Reviews - The Listeners | The StoryGraph

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781 reviews for:

The Listeners

Maggie Stiefvater

3.99 AVERAGE

sarahp's review

3.5

emotional reflective sad 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: Yes

annehalliwell's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Feels like a story that was written well before our current time. Sure, nazi salutes were maybe shocking to see once upon a time in the 1940s. But a big moment toward the end… kind of doesn’t land. We’re too used to living with Nazis in 2025.

andeaclark's review

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

tonibeth's review against another edition

2.25

mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

caitlingf90's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I just couldn’t get along with this at all. I found it to be pretty dull, and the constant references to sweet water that was never really explained or developed ended up being irritating instead of intriguing. As a result of not being gripped I then found myself not being able to remember who was who in some cases. I thought the writing itself was fine, though arguably a little more YA than I’d usually go for

upsidedown10's review against another edition

4.25

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: Complicated

I had a good time with this one. It was deeply set in a historical time and place and I was worried that the history would overtake the story, but I should have known that Maggie is the queen of character writing. June is such a complete and interesting character. I could read books and books of June figuring out her guests and anticipating their needs before they know they need them. Tucker was a delightful counterpoint to June and I cared a lot about his decisions.

The other important character in this story was the hotel itself. The hotel and its staff were a well oiled machine that was great to watch. The mystical water and its needs were also a major component that could not be predicted.

I thought this was going to be a more depressing story, but it was kind of more of a mystery with a lot of interpersonal tangles. Overall, I really liked this one and the audiobook was great.