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lesserjoke 's review for:
Greywaren
by Maggie Stiefvater
I've been steadily losing patience with this Raven Cycle spinoff from the start of the second volume on, and unfortunately, nothing in this final novel (which appears to close out the entire franchise, at least for now) does anything to reverse that trend. The two characters I find most interesting, Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch, are barely in it, and the latter spends the majority of his scenes floating in a weird dreamspace that doesn't add much to the narrative. We're given additional retcons about people being either not dead as previously indicated or else secretly someone's dreams brought to life, and that's a twist with pretty diminished impact after how many times author Maggie Stiefvater has sprung it on us over the course of this saga. It's likewise disappointing to learn that Ronan is something of a chosen one, when the most remarkable thing about the premise of this trilogy heretofore has been its treatment of his magical gift as more commonplace than anyone realized in the original series.
In my review of the previous title, I noted "a certain haziness throughout the affair, with no one’s motivations ever feeling particularly well-grounded or urgent." That's exacerbated here, and while the mystical vibe allows for some occasional striking imagery and the writer's typical flowery prose, it's less satisfying when so abstracted from any concrete relationships. Despite regular reminders that "this is the story of the Lynch family," the brothers hardly interact with one another at all, and their parents' backstory feels unnecessarily tacked-on after readers have gotten to know the boys on their own terms for so long. I'm lukewarm about the result as an individual installment, and downright unhappy with it as a conclusion to the extended plot of this setting.
[Content warning for gun violence and gore.]
This volume: ★★☆☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆
Volumes ranked: 1 > 2 > 3
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In my review of the previous title, I noted "a certain haziness throughout the affair, with no one’s motivations ever feeling particularly well-grounded or urgent." That's exacerbated here, and while the mystical vibe allows for some occasional striking imagery and the writer's typical flowery prose, it's less satisfying when so abstracted from any concrete relationships. Despite regular reminders that "this is the story of the Lynch family," the brothers hardly interact with one another at all, and their parents' backstory feels unnecessarily tacked-on after readers have gotten to know the boys on their own terms for so long. I'm lukewarm about the result as an individual installment, and downright unhappy with it as a conclusion to the extended plot of this setting.
[Content warning for gun violence and gore.]
This volume: ★★☆☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆
Volumes ranked: 1 > 2 > 3
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog