Scan barcode
A review by votesforwomen
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
3.0
I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED OKAY.
I loved this series. The last three books? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The characters were awesome, the dialogue was terrific, and there was so much to love about the whole thing. I loved All the Crooked Saints; I had Stiefvater down as an author to trust.
Well, I still trust her. I just...didn't love this conclusion the way I was hoping to.
In the end, I think it comes down to a handful of things:
1) This book does not have the same /magic/ to it as the last three.
2) So many plot threads weren't resolved well enough, at least IMO.
3) The whole thing felt kind of anticlimactic.
Point 1:
I loved the first three books because of their ATMOSPHERE. When they wanted to be creepy, they were, and I genuinely felt creeped out. When they wanted to be eery, they succeeded. When they sought to be emotional--perfection. I was rooting for the characters, loving the prose, and in love with the plot, even though it progressed slowly.
The Raven King kind of lost a lot of that.
It felt more melodramatic, more forced, less magical. There were a couple of scenes with the signature Stiefvater flair (the toga party, the bus stop scene [I DIED LAUGHING], some of Ronan's dream sequences.) But so much of it felt...meh. I don't know.
Points 2 and 3 (they kind of go together, so I'll do just one big thing on both...)
SPOILERS ABOUND!
The whole kiss thing
Also the romance. I didn't feel either of the romances. Sure, the whole Pynch thing had the downside of being gay, which I wasn't crazy about...but at the same time, I'm STILL not shipping Blue and Gansey, and to add another romance on top of that--no thanks. Ronan and Adam's thing felt like it was tacked on to make it less awkward that Blue and Gansey had paired up. I didn't love either of the romances...argh.
Overall this one was fairly disappointing. I'm still giving it three stars because IT'S STIEFVATER and there was some stuff that got wrapped up okay.
BTW, I loved Henry. <3
I loved this series. The last three books? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The characters were awesome, the dialogue was terrific, and there was so much to love about the whole thing. I loved All the Crooked Saints; I had Stiefvater down as an author to trust.
Well, I still trust her. I just...didn't love this conclusion the way I was hoping to.
In the end, I think it comes down to a handful of things:
1) This book does not have the same /magic/ to it as the last three.
2) So many plot threads weren't resolved well enough, at least IMO.
3) The whole thing felt kind of anticlimactic.
Point 1:
I loved the first three books because of their ATMOSPHERE. When they wanted to be creepy, they were, and I genuinely felt creeped out. When they wanted to be eery, they succeeded. When they sought to be emotional--perfection. I was rooting for the characters, loving the prose, and in love with the plot, even though it progressed slowly.
The Raven King kind of lost a lot of that.
It felt more melodramatic, more forced, less magical. There were a couple of scenes with the signature Stiefvater flair (the toga party, the bus stop scene [I DIED LAUGHING], some of Ronan's dream sequences.) But so much of it felt...meh. I don't know.
Points 2 and 3 (they kind of go together, so I'll do just one big thing on both...)
SPOILERS ABOUND!
Spoiler
HOW WAS THAT THING WITH NOAH ANY KIND OF CLOSURE OF HIS PLOT THREAD????? MY POOR GLITTER-LOVING GHOST BOY DID NOT DESERVE TO DIE WITHOUT ANYONE EVEN THINKING ABOUT HIM AGAIN.Spoiler
Okay, so Glendower wasn't sleeping. He was dead. WHAT THE HECK? LIKE OKAY, I GET IT...BUT THEN THEY JUST TURN AROUND AND DON'T CARE ANYMORE. argh.The whole kiss thing
Spoiler
finally happened...and it honestly was over so fast and I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.Also the romance. I didn't feel either of the romances. Sure, the whole Pynch thing had the downside of being gay, which I wasn't crazy about...but at the same time, I'm STILL not shipping Blue and Gansey, and to add another romance on top of that--no thanks. Ronan and Adam's thing felt like it was tacked on to make it less awkward that Blue and Gansey had paired up. I didn't love either of the romances...argh.
Overall this one was fairly disappointing. I'm still giving it three stars because IT'S STIEFVATER and there was some stuff that got wrapped up okay.
Spoiler
ALTHOUGH SOMEONE TELL ME IF MAURA ENDS UP MARRYING MR. GRAY BECAUSE I NEED HER TO.BTW, I loved Henry. <3