Reviews with content warning for Violence - Mister Impossible

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

32 reviews

jkneebone's review

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

Book 2 of the Dreamer Trilogy picks up a few weeks after Call Down the Hawk left off. Hennessy and Ronan are on the run with Bryde, fighting against and hiding from the Moderators as they protect other dreamers from being killed, while Bryde tries to teach Ronan and Hennessy how to become more powerful dreamers. Jordan has gone to Boston, where she gets invited to a Boudicca party and learns about sweetmetals - objects that will keep a dream alive even after their dreamer is dead. Declan and Matthew soon leave the Barns to follow her; as Declan and Jordan's relationship deepens, they work towards finding out how to create a sweetmetal. Meanwhile, with much less page time, Carmen and Liliana are becoming disenchanted with the Moderators, as it becomes more and more clear the their approach - killing as many dreamers as possible - will not really stop the end of the world.

Sigh. To be honest, this book was kind of a drag. The short version of why Mister Impossible gets under 3 stars from me is that Maggie Stiefvater is a beautiful writer, and also that - despite Ronan being one of my favorite characters in The Raven Cycle - Ronan's chapters were the most boring parts of this book.

Although I really enjoyed The Raven Cycle, I've always felt unsatisfied with the ending of the series, which made me hesitant to start a new series by Stiefvater. I didn't want to set myself up for the same disappointment, but my curiosity got the best of me. And I really liked Call Down the Hawk, even though a lot of it felt like character introduction and set-up; I was cautiously optimistic about where all that set-up would take us in Mister Impossible. The answer was...nowhere.

I realized partway through listening to Mister Impossible that what annoys me about the plot of TRC is how it ended up feeling like the characters were fighting not against outside forces, but against problems and enemies they themselves had created. Sure, some of their quests had them finding genuine magic, or brought in genuine threats, but ultimately most of it were things they created themselves, which makes it all feel a bit pointless. The reason I realized this is because MI is doing same thing.

I don't know if it's a pacing issue or a stakes issue, but that's how this book read to me. Like, why are Ronan and Hennessy doing all this? "To stop the Moderators from killing all dreamers" should have been a great reason, but instead it felt like they were just caught in their own world or making up their own mission.

Which, as it turns out, they - or at least Ronan - kind of were.

Ronan and Hennessy should be two of the most interesting characters in this book, but instead they were the most dull - and I don't think it can all be blamed on Bryde being so boring, although he definitely was. I just didn't understand why Ronan and Hennessy decided to follow him, and even moreso why they listened to him? Neither of them gives off the vibes of being an attentive student, but they were willing to let Bryde teach them condescending lessons for weeks without, I don't know, putting bubble gum in his hair? It felt super out of character and also, did I mention, their sections were so dull.

Carmen and Liliana were interesting enough, but barely in the story, especially in the second half. The saving grace were the stories and POVs of Jordan, Declan, and Matthew. I loved all of them getting closer to each other - Jordan serving as a mentor to Matthew was very sweet, and of course the Jordan/Declan relationship was so well done.

"I'll buy you a social security number, you can wear it instead of a wedding ring" top 10 romance lines in books, as far as I'm concerned.

I continue to be deeply impressed that Stiefvater got me to care this much about Declan Lynch, formerly cardboard man, and Jordan's POV continues to be my favorite of the series. All that being said, while I liked the sweetmetal plot and the stuff about art, and especially Jordan trying to create an original piece, it did feel a bit plopped in there because of the author's own interest in it. Like...there are random art pieces that have the ability to wake dreamt creatures. Um...why?

(I'm also a bit confused overall on the world-building around dreamers. We've met a few dreamers in TRC, and obviously they aren't the only ones with the ability, but the number of dreamers/dreams that are implied to exist in MI - especially at the end - is confusing. How would it stay a secret? How would that impact our reality? I feel like much of the plot could have stayed the same without Inviting those questions. I feel like it's also pushing believability that Niall wouldn't have known sweetmetals existed/figured out a way to get one so Aurora would stay awake, although it is believable that he was enough of a jerk not to think about it/care.)

I don't even mind where Stiefvater took Ronan's character in this book; it's that he felt so flat while she was doing it. I could have believed some of the things that happened to him if they'd been presented with more conviction or better explanation.

Like, a morally grey arc for Ronan is a good idea! The idea that he's actual a liar and he has to grapple with that is a cool one! I can even see him getting cut off from his family (scary!) but we don't get much about why or how this is happening. Adam expressed his concerns re: Bryde in book 1 and Ronan barely listened; I guess that can be handwaved away by Bryde being his dream, but I needed more reasons in the moment because so much of what he did felt flat and out of character in this installment.

