Crows and Ravens: Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Sacred Corvids by Rick de YampertMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Narrated by Matt Weisgerber
This was a bit of a weird mix, to be honest.
I definitely tuned out more than once because it was a lot of information, but the myths and legends were still quite interesting. I was also fascinated by the concept of 'crow magic' as practiced by the author, but I don't think I'll be shapeshifting into a crow any time soon.
The author is clearly a crow/corvid NUT, and constantly refers to his crow friends that live in the trees around his house. His enthusiasm for the birds salted his words for me a bit - I found myself approaching all of his conclusions much more sceptically because he seemed to draw them based on his own predilections.
I think there was also a massive disadvantage to listening as opposed to reading, because all of the bird sounds were ridiculous and there also seemed to be a lot of parentheses used which really confused the narrative at times. Added to that, each chapter is concluded with a 'grimoire' - some aspect of 'crow magic' you can try for yourself. Having those parts read to me was a bit weird, though the background info was always interesting.
The myths and legends involved were fascinating, but I was often lost because of the sheer volume of information - sometimes just in the imparting of a particular figure's multiple names. Don't even get me started on the Irish ones - though I think I'm glad those were read out to me because I doubt I could have pronounced any of them.
It's a bit of a weird blend, having the folklore justify real world application of 'crow magic'. I keep using inverted commas for the term because it doesn't sit right with me. I'm a massive hippy and open to a lot of spiritual, magical ideas, but crow magic as described in this book is not one of them, I'm afraid. Interesting, but not something I'm sold on quite yet.
All the same, I did find listening to this audio gave me the tendency to look around outside more, and keep an eye out for corvids. It gave me a greater appreciation for the natural world, and inspired me to get more in touch with Mother Nature. So I don't think that's a bad thing.
It's certainly not a book I'd recommend to everyone - I think you have to be extremely open-minded and already inclined towards believing in real world magic. The narrator does well with the material he's given, but it's dense and hard to swallow at times.
That said, I think there will be some who take a lot from this. It hopefully will inspire the reader to look outside every now and then, and have a little more awareness in the world beyond all of our screens. And that's not such a bad thing at all.
With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC
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