A review by allioth
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It’s simple enough, isn’t it? Wealth is just security. Luxury is living carefree.


A lot of adult debuts from YA authors tend to be, to put it simply, not very good. Usually tacky, corny, immature, etc., elements that are common and even great in YA books, but fall flat in an adult novel because of the stark difference in themes and writing style.

None of what I've just said applies to this book. Maggie's transition to a more mature public is seamless and just feels like that's the natural curse of her career.

The Listeners is a beautiful story from start to finish, the most magical part of it is not the weird sentient water, but the writing style. The Avallon feels real, the luxury feels within reach.

All the characters povs are very distinct from each other, while still sharing some similarities, mainly the distance the characters have with the world the typical guests live in. How wonderful it is, how horrorful too. All the characters have to sacrifice something to maintain the luxury.

This book tackles so many themes, I can't speak for the accuracy of all of them, but I can talk about the one that impacted me the most:

“Once there was a girl named Hannelore,” Sabine said quickly. “Who traveled on a train to a magical land. It was deep in the woods and very beautiful, and she found a friend there no one else could see.”


I love Hannelore and not because I relate to her (that plays a part in it tho lol) but because through her we learn about the story of the characters in this book —the story of a desperate mother, the story of an equally observant orphan, the story of a boy who wanted to impact the world.

Seeing the fate of mentally disabled, more specifically autistic, people in nazi Germany discussed in historical fiction of this era is weird, but Maggie tackled it with so much sensibility and tact. Hannelore's entire character is written phenomenally, her thought process is indicative of an extremely intelligent person, nonetheless also of a child, a balance hard to keep, but which Stiefvater never struggles with, making for an incredible realistic and likable character.

June, who listened to the sweetwater, who the sweetwater listened to.


After all that glazing it’s probably shocking that I haven't created a 7 stars category just for this book, but there are simply some problems I can't ignore:

1. The pacing I will eat up any book that Maggie writes, however, I know this is not the case for everyone. The Listeners is extremely slow, nothing interesting ever happens really?? There aren't moments of high tension, and the ones that come close get a mundane resolution in the next chapter, making this book painfully boring for anyone who is not interested neither in the era or in the characters (and, tbh, the ending doesn't make it worth putting up with this if you are not liking it).

2. Do you remember when I said this book tackles many themes? Yeah... that doesn't mean every single one of them is well written. Lots of issues common at that time (racism, misogyny, PTSD, etc.) get mentioned once or twice and then never brought up again. The same happens with other plots in this book, like the relationship of the townsfolk and the Avallon, 411, that weird haunted floor, and more importantly: the water.

One would think this is book genre is magical realism, when in reality is just realism. The water doesn't play as an important of a role as one would think, it literally doesn't do anything relevant until the end, and what it is and what it does is explained so vaguely. Therefore, if you're expecting magic... try another book.

3. It doesn't play a pivotal role in the novel so this is just more of a pet peeve of mine but... THE ROMANCE IS SO BORING. At least this book taught me something important: liking two characters individually does not mean you'll like them together.

The whole relationship of the main couple feels built on lust?? Which is ridiculous on account of the fact that they had had honest conversations with one another... that's how lifeless they are.

There's kind of a love triangle in this book, but both option suck. I guess that's good if you hate love triangles because you equally don't gaf about either of them.

Summarizing... This book appeals to a specific type of people, and it is not neccessary Maggie Stiefvater's fans. I'll recommend it to anyone who loves WWII fiction and stories, this novel is incredibly well researched and never disappoints in creating a vivid picture of the era, even if it falls short in other aspects.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher, Viking Press, for this ARC in exchange of an honest review!

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