Showing posts with label the raven boys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the raven boys. Show all posts

13 Jan 2020

#Review: CALL DOWN THE HAWK by Maggie Stiefvater

13 January 1 Comments

CALL DOWN THE HAWK

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater cover
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Dreamer Trilogy #1
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:


Summary:
The dreamers walk among us . . . and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming – they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives – they will sleep forever if their dreamers die.

And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all.

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . .
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
A Maggie Stiefvater book I didn't love? The shame! But I think I went into this with the wrong expectations (that it would be more like The Raven Cycle and less like... that), which definitely affected my enjoyment. I loved the narration and definitely will be continuing this on audio.

Ronan Lynch is everything you could ever want in a "hero." He definitely tries his best. But he didn't feel like the Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle. He was definitely the bones of that character, but not the meat of him. There were too many pieces that felt too different. It felt a little out of character for him in a lot of ways to have this story about him.

I wanted more scenes between him and Adam for sure. the ones we got weren't enough or satisfying. It felt like we were on the outskirts of seeing something magical between them but instead we got ... nothing. I feel like it wasn't enough, especially after how much they grew together during The Raven Cycle.

And usually I wouldn't compare spin-off series so much to their predecessor but this is explicitly supposed to be after the events of the initial series (and like maybe only months later???) and it feels like a completely different universe. Because in what world would Ronan only call Gansey for help on one thing when Gansey, and especially Blue, knows so much about magic. It felt like because this was a book about Ronan, we couldn't have him overshadowed by any of the other characters. But that never happened in the original story, so I don't see why that would happen now.

As for the other Lynch brothers - they were the other Lynch brothers, that's for sure. The other characters were really interesting and I look forward to seeing how it all plays out, especially with Jordan Hennessy. It felt more like a story that shouldn't have involved Ronan at all. Because the magic, the twists, and the story were all amazing, but the characters felt jammed in there rather than fully fitting into place.

TLDR: This was okay but nothing amazing. It didn't feel like Ronan's story so much as a story that had to feature Ronan in some way. I loved the plot and I love the characters but I didn't love them together. Something was missing but I don't know what. But as I said in one of my updates, it took me a book to get into The Raven Cycle so hopefully this is the same!

Have you read this one? What was your favourite part?

5 Aug 2015

Wishlist Wednesday (12): The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

05 August 0 Comments
Wishlist Wednesday (12) - August 5 2015
The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Technicallyyyyy I already own this one since I have a copy on my Kobo, butttttt I like this series so much that I want to own them in physical book as well so here it is on my wishlist. I have been contemplating purchasing this one for a while but I think I may get it from my local bookstore (even though the prices are jacked) because I feel like I will be giving back to my little community.

31 Jul 2015

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

31 July 0 Comments

THE RAVEN BOYS

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Source: Borrowed from the Library/Purchased from TBD
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17675462-the-raven-boys
Purchase:
I mean, everyone knows my whole life revolves around Ronan Lynch right? No surprise? Because his name is my url for Goodreads. So clearly I have lots of love for this series, and this book in particular. I picked this one up on a whim when it was $2.99 on Kobo because I had heard some good things about it but wasn't sure if it was going to be something I wanted to read. I know Maggie writes well and all that jazz but I was still a little skeptical. But holy shitballs. This book. This series. I have no words for how much I love it, but I will try to be semi-coherent here.