I'm gonna finish out the series because at this point I'm invested (and the audiobook narrator is *really* good) but at this point I'm not optimistic for even half of the plot points being resolved in book 3. We still learned barely anything in this book about Boudicca or Declan having a whole other mother. Even more questions about the Moderators were introduced at the end of this book. I'm not even sure what the main plot or conflict is supposed to be since it kind of feels like Ronan and co. are making it all up? I want to know what happens, but I'm not holding my breath that the plot will be resolved in Greywaren any more than it was at the end of TRC.

A solid YA fantasy for those who have enjoyed previous books in the series and don't mind a slow, slow opening. Some cursing and a bit of violence, but nothing too bad.

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thalia16's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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nevermoregothic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

trintrin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

It is always said that second books, especially in trilogies, are supposed to be the weakest links. Why then do I always end up loving the seconds in series more than anything else. What a fantastic read to start off the new year.

Addressing the elephant in the room first. That title was the reason I didn't really want to read this series immediately after reading The Raven King, and it doesn't make it any better after finishing and loving this book. Maggie whyyyyy ಥʖ̯ಥ

Ahem, now, where do I start. This book feels so much more... cohesive? than the first one. Like the characters blend in with each other so well, in a good way. Where Call Down the Hawk was more plot-focused with splatter of good characters, this one was beautiful characters with a plot where you don't fully understand but vibe with. Sort of like a call back to TRC. Where Carmen and Parsifal didn't vibe in the first one, her and Lilliana were an outstanding duo here. Where Ronan was either on a solo mission or with his brothers in the first one, he's with Bryde and Hennessy here, and what a fantastic trio they made! I love their chemistry so much.

The highlight of this book, and the entire trilogy for me, has been Declan. What a pleasant surprise from the Declan we saw in TRC. It feels so nice to see the character you kept rooting for actually turns out to be a decent person.

I respect and love him for every decision he made here, and I hope it only gets better for him from here on. All he needs to do is have a real, grown-up conversation with Matthew and marry Jordan to reach perfection.

He deserves a tight hug and some warm hot chocolate.

JORDAN MY GIRLLLLL

I'm so, so, so proud of her. Creating a sweetmetal all on her own? Having a heart-to-heart with Matthew and making him feel better? Knowing exactly why Declan is doing what he is doing? Girlboss behaviour, marry me please. Or marry Declan, please. That's fine too.

I felt very lukewarm about Farooq-Lane in the first one, because I loved her character, but also needed some development from her to fully adore here. And we got just that in this one.

Absolutely in love with her bagging Lilliana AND dumping the Moderators in one smooth move. GO CARMEN

Matthew, what an absolute sweetheart. His POVs always ended up breaking me.

I really enjoyed all of his little identity crises moments. Him talking to Jordan definitely seems to be helping, I hope he can find a way to accept his conditions. All he needs to do is have a chat with Ronan now.

HENNESSY, I cannot put into words how much I love Hennessy. She felt very different for the first half of this book. More talkative — was she always talkative? — less self-destructive misery.

But then she had to go into her twisted backstory and good lord. I feel so bad for thinking miserable-Hennessy back into existence. That was actually Messed Up™ . I hope my girl gets a good, happy ending. I feel like she's going to be killed off, now that Jordan can live on her own and doesn't have to rely on her dreamer, and evil authors seems to love killing off twins, and also because Hennessy doesn't seem to have a romantic pair yet, and god it's so easy to kill her off and blame it on her non-existent raison d'être or the Lace or any of her past trauma. But I'm hoping against hope she pulls through and gets the happiness she deserves.

It is an absolute CRIME Adam Parrish is not in this book as much as I want him to be.

Really got my hopes up seeing the plot venture into the very familiar ley line territory thinking our ley line expert is going to play a bigger role. Guess not. But I adored the few scenes where he did show up. Smelling out Bryde's fishiness, getting Declan to act on it, not being mad at Ronan for whatever he's doing, attempting to repeatedly scry into his dreamscape even after that disastrous phone call. Speaking of that, why does every book have to end with a cliff-hanger of Adam ༼;´༎ຶ - ༎ຶ༽ wdym he's letting his mind wander farther from his body while the ley line cut out. Adam please be okayyy. Not sure what's going on with his duckling friends but we need him to be okay to find out

Getting to the biggest part of the book, THE PLOT TWISTS. Because WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCKITY FUCK?

No, in hindsight, I should've seen it coming. What are the answers to some of the major plot twists in TRC? "Ronan dreamt into being." Chainsaw? Ronan dreamt into being. Matthew? Ronan dreamt into being. Cabeswater? Ronan dreamt into being. It was so obvious, the way Bryde communicates through trees out of anything. It screams Ronan. The way he was so harsh on Ronan, but not that useful to solve Hennessy's problems, the way he was described in the same way as one of Ronan's dreamt up mindfuckery would be described. GOD the evidence was right there. Bryde, oh, Bryde. Knew he was fishy. Couldn't help liking him. Fell into the exact same trap as Ronan did. Man, I feel so sick. All Ronan wanted was just a teacher! Someone to guide him, someone who knew better than him. Fuck Niall Lynch, seriously. This is all his fault. What an asshole

Ronan, please let's just go back to being a gay catholic street-racing farmer, shall we?

