm surprised to say I really enjoyed it! This was my first "verse" read and it's a great way to tell the story.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc to review.

I didn't realize that this was a novel in verse! I'll be honest - that is not normally my preferred format. I also didn't realize that this was a retelling of one of the Grimm's fairy tales! So I looked that up and read it, too. Fascinating!

I really enjoyed how the author was able to use different forms of poetry to give each narrator a distinct voice. I didn't specifically realize it while I was reading, but the explanation in the author's note at the end put it together for me.

I'm not sure that I would have gotten "the point" of this work without having read the original version of the fairy tale. But I was captivated by the writing and the imagery, and really enjoyed the experience of reading this. While I'm not likely to pick up another novel in verse anytime soon, I will definitely be picking this title up for my library.

DNF @ p.26 because I have better things to do than try and force myself through stagnant, repetitive "poetry" I am probably too uneducated to appreciate but, y'know, it hurts my brain and ruins whatever scraps of decency this story might have held. I am disappointed in this that even the appeal of this being a retelling of this rarely-used Seven Swans tale doesn't even make me want to finish it.

In a family of seven boys, Jack and Jane wish for nothing more than an elusive daughter. But, the price for her arrival is too much to bear. This is a quick tale that engages readers with stark, striking visual imagery. There’s also lots to unpack in the symbolism of the crone, the king and queen, April and all the Jacks. Adhering to the original structure, it reimagines the curse through Robyn’s experience and subsequent rescue. Readers interested in poetry will find the author’s notes about the structure of each voice especially interesting.

This is a novel in verse, which surprised me. This is my own fault, as it is clearly in the book’s description on NetGalley, but I probably would not have requested the book had I seen that line. Anyway, I initially thought the first page was an epigram and skipped it, then had to go back and re-read.

Unlike many YA novels in verse, Elliot’s writing really does read like poetry, rather than prose with extremely foreshortened lines and unnecessary rhymes. It isn’t especially enjoyable writing though. At least not for me. I tried setting it to a few different songs to see if that made a difference, but...not really. The language is very similar and repetitive, like Elliot is trying to create a saga or ballad, following the traditional forms.*

Part of why I requested this book was because it’s illustrated by Rovina Cai, whose art I very much enjoy. I hoped her art would prove an enhancement to Elliot’s lyrical text, but in Part I it is mostly birds and feathers. Well-illustrated birds and feathers, but birds and feathers. In Part II there are pages marked “art to come” or “art not final,” which is disappointing.

Storywise, this is a retelling of the Seven Swans/Ravens. We first meet Robyn, who lives in the cottage with his six brothers (all named Jack) and his father (also a Jack) and his mother (Jane). They are woodcutters and Robyn...is not. Robyn’s parents dream of a daughter: there are too many Jacks. Finally a daughter is born, but when she looks to die almost immediately, Jack the Father utters a curse and suddenly his sons are no longer men, but ravens. The Jacks are distraught by their new state, but not Robyn. At least their baby sister will live after all.

The brothers’ baby sister is April, and she is much-beloved, but kept ignorant of her brothers’ fate. She is, nevertheless, subject to portents that hint at something uncanny. She eventually learns of the curse on her brothers and decides it is her destiny to break it. Her discovery and then her quest take up a decent portion of the book. The end is similar to the fable.

*Note, there is a note about poetic form at the end, and how each POV character speaks in a different poetic form, and what that form says about them as a character. The descriptions of the poetic forms and Elliot’s reasons for assigning them to their characters are fascinating reads. Almost more so than the text itself, I’m sorry to say.