The Raven Tower
#5483.91 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2019 Reading commitment Low Ann Leckie Last reviewed 2026-08-27
Overview
The Raven Tower is Ann Leckie's standalone 2019 fantasy debut, narrated in the second person by an ancient, patient god observing a succession crisis in a world where the gods' power is real and transactional: every act of divine power costs something, drawn either from the god's own accumulated worship or from whatever else it can find to spend. The narrating god's account runs parallel to the present-day plot, in which Eolo, aide to the heir apparent of a small nation, investigates a suspicious disappearance that threatens to unravel the succession entirely, with the god's centuries-spanning perspective slowly revealing how deeply its own past choices shaped the crisis Eolo is untangling. Leckie, previously known for the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Imperial Radch science-fiction trilogy, brought a similarly rigorous approach to worldbuilding and narrative voice to her fantasy debut, which was a finalist for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Mythic fantasy, Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Raven Tower (2019) core · 3.91 (23,531 ratings)
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Raven Tower? The Raven Tower's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Raven Tower finished? Complete (2019).
- How much reading does The Raven Tower take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~416 pages).
- How is The Raven Tower ranked? #548 in this site's official ranking, based on 23,531 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #548?
Ranked #548 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.91 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (23,531 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #547, Shadowmarch (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 24k ratings · Ranks #548 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2020: nominated: The Raven Tower
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.91 across 23,531 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit The Raven Tower (Ann Leckie) accepted 2026-08-27
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-27
Rule: Core Canon is the complete standalone novel.