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A review by iam
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
4.0
I've read The Raven Cycle multiple times and loved it, and while I've been aware of this related series for a while now, it somehow never occurred to me to read it too. But I started it now and find it absolutel fascinating, both on its own and in relation to The Raven Cycle.
Content warnings include: murder, death, violence; Mentions of: death of parents, suicide.
To be clear, you don't need to have read The Raven Cycle to read Call Down the Hawk. It stands entirely on its own, only Ronan is a main character in both, and The Raven Cycle is in his past. Relevant events are briefly alluded to or mentioned on a surface level in a sufficient way. I actually found that hilarious, how huge events from the other series are summarized in a half sentence or downplayed - it works perfectly here, just found it amusing.
That said, I do think having read the other series gives some background information and contex to Ronan's relationship and friendships, which do not play a big role here, but which I would probably have found a bit confusing if I didn't have that context.
Call Down the Hawk is one of those stressfull reads caused by each character being on a different side of the core conflict. It's about dreams, dreams and dream(er) killers, who each have their own mundane or large-scale motivations and complications. I loved seeing how much more there was to the world of Dream(er)s in this setting, and the horror (and some joy, but mostly horror to be honest) it can cause. It opened whole new doors of worldbuilding which was fascinating.
It also opened up about some side characters from The Raven Cycle, mainly Declan and Matthew. I found both to be very captivating characters, and enjoyed seeing more from them. The new additions, Jordan, Hennessey, and Farooq-Lane were great too, each adding their own and very different vibe to the story.
It took a while for the plot to get rolling, as each character had such different things going on that it was hard to see how things would converge eventually. There were some big overarching mysteries that felt a bit too convenient - as this is a trilogy I don't mind those unanswered questions yet, but I sure hope they will be answered in the future.
Overall a promising and entertaining start to a new paranormal and magical story that perfectly captures the horror in whimsy, and the whimsy in horror.
Content warnings include: murder, death, violence; Mentions of: death of parents, suicide.
To be clear, you don't need to have read The Raven Cycle to read Call Down the Hawk. It stands entirely on its own, only Ronan is a main character in both, and The Raven Cycle is in his past. Relevant events are briefly alluded to or mentioned on a surface level in a sufficient way. I actually found that hilarious, how huge events from the other series are summarized in a half sentence or downplayed - it works perfectly here, just found it amusing.
That said, I do think having read the other series gives some background information and contex to Ronan's relationship and friendships, which do not play a big role here, but which I would probably have found a bit confusing if I didn't have that context.
Call Down the Hawk is one of those stressfull reads caused by each character being on a different side of the core conflict. It's about dreams, dreams and dream(er) killers, who each have their own mundane or large-scale motivations and complications. I loved seeing how much more there was to the world of Dream(er)s in this setting, and the horror (and some joy, but mostly horror to be honest) it can cause. It opened whole new doors of worldbuilding which was fascinating.
It also opened up about some side characters from The Raven Cycle, mainly Declan and Matthew. I found both to be very captivating characters, and enjoyed seeing more from them. The new additions, Jordan, Hennessey, and Farooq-Lane were great too, each adding their own and very different vibe to the story.
It took a while for the plot to get rolling, as each character had such different things going on that it was hard to see how things would converge eventually. There were some big overarching mysteries that felt a bit too convenient - as this is a trilogy I don't mind those unanswered questions yet, but I sure hope they will be answered in the future.
Overall a promising and entertaining start to a new paranormal and magical story that perfectly captures the horror in whimsy, and the whimsy in horror.