Long journey, short farewell
"The next time you're planning a journey, raven, remind me not to come along!"
— Selaks
Raven Quest is a book written by Sharon Stewart and published in 2003. The book tells the story of a young raven named Tok, who is falsely accused of murder. He is exiled from his home in the Raven Mountains under the threat of death should he ever return. Tok embarks on a long journey to find ancient allies of the ravens and convince them to come with him to the Raven Mountains, in hopes that such a deed will restore his honor and clear his name.
Raven Quest contains examples of:
- Animal Naming Conventions: The wolves, crows, and ravens each have different naming conventions. They also refer to humans as Two-Legs and to manmade objects either by the sounds that they make or something they resemble.
- Animal Religion: The wolves and ravens have their own religions. The ravens worship a deity named Skyah, the creator of all, while the wolves practice ancestral worship.
- Animal Talk: Ravens, wolves, crows, and an owl can talk normally between one another.
- Arch-Enemy: Grakk and Tok, with the former accusing Tok of murder in hopes of getting him killed.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Grakk, Lord Groh, and the humans.
- Berserk Button: Groh threatens to kill Tok if he ever sees him again. He tries to do this.
- Book Ends: The book starts and ends in the Raven Mountains. For his treachery, Lord Groh is given the same punishment that was given to Tok at the start of the book.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the book, Tok thinks that he hears the sound of claws on wood. It is later revealed that this was Grakk caching a dead nestling nearby in order to frame Tok. In another instance, the ravens tell a story of the Grey Lords that used to hunt alongside them until they were killed off by humans. Finding these Grey Lords ends up being the goal of Tok's journey.
- Clear My Name: Tok embarks on a mission to find the Grey Lords so that his name can be cleared after he was falsely accused of murdering nestlings.
- Clever Crows: Tok is able to figure out how to escape his cage after he gets electrocuted on a power line. He was also able to free Selaks from a bear trap. Furthermore, the ravens and the wolves hunt together, with the former using their keen eyesight to find prey so that the wolves can kill it. Truth in television, as ravens are known to hunt alongside wolves.
- Code of Honour: The Kora among the ravens, which governs their society. Certain acts of bravery bring about honor to an individual, while wicked deeds can bring about anything from shame to death.
- Cub Cues Protective Parent: Tok almost gets eaten by a mother bear after he stumbles on her cub.
- Dramatic Irony: Used to create tension. Chapter 11 starts with a crow proverb, "What crows don't know isn't worth knowing". The next chapter describes humans placing strange objects on the crows' roosting tree. The birds, of course, are unaware of what the objects' function is, but they are described in such a way that the reader can only conclude that they are explosives attached to a detonator. Tok and the crows end up roosting on that tree for the night. Chapter 13 starts with a scene where the explosives are detonated and Tok and Kaa escape being killed by a matter of seconds.
- Duel to the Death: Subverted. The final fight between Groh and Tok was supposed to be this, but Tok spares Groh's life in order to make him reveal the truth about Rokan.
- Everyone Chasing You: Tok's punishment for the crime he was accused of is to be chased and killed by the rest of the ravens.
- The Exile: Tok is forced to leave the Raven Mountains under the threat of death if he ever returns
- Eye Scream: Groh pecks out Rokan's eyes in the prologue of the story. When Tok is caught by the horde of ravens, he thinks about whether his eyes will get pecked out, too.
- Family Honor: Tok's father's alleged crimes have not only led to him getting killed, but also to the other ravens making an effort to forget his name. Tok's mother refuses to tell him his father's name, which brings shame to him as well.
- Fantastic Racism: The ravens consider crows and any association with them to be dishonorable and unclean. The wolves consider ravens to be traitors.
- The Fatalist: The wolves believe in something called Numon, which refers to events that are fated to happen and cannot be averted.
- Happily Ever After: Grakk is dishonored, Tok's honor is restored, Groh is exiled on pain of death if he ever returns, Tarkah chooses Tok as her mate, and the ravens have plenty of food now that the wolves can do the hunting for them.
- Honor-Related Abuse: Tok's mother refuses to tell him his father's name due to the fact that his father was falsely accused of neglecting his mate and nestlings and stealing food for himself. His own parents chase him away from their territory. Because of this, Tok is an outcast among other ravens and cannot hold a territory or have a mate.
- Idiot Ball: When Tok finally reaches the Raven Mountains with his wolf comrades, he sees a group of ravens dancing overhead and joins them, even though he has still not plead his case. He gets identified and nearly killed.
- I See Dead People: Selaks can see the ghosts of Malik and Alkara.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: When Kaa is blinded as a result of an illness he contracted from an infected crow, he sneaks off and gets himself killed so that he won't impede Tok's journey.
- Just in Time: Tarkah leads the wolves to the Kort tree moments before Tok is to be executed.
- Line in the Sand: Adanax, the leader of the wolves, allows the others to make a choice as to whether or not they personally would go with Tok. Half of the pack goes with Tok, while the others stay.
- Noble Wolf: The Grey Lords are these.
- Ominous Owl: Played straight. A great horned owl tries kill and eat Kiraa, and the crows in general are afraid of them.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: When wolves die, their spirits can be seen walking alongside the living, but only by those who have the ability to see spirits, before they travel along the Wolf Trail
- Seers: Alkara has the ability to "See" the future, and sees the land to which Tok will lead her and the wolves, despite never having been there before.
- Smart Animal, Inconvenient Instincts: Malik, being a wolf, kills livestock whenever given the opportunity, despite being ordered by the pack leader not to do so. He gets shot by a human as a result.
- Stuff Blowing Up: See the entry for Dramatic Irony.
