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adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's a Maggie Stiefvater book, to its core. I don't know if it has the same draw or staying power of The Raven Cycle, but it is distinctly a Maggie book. Intrigue, characters you could live or die for, class struggles, sensory details that put you right in the thick of it, a quiet little magic system you want to know so much more about.
As her debut adult novel, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see where this turn in her career takes us all.
As her debut adult novel, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see where this turn in her career takes us all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, War
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Grief
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Maggie Stiefvater is one of my all time FAVORITE authors. I have read everything she has written, so her adult debut was an auto-buy for me. The Listeners is full of Maggie’s trademark whimsically lyrical writing with a cast chock full of intriguing characters, including the Avallon itself. However, it was a bit slow for me. And, in the end, I still had a few questions that nagged at me a bit. That being said, I did enjoy the blend of historical fiction—especially being set during WWII—and magical realism, and will continue to buy everything Maggie writes as soon as it comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, War, Deportation
Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, War
Moderate: Genocide, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book really threw me for a loop—I went in expecting a blend of historical fiction and magical realism, but the fantasy element was barely present. To me, it read as pure historical fiction, which wasn’t what I had anticipated.
June stepping into the role of general manager was one of the reasons I kept turning the pages. I loved learning more about her journey to that position and getting a deeper look at her bond with both the staff and the hotel itself—it added an interesting layer to the story.
The pacing was incredibly slow, mostly due to the extensive attention to detail—every place and action was described meticulously. While some might appreciate that level of immersion, I found myself skimming by the 30% mark because it started feeling tedious.
One element I really wanted to see explored more was the sweet water beneath the hotel—it was barely mentioned, and I think that could have added some much-needed intrigue. Despite all the descriptions, a lot of things still felt vague, and I finished the book feeling more confused than anything.
That said, it’s not a bad book—the premise had promise.
It just wasn’t quite my kind of read, and once I realized the magical realism was minimal, I struggled to stay engaged.
I received an advanced review copy through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to the author and publisher!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Abandonment
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My favorite thing about The Listeners is the history. This book is well researched and even has a recommended reading list in the acknowledgements. This book inspired me to go down a little rabbit internet search hole learning about hotels hosting disgraced dignitaries, nazis, etc during WWII. A great historical fiction will make you want to know more about its subject and this book definitely caught my interest.
The real problem I had with this book was I felt like so much of the plot was hinted at and danced around. June, a West Virginian mountain woman, has risen through the ranks of the Avallon to become the general manager. She is such a multidimensional character and her responsibilities as general manager mean anticipating her guests needs as well as balancing the mysterious sweetwater. Sweetwater is basically magical mineral water that absorbs the emotions of the people it interacts with. Whatever emotions it absorbs it reflects. Or at least that's what I think is happening. There is never a real explanation of the sweetwater, which I didn't love. I would have preferred at any point if any character blatantly was like yeah sweetwater is magic. I didn't need like a drawn-out explanation or a magic system.
I did also really enjoy June and Agent Minnick as characters. They were both West Virginians who moved out of their social class. It's easy to make a caricature of Appalachian people or to show that you're only good if you leave. But both June and Agent Minnick have complex relationships with where they grew up and the communities they left behind. It was just oh we were poor and now we're better because we're employed. I hate books that look down on Appalachia, it's just lazy.
I liked this book for the historical portion/plot more than the interpersonal relationships. I didn't really care about the relationship June had with the hotel's proprietors (The Guilfoyles). I really felt like they used June for her relationship with the land/sweetwater and it took her so long to reflect on her relationships. I just kind of felt like the background didn't really need to be laid so thick. There are flashbacks throughout that show June being mentored by the late Guilfoyle patriarch. They are informative, but ultimately a little unnecessary. I would have preferred the book to explore more of the present story.
Overall, this was a medium read for me, I think if you enjoy historical fiction with a dash of magical realism then this would be a good read for you.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
The real problem I had with this book was I felt like so much of the plot was hinted at and danced around. June, a West Virginian mountain woman, has risen through the ranks of the Avallon to become the general manager. She is such a multidimensional character and her responsibilities as general manager mean anticipating her guests needs as well as balancing the mysterious sweetwater. Sweetwater is basically magical mineral water that absorbs the emotions of the people it interacts with. Whatever emotions it absorbs it reflects. Or at least that's what I think is happening. There is never a real explanation of the sweetwater, which I didn't love. I would have preferred at any point if any character blatantly was like yeah sweetwater is magic. I didn't need like a drawn-out explanation or a magic system.
