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A review by mariel_fechik
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
5.0
Reread Dec. 2021:
I decided to reread this before reading [b:Mister Impossible|31373233|Mister Impossible (Dreamer Trilogy, #2)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1604948211l/31373233._SY75_.jpg|52062093] because I knew there were things I didn't remember, and boy am I glad I did because there were even more things than I thought. I loved this even more the second time around. Onto the next.
This book is a gift. The fact that Maggie Stiefvater decided to continue on in the world of The Raven Cycle was generous enough - but this book? She outdid herself. These books have become important to me in a way that I didn't think was possible, and I genuinely don't think I've looked forward to a book this much since the seventh Harry Potter.
Ronan Lynch is one of the best characters I've read in my life. He is so complex and whole, and his story is so layered and enormous. Maggie brought complexity to Declan, which I also didn't think was possible. This book is dark and dense and nightmarish and tense and really doesn't read anything like "young adult." I put this in quotes because despite the fact that these books have "adult fiction" levels of complexity, I am also so deeply happy that this is where they're categorized, and for one reason alone: these books are magic. Not in the way of any old high fantasy novel that's world-built to death and with wizards etc., but of real and true magic. It's unexplained, it's hazy, it's dreamlike, it's nightmarish - and it's the most real-feeling magic I've ever come across in literature. And the most trusting demographic of real magic is young people. It requires a willingness to suspend all skepticism, to be taken along for the ride and know that you won't understand everything that happens.
I don't really know how to distill any of my thoughts of feelings about this book and these characters into a coherent review. I just know that I love them so much it hurts, and I think I need to reread already as soon as my print copy comes in. Thank you, Maggie.
Additionally, Declan buys Ronan a zoo membership for his 19th birthday.
I decided to reread this before reading [b:Mister Impossible|31373233|Mister Impossible (Dreamer Trilogy, #2)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1604948211l/31373233._SY75_.jpg|52062093] because I knew there were things I didn't remember, and boy am I glad I did because there were even more things than I thought. I loved this even more the second time around. Onto the next.
This book is a gift. The fact that Maggie Stiefvater decided to continue on in the world of The Raven Cycle was generous enough - but this book? She outdid herself. These books have become important to me in a way that I didn't think was possible, and I genuinely don't think I've looked forward to a book this much since the seventh Harry Potter.
Ronan Lynch is one of the best characters I've read in my life. He is so complex and whole, and his story is so layered and enormous. Maggie brought complexity to Declan, which I also didn't think was possible. This book is dark and dense and nightmarish and tense and really doesn't read anything like "young adult." I put this in quotes because despite the fact that these books have "adult fiction" levels of complexity, I am also so deeply happy that this is where they're categorized, and for one reason alone: these books are magic. Not in the way of any old high fantasy novel that's world-built to death and with wizards etc., but of real and true magic. It's unexplained, it's hazy, it's dreamlike, it's nightmarish - and it's the most real-feeling magic I've ever come across in literature. And the most trusting demographic of real magic is young people. It requires a willingness to suspend all skepticism, to be taken along for the ride and know that you won't understand everything that happens.
I don't really know how to distill any of my thoughts of feelings about this book and these characters into a coherent review. I just know that I love them so much it hurts, and I think I need to reread already as soon as my print copy comes in. Thank you, Maggie.
Additionally, Declan buys Ronan a zoo membership for his 19th birthday.