Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

32 reviews

k_winchester's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I've been trying to think of how possibly to review this for a day after finishing and I still really don't even know. 😅

On one hand, it was the gorgeous, lyrical, super unique style of the other books, which I really love. So many phrases are just gorgeously done. I didn't know where this book, or series really, was going to go - I mean, yes, a few certain Big Plot Things that have been set out from the beginning were sure to come to a head or conclusion here, and I was dying to find out how it may or may not go down. I really enjoyed reading this pretty well whole through, and the added story about Opal at the end was really sweet, kinda (but appropriately) weird and reminded me A LOT of Patrick Rothfuss's little book about Auri. And I did get pretty emotional when a certain character went down. 

But on the other hand I feel like on the whole, it created more questions than answered or resolved much of anything. I feel like there was virtually no resolution - or very very VERY little, and even that was mostly glossed over. It's really hard to feel much satisfaction when there's been a very specific build up of a couple things in particular that just ended/happened in basically an instant in the last 12 pages, the end. Even within that super abruptness there was some stuff I really liked, but there just feels like there's soooo much stuff left majorly unresolved. :/

I ultimately rated it pretty high because it was beautiful and unique like the other books, and I really enjoyed reading pretty much all of it. But it's complicated because of the huuuge pile of questions and unresolved-just-about-everything. 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Blood

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Kidnapping, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Murder, and Violence

readwithsarah's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

I must say, I expected a little more from the ending but overall I really enjoyed the series! I do feel like there were some questions left unanswered and some things I would have liked to see play out, but I still thought it was good. Recommend if you like something dark, mysterious, and magical!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Body horror

Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

sally___'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Medical content, Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

booksandstardust's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, and Cursing

Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

trintrin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Oh… that… that was the most beautiful thing ever 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

At this point in the series, I entirely trusted the author for delivering a perfect ending, and I got it with The Raven King. It's not often that I read a series until the end. Usually I stop after volume 1. But when I first read The Raven Boys, I knew I was onto something special and so I found second-hand copies of volumes 2 to 4 and waited patiently for the right time to read them a few years later. 2023 was that time.
Evenin volume 4 Maggie Stiefvater weaves the now-familiar with the unexpected. I won't spoil you, but there are snippets of horror in there that creeped me out. And yet they were so perfect for the story. I'm really happy with this last volume in this weird, hard-to-grasp series with such endearing and human characters. I'll be revisiting Cabeswater in the future, that's certain.
Rep: gay character, bisexual character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Gun violence, Murder, and Racism

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

This book was very good at the start. Kinda predictable but idc. I did not understand anything that happened at the last quarter of the book. It was very confusing and too fast to understand, a little forced...I think that I really like the ending. Simple, hopeful, free)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, Confinement, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit and Panic attacks/disorders

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Gun violence, Animal death, and Violence

Minor: Kidnapping and Domestic abuse