I did also really enjoy June and Agent Minnick as characters. They were both West Virginians who moved out of their social class. It's easy to make a caricature of Appalachian people or to show that you're only good if you leave. But both June and Agent Minnick have complex relationships with where they grew up and the communities they left behind. It was just oh we were poor and now we're better because we're employed. I hate books that look down on Appalachia, it's just lazy.
I liked this book for the historical portion/plot more than the interpersonal relationships. I didn't really care about the relationship June had with the hotel's proprietors (The Guilfoyles). I really felt like they used June for her relationship with the land/sweetwater and it took her so long to reflect on her relationships. I just kind of felt like the background didn't really need to be laid so thick. There are flashbacks throughout that show June being mentored by the late Guilfoyle patriarch. They are informative, but ultimately a little unnecessary. I would have preferred the book to explore more of the present story.
Overall, this was a medium read for me, I think if you enjoy historical fiction with a dash of magical realism then this would be a good read for you.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Mental illness
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Classism, Deportation
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Watered down or wonderfully weird? 🤔 Sadly, this one didn’t hold water for me. 🌊
The Listeners is Maggie Stiefvater’s first adult novel—and my first by her. Set in the atmospheric Avallon Hotel high in the Appalachian Mountains, it blends historical fiction with magical realism, a genre I usually adore. The “sweetwater” running beneath the hotel is vividly imagined and almost character-like, but ultimately felt more ornamental than essential.
Although 300 guests are said to arrive, the story focuses on a tight circle: General Manager June Hudson; Hannelore, a child who doesn’t speak but sings lyrically; her parents Sabine and Friedrich; the Gilfoyle family; FBI agent Tucker Rye Minnick; and State Department representative Benjamin Pennybacker, the mysterious guest in Room 411.
I found it difficult to fully connect with the narrative—perhaps due to a combination of underdeveloped characters, a meandering plot, and a languid pace.
What did jar was the portrayal of Nazi sympathisers enjoying five-star treatment. While fiction allows space for moral ambiguity, this blurred the line between humane detainment and luxury indulgence in a way that felt off-kilter.
The stakes never quite built, the tension remained elusive, and the atmosphere, while promising, didn’t pull me in. That said, Stiefvater’s prose glimmers in places, and her dedicated fans will likely appreciate the genre-bending ambition. For me, it felt a little disjointed, discombobulating, and yes—diluted. 💧
Out 10 June 2025.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, War
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
2.5 stars.
First, I have to admit that I haven't read a Stiefvater book since my book-tumblr-obsession-time with the Raven Cycle about ten years ago. Of course, this isn't what one would call a "typical" Stiefvater novel.
It's supposed to be her adult debut, and I guess it is. Naively, as I requested this, I still expected ... fantasy. Storygraph tags this release as "historical fiction," but the synopsis made me think of a magical sort of hotel; whimsical, lovely, and bright, put in sharp contrast to the arrival of WW2 and the detained Axis diplomats it brings. You know, contrast. Balance, maybe? Juxtaposition, at least.
I did not get that.
The Listeners is a bleak novel. The hotel itself, supposed to be this haven of luxury built on a natural mineral water spring, feels cold and hostile even before the Nazis haunt its halls. A sort-of sentient house is a common trope in fantasy lately, but the Avallon Hotel in The Listeners is not alive, but a soulless husk, leeching out any sort of positivity out of the text. When reading, you feel as if the hotel has died several years ago, and is now just some dried-out mummified body, while everybody still pretends it's alive to keep up appearances.
Our main character, June Hudson, general manager of the Avallon, is equally soulless. This is a very character-focused novel, but unfortunately, the character it's supposed to be focused on is a blank slate. It often felt as if Stiefvater held back characterization moments for June just to keep up the mystery aspect of the book. Tucker, the main "love interest," seems to be that just because he is the other POV character of the book. He and June end up together not because they interact, talk, or have a connection and grow to genuinely like one another, but because they are the main characters in a novel and are therefore destined for each other. Tucker, at least, is a more interesting character than June, but even he feels colorless and empty.
The only characters I could feel genuine warmth towards were Sandy and Hannelore, and both of them seem to be merely catalysts for the few actual plot points that happen in the course of the novel.
The other characters are merely set dressing, sprinkled around the hotel like decoration. Fancy vases in the form of humans.