Content Warnings

booksandstardust's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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aaannika's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Screaming, crying, throwing up, some of Maggies best work yet

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ramunepocky's review

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medium-paced

2.0

I am extremely conflicted about this book. It is pretty much common knowledge that The Raven Cycle is my favourite book series and that I have three tattoos to commemorate it, and I was extremely nervous about reading The Dreamer Trilogy in general, but I really enjoyed Call Down the Hawk for the most part, was a bit confused by the narrative, yes, disliked some of the characters, yes, but generally enjoyed it and had high hopes for the rest of the trilogy. Therefore, I am very conflicted. Because I did not enjoy most of this book. It was so. Messy. There were so many loose threads that were just being pulled and pulled and pulled and instead of finding the end and connected them all together, there were just more loose threads that were coming out entirely. I wanted it to work. It did not work. It’s like instead of having an overarching storyline or instead of resolving plotlines that had already been introduced, she just kept on introducing new storylines and new plot points. And that would have been fine if it all came together in the end and made sense, but it didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, there was potential in this book and there were certain aspects of it that I liked. I liked getting to see Jordan have her freedom from Hennessy and I liked seeing her grow into her own person. I liked seeing Matthew stand up for himself and question things a bit more and understand/accept what it means for him to be a dream. I liked. No wait, that was it.

I didn’t really understand why the sweet metals were introduced and the way that they were introduced and talked about originally made it so hard to grasp wtf was happening and what they were talking about before it finally sunk it. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to grasp. Like I know Boudicca is some pretentious group and have all their secrets and whatnot, but that didn’t mean that us as the reader had to struggle sm to understand what they were talking about. I also fail to understand why they were necessary. The concept of a dream living beyond their dreamer is fascinating and I would have liked to have seen it explored, but in an entirely different way, because this was just too convoluted and unnecessary, and I just didn’t get it. It wasn’t satisfying.

I hated Bryde with an absolute passion and really, in the end, the entire thing he’d been trying to achieve was for nought considering Hennessy shut down the whole ley line anyway. I also thought it was a giant cop out that instead of him being another powerful entity or dreamer, he was just another dream of Ronan’s. Like get real. Come on. And his existence is essentially useless because in CDTH, it’s built up like finding him is some all-important thing then in this, he is just condescending and makes Ronan and Hennessy do a bunch of stuff, and then he’s not really in Greywaren. So pray tell. What was the point???

I love Ronan Lynch with my entire heart, but some aspects of this just felt so out of character to him. And not even the not contacting Adam because he didn’t want to drag him into it. If anything, that was the most Ronan Lynch thing Ronan did this entire book. It irritated me too the way that he trusted Bryde, who he’d known for essentially two minutes, over everyone else in his life, and took his side instead of when, particularly Adam, was telling him they didn’t trust him. Don’t think the Ronan Lynch I know would do that, but okay. I did like seeing his trust and relationship build with Hennessy and them becoming tentative friends, but I also hated Hennessy. She had her moments where she was okay, but she was so unnecessarily cruel, cold, and selfish and it irritated me so much. And I understand that she had a very traumatic past and she says cruel things as a coping mechanism, but the way she treated Jordan particularly frustrated me to no end. Jordan did not deserve that for trying to live her own life free of her, Jordan did not deserve that just because she was happy, and Hennessy was not. And when Hennessy told Jordan that she wished she had died too?? That just wasn’t okay.

I still do not like Declan, but I think this book and subsequently Greywaren too, helped me understand why he behaves the way he does. I feel for him to an extent, but I also don’t like him. If anything, I feel like this trilogy was about him because he seemed to be the only character that had any kind of tie to most of the threads and he was one of two characters that seemed to get any kind of character development.

So yeah. The more I sit with it and the more I think about it, the more unhappy I get it. Maybe one day in the future, I’ll reread this book and like it a lot more, but as it stands, I don’t think I’ll be picking it up again. Or any of Maggie Stiefvater’s other books, but it’s essentially become a proven rule that I don’t get along with any of her books that aren’t The Raven Cycle. All her magic went into those four books and it’s been gone since.

Content Warnings

toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book was fantastic and I can't wait to read the next one!! Glad I waited to read these til they were all out because having to wait for the next to be released would be so difficult!

Content Warnings

scrubsandbooks's review

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Okay, very rarely does the second book get better than the first. Or maybe I've read too many series with Second Book Syndrome, I wasn't expecting this to be anything but a filler book between the beginning and the conclusion and hooo boy was I wrong. So much happens, I can't begin to point out exactly what without spoiling it but it definitely added far more context and helped answer some questions I had while presenting even more. The ending though was a complete surprise and I threw myself right into the next book as soon as possible.

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