Ravine is a must read for any fans of the fantasy genre. This is the first volume in a 12 volume story. Like many fantasy stories, it spends much of its time in this first part building the world our characters live in. One of the highlights of the book for me, other than the jaw dropping art, was the amount of detail Stjepan put into the world leaving out the typical elves, orcs, and dwarves and instead using a multitude of human/dragon hybrid races and explaining their origins according to the legends in the world.

Unfortunately the cast of characters is large enough that it so far only establishes the relationships and personalities between the characters and their kingdoms. Since this is a beginning, I’m didn’t have any problem with it. People who are less interested in the lore of the world and are looking for more story around the characters themselves should probably wait until the second volume comes out in the summer and pick up both at the same time.