Reviews with content warning for Violence - Call Down the Hawk

I will say, listening to this wasn't the best idea because I found it a little hard to follow in the beginning. Though that might also be because it's been forever since I read The Raven Cycle. But Ronan is one of my favorites, and I enjoyed getting to see his world expanded. And I'll still probably read the rest of the trilogy when they come out! I'm intrigued to see what happens next.

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trixiez's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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claudiamacpherson's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love Maggie Stiefvater’s writing so. much. I obviously love fantasy as a genre, but the way Stiefvater writes it is unlike any other writer I know. It’s part of her stories—an important part—but they still feel so <i>real</i> and close to the real world. I’m often turned off by (what I feel to be gratuitous) grittiness or violence in stories, but Stiefvater always makes me care enough about the characters that I’ll power through those parts. I loved the Ronan/Adam scenes, though they were few and far between, and I enjoyed getting to know Declan better (shockingly, he’s not nearly as annoying as he seemed). However, I definitely missed the characters and found family from the The Raven Cycle.

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lilymountain's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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gothicmoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

HOW IS ADAM AS A SIDE CHARACTER? HOW IS HE PERCEIVED WHEN HES NOT CARRYING THE PLOT ON HIS BACK? dreamer trilogy-only fans please advise

lindenmere beautiful declan beautiful farooq-lane beautiful liliana beautiful hennessy beautiful everything everything everything .

parsifal is so annoying god bless . reminds me too much of myself /:

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pagesofquinn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This wonderful mindfuck of a book manages to distinguish dreams from dreamers and sinks its teeth into the relationships that exist between them and the people who love them. After reading the raven cycle, I never thought I’d love Declan Lynch, but I do. He would surely get king in the soldier poet king quiz (you are tired of being steady. you dream of feeling alive. not that you aren’t, but sometimes it’s hard to remember that there’s a heart between your ribs etc etc).

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humanmosquito's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

(Warning for minor spoilers)
It had the same charm as Umbrella Academy s2—the plot could get a little “eh” at times but they’re doing the stupid things as siblings now.

The Dreamer Trilogy is darker than its predecessor but that doesn’t take from its charms. It splits its focus between three semi-separate plot lines (following the Lynches, Hennessy and Farooq-Lane)
On the Lynches front, I’ll admit I was not expecting to love Declan as much as I did here, Stiefvater did a good job of humanising him in the eyes of both his brother and the reader, continuing on from The Raven King.
Ronan spends his entire page time trying to find another dreamer and being very in love. (which is very funky of him) He’s a lot more ready to, or is working through his trauma and he’s grown up a lot in the gap between The Raven Cycle and The Dreamer Trilogy.
Matthew, a fairly minor character has a realistic reaction to finally

finding out he is a dream

and I hope he has a proper arc/existential crisis coming to terms with it (that’s sounds cruel, I just want him to be fleshed out.)

On the Jordan/Hennessy side of things, I thought Stiefvater conveyed Hennessy’s fear. She’s a character I didn’t fall in love with but do solidly like. Jordan however, embodies Hennessy’s frustration and her arc of

wanting to break away and form her own life

Was relatable, though overshadowed by Hennessy and Declan’s arcs. (I’m desperately hoping she doesn’t just become a tool for Declan’s character development. I’ve had enough of the “woc helps white boy fix himself” trope for three lifetimes)

Farooq-Lane’s role seemed fairly pointless until about halfway through and she doesn’t even meet any of the other main/supporting characters until a dream (I think) at the very end of the book. She’s the sister of a dreamer and works for an organisation that hunts them down but she’s unsure of her place in it. Can’t wait for the part of the next book where she breaks free with help from her love interest.

Once again I love how Stiefvater writes romance, it’s sweet and has actual chemistry instead of the weird and creepy “passion” of the other big YA writers (although I think this is NA?).

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