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A review by blurrypetals
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
3.0
I have never been so upset to rate something a 3 before in my life, but I didn't feel like I could rate it a 4 and it definitely wasn't a 5. When I first heard this trilogy was going to be a thing, Stiefavter kept referring to it as "the Ronan series." Because of this, I expected this to continue Ronan Lynch's story as well as Opal's, Adam's, Declan's, and Matthew's.
Instead, in true spinoff fashion, only about 25%-30% of this book is dedicated to Ronan, 15% to Declan, and the rest to brand new characters who I, unfortunately, could not give less of a fuck about. I was really willing to give the new characters a chance, but after the halfway mark hit and I was not invested in anything anyone besides Ronan was up to, I knew Stiefvater had failed to make me care.
Last year, Alexandra Bracken wrote a spinoff-sequel not unlike this to her The Darkest Minds trilogy, The Darkest Legacy, where we follow a character well known to readers of the original series, Suzume, as she goes on a new journey to save and visit old characters with two brand new characters as her companions. This beautifully folds us into getting to know the new characters while also letting us get a taste of the characters we've already known and loved.
Some may disagree that Call Down the Hawk fails to do this, but unfortunately I felt a huge disconnect between our known characters and our new characters. By the time they do start to interact, it feels so low inconsequential I didn't care anymore. The whole book was such a slog and it made me sad.
The reason this isn't a total failure is because of the Ronan bits of the book, though. Those were the times when I truly felt at home, like I was reading a new book that took place after my favorite completed series. I was actually really excited when the book opened with the Lynch family trip so Ronan could go see Adam, but that whole part was over so quickly I barely got to enjoy it. The same goes for Adam's visit for Ronan's birthday: it was lovely, but it wasn't enough.
Although disappointed, I'm hopeful the next book will be better. Fingers crossed, gang.
Instead, in true spinoff fashion, only about 25%-30% of this book is dedicated to Ronan, 15% to Declan, and the rest to brand new characters who I, unfortunately, could not give less of a fuck about. I was really willing to give the new characters a chance, but after the halfway mark hit and I was not invested in anything anyone besides Ronan was up to, I knew Stiefvater had failed to make me care.
Last year, Alexandra Bracken wrote a spinoff-sequel not unlike this to her The Darkest Minds trilogy, The Darkest Legacy, where we follow a character well known to readers of the original series, Suzume, as she goes on a new journey to save and visit old characters with two brand new characters as her companions. This beautifully folds us into getting to know the new characters while also letting us get a taste of the characters we've already known and loved.
Some may disagree that Call Down the Hawk fails to do this, but unfortunately I felt a huge disconnect between our known characters and our new characters. By the time they do start to interact, it feels so low inconsequential I didn't care anymore. The whole book was such a slog and it made me sad.
The reason this isn't a total failure is because of the Ronan bits of the book, though. Those were the times when I truly felt at home, like I was reading a new book that took place after my favorite completed series. I was actually really excited when the book opened with the Lynch family trip so Ronan could go see Adam, but that whole part was over so quickly I barely got to enjoy it. The same goes for Adam's visit for Ronan's birthday: it was lovely, but it wasn't enough.
Although disappointed, I'm hopeful the next book will be better. Fingers crossed, gang.