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…

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!!

I really wanted to like this book bet it fell a bit flat for me. I DNFed it. I will try again another time to read it.

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.

“The Ravening,” by Daniel Church

I thought this was a good book but there’s somethings that prevented me from really liking it a lot. I didn’t love the characters too much; I just didn’t feel like they were written in a way that I felt emotionally attached to them. The story plot also kind of dragged on longer than I wanted, it could’ve been cut down a bit. The F/F relationship at the beginning was beyond toxic and felt so flat, even though the FMC kept saying in her head how much she loved and wanted to be with her again when she was about to cut and run. I liked the spooky concept of the book and forced pregnancy being a horror topic is fitting. 3 out of 5 stars.

-F/F, Bisexual
-Pregnancy

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

Creepy and intruiging, The Ravening is more action-thriller at times than horror.

This book … hmm. I thought it was good, but, in comparison, I thought The Hollows was excellent. I enjoyed this and was intrigued by the mystery aspect of it, but it felt a little longer than it needed to be as some parts dragged, and I’m also not fond of a certain plot point related to human evil (vs the supernatural). And by “not fond” I mean I find it frustrating more than scary or exciting.

Ok, I’ll just tell you as it happens pretty early in the story. There’s a forced pregnancy/kidnapping element to the novel. There’s no sexualized violence (aside from stealthing, told in passing), but if you find forced pregnancy icky, you might want to avoid it.

The thing about this book that kept it at a solid 3.5 stars for me is that it’s just not that memorable. I think this ties back to it being too long. There are parts to it that just feel like they could have been trimmed. The story essentially repeats itself plotwise at one point, which I think we could have done without, and there is a sort of Silent Hill alternate reality land that I just wasn’t into. I’m never fond of when movies or books have someone going into some sort of liminal space or dream realm or whatever to deal with the issues. It happens so often that I’m just a little tired of that trope. I think that might also be my issue with the book - there are a lot of tropes that I’m just not into. I’m trying to explain that this is a subjective thing, not so much a writing or narrative thing - it's more just my preferences (aside from the needed trimming)

The book starts off very very strong, the monster in it is intriguing and creepy, and the parts that are horror are actually scary. There’s just a bit too much action/thriller for me. His last book was a horror with a few scenes of shoot-out action, which cool, but this was mainly action/thriller with some scenes of horror. I think I got thrown off as the book starts as a straight-up horror but doesn’t keep that momentum.

I also wasn’t as drawn to the characters as I could have been. I understood and did like Jenna, the main character, as she was resolute and never stopped fighting back - I wanted a happy ending for her - but Holly wasn’t fleshed out enough for me to understand why she cared so much for Jenna, who is, by her own admission, quite abrasive. The villains are far too many and don’t get enough page time, so I could have used more time with them to make them more threatening than they were. The monster thing - the Bone Walker - was interesting up until the climax - I didn’t find the reveal overly surprising, perhaps because there are mini-chapters here and there basically explaining the premise as you go. Perhaps had the story been half the Bone Walker's story and half Jenna’s, I might have worked a bit better.

What I did appreciate was the book’s approach to bodily autonomy. As someone who is very pro-choice, these aspects of the story I thought were approached in a realistic and thoughtful way that I very much appreciated. I’m very happy to see these male authors writing about women’s issues and clearly doing their research, so that was great.

It is, as I said, a solid, entertaining book, but I can’t say that I loved it. But will I read another of Church’s in the future? Absolutely.

The Ravening is often lurking in the woods, and I mean that literally. If you like novels about stumbling through the Woods, Daniel Church’s The Ravening is the book for you.

Described as a “gripping, claustrophobic horror novel”, the story centers around one
Jenna McKnight, who is not a lucky person. Her mom vanishes down an abandoned road in the forest in the middle of the night when their car breaks down when Jenna is 15. Her dad drinks himself to death before she turns 18. She has failed relationships as an adult. Add all that to her latest misadventure: she’s been kidnapped.

Will fortune ever smile on House McKnight? Can Jenna find true happiness, maybe even love along the way? And what’s this supernatural Bonewalker creature doing up in her biz throughout her life?

Church uses descriptive imagery throughout the book to draw the reader into his story. While I felt the writing was more thriller than horror I enjoyed the flawed main character. My biggest complaint about the book was entirely too much use of the word “Babe” in the second half (I started calling it out every time I read it and put off my fiancé within five minutes). Overall, this was not a book for me, but I do think it has an audience with people who enjoy thrillers involving kidnapping and being lost in the woods.






Trigger Warnings I wish the book blurb contained:



kidnapping and forced pregnancy trope

This was an interesting read, there definitely was lots of action. Jenna sure was a tough girl! I'm not sure if the author/publisher wants you knowing much about the story before going in because the description is kind of vague as to what actually happens. Without giving away too much, the whole needing your descendants part was a little weird but made sense & went with the "monster" on his creation and what he needed to survive. 3/ 3.5 stars.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC copy of #TheRavening.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Sept. 24, 2024
As a teenager, Jenna’s mom is killed by a monster that only Jenna has seen. Soon after, her now-alcoholic father dies and Jenna’s life unravels even more. Now, on her own, Jenna fights against love and letting anyone in. But she soon finds out, that the monster who killed her mother is very, very real and he wants Jenna for himself. It is up to Jenna to rely on the one thing she has sworn off forever, real love, to save her from the monsters, supernatural and human alike.
Daniel Church’s new novel, “The Ravening” is a horror novel, with an LGBTQ romance flair. It starts with a terrifying monster in the woods, that leads to Jenna’s captivity and her right to choose (how/when/if she wishes to be a mother) and then wraps up with Jenna’s ability to let her lover in and start a life together. Church’s novel is complex, with many emotionally fraught themes, but Church manages to combine all of the plot lines into something dark and sinister, and thoroughly enjoyable.
The novel is told from Jenna’s perspective, on the day her mother is killed in front of her. The mysterious monster exists only in shadow and speculation, so even Jenna doubts its’ existence, until she can’t anymore. Church’s descriptions of the “Bonewalker” (Jenna’s term for the terrifying creature) are chilling and downright frightening. The backstory of who or what the Bonewalker is is creative and mythical, and this was, by far, the most engaging part of the novel itself.
“The Ravening” is non-stop action, right from the first page. Jenna is a relatable character and I immediately built a rapport with the tough-as-nails, independent protagonist. The chapters are short, making the story easy to read, and I was desperate to find out how it ended. Church delivers a satisfying ending that provided comfort after pages of spine-tingling, edge-of-your-seat horror, and I loved it.
“The Ravening” is not a feminist novel, but it has strong female themes focusing on a woman’s right to choose, but, even with the controversial theme, it is not preachy and there is no pedestal that Church preaches from. It is also mythical and theological, in relation to the monster itself, but again, Church has written the novel so it is not divisive and can be enjoyed by anyone looking for a new horror story to explore.
I was unsure of what to expect, as Church is new to me, and the reviews on this novel are mixed. But I found “The Ravening” to be creative and spooky, and I definitely will be looking forward to more horror novels from Church.