"Butler balances action, description, and character development deftly; the pacing is excellent. History is neatly inserted primarily through conversation, without feeling like an ‘info-dump’, and the world the author invokes feels both well-researched and real, without jarring anachronisms.  The prose is clean, the dialogue effective, and we see just enough of what the protagonists are thinking to give both insight and a rounding of characters into people we care about. The Raven and the Dove is an impressive first novel, one written with skill and craft."

"Yes, K.M. Butler weaves a strong world bound by religion, loyalty and love. Times change - we learn that through the eyes of the characters. And people need to evolve. Where the Franks once ruled alone, they slowly but surely bond with the Normans to become the people that form Europe's history even more (think of 1066 when one Norman attacks Britain). This author knows how to take you through a bloody part of our history and how to create a mash up of reality and made-up characters. A book too good to be left untouched."