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The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Published by Scholastic
Pub Date: April 26th 2016
Pages: 438
Format: Hardcover | Source: Publisher
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Buy the book! | Goodreads
The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.
All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.
In a starred review for Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Kirkus Reviews declared: "Expect this truly one-of-a-kind series to come to a thundering close."
This is probably one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write because:
- It’s the 4th book in a very complicated and spoilerish series.
- I don’t want to take away the magic of Maggie’s words before you read them.
- If I tell you my feelings, is that a spoiler?! I don’t know! *bites nails nervously*
Let’s continue.
My favorite part of the experience was the thrill of reading NEW words from Maggie Stiefvater, new Raven Cycle words! I always love Maggie’s word choice and sentence structure and sense of storytelling. She has a very recognizable style. It was exciting because it’s been so long since we’ve gotten a new book and the other Raven books are so familiar to me by now.
For me, the thrill of holding and reading The Raven King felt similar to getting a brand new Harry Potter book in my hands, which is the highest praise I can give. And one feeling I never expected when I began this series. I already can’t wait to read it again because I know I raced through it, but how could I not? I NEEDED TO KNOW THINGS.
The nuance and linguistic brilliance shines through no matter how fast you read, of course, but it is a whole other animal when you have the opportunity to really sink into her words and turns of phrase. When you can see little dots connecting all over the series like its own sort of ley line. It’s very rewarding.
The Raven King is the best sort of series ender. It pulls together disparate plot points in a brilliant way and builds on the characterization we’ve come to expect from our favorite characters while allowing them to grow. Everyone was just…. more in this book. That’s the best way to put it. There is a sense of urgency and dread that isn’t lost on anyone and it makes the emotions stand out in technicolor.
It was frightening at times, but also sad and humorous and tremendously lovely. There are lots of excellent otp and brotp moments. It’s full of Maggie’s wry humor; she has this magnificent way of twisting the knife in your heart while simultaneously making you grin.
AHHH. THERE IS SO MUCH I WANT TO SAYYYYYYY. It’s a tremendous five star book for me but I’ll leave it to you to glean what you want from that. There are a lot of Moments and she is able to gather her threads and knot them together in a very satisfying manner. I was content with the book individually and the series as a whole.
Now, DO NOT SPOIL IN THE COMMENTS BELOW but please let me know if you’ve read it and what you generally thought! And feel free to chat with me on twitter too!
About Maggie Stiefvater
Professional novelist by day and artist by night, Maggie Stiefvater is the author of the Books of Faerie (Lament and Ballad); the bestselling Shiver trilogy (Shiver, Linger, Forever), as well as The Scorpio Races and The Raven Boys. Stiefvater lives in Virginia with her husband and their two children.
tonyalee
I am both terrified and excited at the same time to read. WISH ME LUCK. See you on the other side.
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
It was quite an experience to read wasn’t it?!?! Such terror and elation haha.
Maraia
I don’t even know how to talk about this book without spoilers! (You did a great job, I’m impressed.) I guess all I can say is that I wanted to start rereading it before I even finished. xD I can’t wait to read the whole series again, because seeing all the clues Maggie Stiefvater leaves for us in earlier books is always exciting )and a bit embarrassing, haha).
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
Thank you!! It was so tricky. See, I don’t think it’s embarrassing necessarily because some of it is SO OBSCURE how could we have known?! Others do make me feel silly haha, but all the same the clues really are the best part of rereading. You’re right, reading the whole series again will be so great :D
Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity
This book is pretty much everything. Like you, I absolutely SPED through it because I had to know what happened to everyone, and if ships sailed or not. I was so captivated by everything in this book, and it was such a perfect ending to a series that I love SO MUCH.
I totally agree with you about Maggie’s writing style. It is so special, and unique, and I am always in awe of how she writes things, and the way she puts emotions into words. This is the kind of book that I would totally highlight the crap out out of if I did that with books.
Good job on writing a spoiler-free review! It would be totally hard for me not to flail about so many things, haha XD
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
YES, same!!! I couldn’t read slow even if I wanted to. Oh I feel the same way, I bought paperbacks after I got the hardcovers because I’m very tempted to highlight them!! The beautiful words and all the sneaky clues :)
Thank youuuu!!! Flailing is my default mode so it was difficult but I didn’t want to take the experience away from anyone.