It's no secret that Maggie Stiefvater has a very unique writing style, leaning towards the poetic and purple. This works extremely well for her fantasy novels, where the lyrical prose underlines the story beats and character moments. In The Listeners, her writing style felt decidedly out of place. I can't even really explain it, but her writing carries with it this hope that something magical is about to happen, but it doesn't. Reading The Listeners feels like build-up after build-up after build-up, only to never reach a climax. Instead, it fizzles out into unimportance. What was all this for?
I found myself speculating on a lot of things. The sweetwater running through the hotel, for once. Is it a magical thing, as the text would suggest, or is it simply ordinary mineral water that June projects her hopes and dreams for her career and this hotel onto? And why does Tucker fear it so? In the end, I feel like I haven't gotten an answer that satisfied me. That might have been intentional, actually. (However, just like when I reviewed "I Who Have Never Known Men" - the intentionality of keeping of the mystery to allow for reader speculation is something that frustrates me personally. I like getting answers. I like solving mysteries. I like having conclusions. That feeling when it all comes together? Irreplaceable. I cannot deal with speculation. That may be a fault of my own, however. Others might like it.)
In conclusion: Could've been great, but it just feels cold and empty. What a shame.
Also, I can't believe that June has three dachshunds and hasn't even given them names.
Plus, annoying commentary of an English-German, German-English translator: Please, look at the German in this book again. Some of it is alright, but most is incorrect.
2.5 stars.
First, I have to admit that I haven't read a Stiefvater book since my book-tumblr-obsession-time with the Raven Cycle about ten years ago. Of course, this isn't what one would call a "typical" Stiefvater novel.
It's supposed to be her adult debut, and I guess it is. Naively, as I requested this, I still expected ... fantasy. Storygraph tags this release as "historical fiction," but the synopsis made me think of a magical sort of hotel; whimsical, lovely, and bright, put in sharp contrast to the arrival of WW2 and the detained Axis diplomats it brings. You know, contrast. Balance, maybe? Juxtaposition, at least.
I did not get that.
The Listeners is a bleak novel. The hotel itself, supposed to be this haven of luxury built on a natural mineral water spring, feels cold and hostile even before the Nazis haunt its halls. A sort-of sentient house is a common trope in fantasy lately, but the Avallon Hotel in The Listeners is not alive, but a soulless husk, leeching out any sort of positivity out of the text. When reading, you feel as if the hotel has died several years ago, and is now just some dried-out mummified body, while everybody still pretends it's alive to keep up appearances.
Our main character, June Hudson, general manager of the Avallon, is equally soulless. This is a very character-focused novel, but unfortunately, the character it's supposed to be focused on is a blank slate. It often felt as if Stiefvater held back characterization moments for June just to keep up the mystery aspect of the book. Tucker, the main "love interest," seems to be that just because he is the other POV character of the book. He and June end up together not because they interact, talk, or have a connection and grow to genuinely like one another, but because they are the main characters in a novel and are therefore destined for each other. Tucker, at least, is a more interesting character than June, but even he feels colorless and empty.
The only characters I could feel genuine warmth towards were Sandy and Hannelore, and both of them seem to be merely catalysts for the few actual plot points that happen in the course of the novel.
The other characters are merely set dressing, sprinkled around the hotel like decoration. Fancy vases in the form of humans.
It's no secret that Maggie Stiefvater has a very unique writing style, leaning towards the poetic and purple. This works extremely well for her fantasy novels, where the lyrical prose underlines the story beats and character moments. In The Listeners, her writing style felt decidedly out of place. I can't even really explain it, but her writing carries with it this hope that something magical is about to happen, but it doesn't. Reading The Listeners feels like build-up after build-up after build-up, only to never reach a climax. Instead, it fizzles out into unimportance. What was all this for?
I found myself speculating on a lot of things. The sweetwater running through the hotel, for once. Is it a magical thing, as the text would suggest, or is it simply ordinary mineral water that June projects her hopes and dreams for her career and this hotel onto? And why does Tucker fear it so? In the end, I feel like I haven't gotten an answer that satisfied me. That might have been intentional, actually. (However, just like when I reviewed "I Who Have Never Known Men" - the intentionality of keeping of the mystery to allow for reader speculation is something that frustrates me personally. I like getting answers. I like solving mysteries. I like having conclusions. That feeling when it all comes together? Irreplaceable. I cannot deal with speculation. That may be a fault of my own, however. Others might like it.)
In conclusion: Could've been great, but it just feels cold and empty. What a shame.
Also, I can't believe that June has three dachshunds and hasn't even given them names.
Plus, annoying commentary of an English-German, German-English translator: Please, look at the German in this book again. Some of it is alright, but most is incorrect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Abandonment