Showing posts with label the raven cycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the raven cycle. 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?

3 May 2016

REVIEW: THE RAVEN KING by Maggie Stiefvater

03 May 7 Comments

THE RAVEN KING

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Source: Purchased from Chapters/TBD/Fountain Bookstore
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378527-the-raven-king
Purchase:
This is the fourth and final book in the series. I will not spoil anything for this one, but I may spoil stuff for the previous books. You can read my review of:
THE RAVEN BOYS
THE DREAM THIEVES
BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE

I really enjoyed this one and it was a satisfying conclusion to one of my all-time favourite series. However, I had a couple issues with that that were more about sub-plots and side characters than anything else. Also, THE SCORPIO RACES is still Maggie's best book, just saying.

6 Aug 2015

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

06 August 3 Comments

BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Source: Borrowed from the Library/Purchased from TBD
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up. 

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. 

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost. 

Friends can betray. 
Mothers can disappear. 
Visions can mislead. 
Certainties can unravel.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378508-blue-lily-lily-blue
Purchase:

This is the third book in a series! I try not to spoil this book, but I do talk a bit about stuff from the other two books. You can read my reviews of:
THE RAVEN BOYS
THE DREAM THIEVES
  


This is probably one of the best series I have ever read. Each book has twists and turns you don't see coming all while advancing the plot set about in the first novel. The only thing I am not looking forward to is waiting for the next novel (STILL SO LONG UNTIL IT COMES OUT, but I do have it preordered).

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.

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

05 August 0 Comments

THE DREAM THIEVES

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Source: Borrowed from Library/Purchased from TBD
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17347389-the-dream-thieves
Purchase:
This is the second book in the series. You can see my review of THE RAVEN BOYS!
 
Holy shit. That book was perfect. One thing I will give Maggie is that she does not suffer from Second Book Syndrome. This one was better than The Raven Boys and I loved that one. 

Ronan Lynch is one of those characters that could have been butchered and destroyed in any other author's hands, but Maggie gets Ronan and his story is absolutely compelling. I loved the way this was written and I loved seeing Ronan come alive on the page. Because Maggie's story was so real and so imaginative that I actually felt as though I was in the story following along with all the Raven Boys.

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.