So, I Read This Book Today . . .

I first picked up "Urban Shaman" Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1) back in 2009, during a really bad part of my life. Urban Shaman was recommended to me by a bookseller whose tastes I shared, and, I must say, I was immediately drawn in to this new and fascinating world. Since then, Ms. Murphy has never failed to deliver what I believe to be some of the most well written character development and world building in urban fantasy today.

Writers can take many directions with their work, and there are many demons out there, ready, willing and able to sacrifice the writer's integrity of storyline to the gods of marketing. It is the strongest writer who holds her story in her heart, retains her character's continuity, and develops the types of souls that Ms. Murphy imbues her characters with.

With "Raven Calls" Joanne begins to truly come into her own, as a Shaman and as a human being. There is great pain in this volume of her story, as well as great growth. She was, as a Shaman, "mixed up fresh" to do a job, and to do it well. Many things go wrong in the beginning of her life, things that cause her great agony and great loss. Whether planned or not by the being that created her, this history comes to a head in Raven, with an outcome both devastating and inevitable. In all belief systems, there must be pain before there is growth, and Joanne not only suffers the pain, but also begins to truly grow into who she is meant to be.

In this volume of the story, the secondary characters also begin to truly show their true worth and growth as humans (and, yes, not-so-humans). Joanne has suffered, and even died, for those she cares about, and you see, in this volume more than any other, that her belief in, and caring for, this incredible group of very special people in her life does not go unrewarded. You cannot watch what Joanne has gone through, cannot see her pain and growth, without either anteing up or getting out of Dodge. In Raven, everyone antes up, and it shows in their own personal growth.

There are losses in this book, to be sure. Two of the long-term characters must, through dint of the storyline, be lost. It hurts, but it is a necessary, and not an unexpected loss. Circles close, and it is time for that part of Joanne's life to be done. I was unutterably sad to see them go, but their part in the story was over. Joanne is, truly, on a warrior shaman's path, and a new story, in a way, has begun.

Several people who review this book are upset, in that they think the `romance' part of the book should have been worked out by now. Sorry, people, this isn't a romantic fantasy, thank goodness! This is a whole other creature. It deals with growth, honour, and doing what is right no matter the cost, not with `girl gets boy and lives happily ever after in a cottage in the woods with a white picket fence the end.' Not that I don't WANT the girl to get the boy - and the fact that the boy she wants actually understands what must be done and is willing to wait for her is, in my estimation, PRICELESS. Her love knows that, given a good outcome, Joanne will come back to him. Until then, he is her rock, her keystone, and she needs him to be where he is, who he is, and what he is for the time being. God bless C.E. Murphy for developing a "true" story line - a story line that doesn't lead straight to a bed instead of to the development of a woman's soul. Sure, Joanne hurts, and she wants, and she has to make personal decisions that suck, and hurt people, especially one person in particular, that she loves - but, by goddess, she is going to do what it takes to make sure that the most people gain, in the end, from her losses. She hurts, she bleeds, and she knows, deeply and without any doubt, that the people closest to her are willing to hurt and bleed right alongside her, so that she can do what she needs to do. Now THAT is an incredible author, with an incredible story to tell, who never takes her eye off the prize. This is an amazingly well developed series, with depth and breadth, and characters I would be proud and happy to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with in a fight.

A few of the characters stand out in this story, and beg to have their own stories told. Gary is, as always, a touchstone in Joanne's life, and he has his own adventure in this story, one which, though we aren't sure what really happened (yet - I know that Ms. Murphy has written the story as another volume, and I am dieing to get my hands on it!) but Gary comes back sad, and yet even more `Gary-ish. He is a character no other writer that I can think of has been skilled enough to write. At 74 years-old, a time when most men would be sitting in their rocking chairs, Gary is out there still learning, still growing, and giving Joanne that depth of knowledge-the baggage, shall we say-that, having being "mixed up fresh," she doesn't have. Brilliant!! Even Cernunnos has a part in this adventure across the seas, in an Ireland of ancient times, in the lower world, where all things are as they once were. We meet new characters, some who survive, and some who don't, and Joanne finally gets to know who her mother truly was. She is given the opportunity to know her mother again, and to finally accept, and say a true goodbye.

If you are having trouble understanding what is going on in Raven Calls, please, do yourself a favour and go get Urban Shaman, then each of the other books in the series, then read Raven again. This is a magnificent series, and, if you really do like strong female role models, strong secondary characters, and a story of great depth and development, you will not be disappointed. Me? I read every single one of the stories over again, from the start, every time a new Walker Papers edition comes out before I read the new one-C.E. MURPHY ROCKS!