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A review by goodverbsonly
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
5.0
I really wanted to finish this review before I finished Call Down the Hawk, because I didn't want the ending of this series to be colored by the beginning of another. As it is, I obviously DID finish Call Down the Hawk, and now have to parse my feelings about this ending, which I've given a long hard think about, with anticipation over the next few years about what is only technically a new series. Anyway, I have a complicated relationship with the finale of this book, and was sure I was going to give it four stars this time when I read it, but I'm keeping it at five.
Glendower is dead, and in 2016 this sent shockwaves through the entire community. Dead? Dead, and that's it. In some ways, I could have been okay with this ending, even with all the build-up, but Gansey's death complicates it. I knew Gansey was going to die. I also knew he wasn't going to stay dead. I thought (and felt even stronger when I was rereading BLLB, even though I knew the ending) that there is a simple and elegant solution to this problem; even finding Glendower, the driving force of the conflict in, at the very least books 1 and 3, dead, really very truly dead in the cave at the end of this book could have been done well. Gansey dies to save the world, or at least his world, Ronan and Adam and Noah and Matthew who is far away, and Cabeswater, what's left of it, because they have all given him so much and he has had much more life than he was supposed to have anyway, and he stays dead, like Glendower in his cave, who fled to the new world, presumably to save his world. Obviously, ideally and emotionally, Gansey becomes Glendower. Glendower saves his life in a real way, and he is Glendower reincarnated. Glendower wakes when Gansey sacrifices himself for the life of his friends and kills the demon. I could even be okay with the introduction of a demon so late in the game, instead of a third sleeper of Welsh-historical import.
I might even be okay with the way this book ends, with Cabeswater sacrificing itself for the life of Gansey so that Gansey might live again, if only we can readjust the framework of the sacrifice and say: Ronan and Adam sacrificed Cabeswater for Gansey. If only the reality of what the trees were wasn't revealed more than halfway through the last book, if only Gansey survived only his bee sting attack at the age of ten not because of time-fuckery and Noah thinking: I ought to save Gansey's life because I did it before so that he can save me and everyone and stop the demon (I like "time-fuckery" but only in theory, and when things are "time is a flat circle" in a way that isn't narratively satisfying - say Gansey time-slipping because he is a reincarnated Welsh King, but instead is actually a twice-reincarnated magical forest that lets his best friend pull stuff out of his dreams, saved because Noah realized he had to be saved in order to stop a demon - the whole thing becomes too complicated to follow. Then I feel bad, because I feel like I'm too stupid to get that I'm not supposed to follow it, but then I feel angry, because I think that maybe you should just follow through on the narrative you promised, which was largely: three sad boys, one dead one, and a psychic/not-psychic girl look for a dead Welsh king and they GET one. On the plus side, I did understand the mechanics of Gansey's death now, even if I'm not entirely sure if it means he can kiss Blue without there being repercussions in the future. God I HOPE he can kiss Blue!
Emotionally - relationships and characters and even 90% of the narrative: you can tell this is something that was worked with love, and is loved by lots of people. It's definitely loved by me. Am I still confused by a lot of the in-between of Adam and Ronan (though actually, most Adam) moving from two boys who were begrudging acquaintances because of the way they were both in love with Gansey (FACT), to boyfriends. Sure, but also the three or four chapters in the middle of the book that go:
1. I think I'm in love with Ronan, that's new since I wasn't aware I liked guys until forty-five minutes ago.
2. Sitting on Ronan's childhood bed because they're having a going away party/18th birthday party for Ronan for Matthew's benefit because things are getting Very Dangerous Around these Parts and if Ronan doesn't listen to Declan he WILL have a stroke (I loved Declan before I read Call Down the Hawk, and I want it on record that I knew all of Declan's Declanisms were because he was terrified that Ronan was going to die), thinking of something Extremely Upsetting From His Childhood, but then Ronan comes in, sits next to him on his bed, and then just....very awkwardly and tenderly...kisses Adam, and then gets up.
3. Ronan sitting on ... the deck...the roof...with Declan and them having something that looks like the first steps of reconciliation. AMAZING, spectacular.
4. Gansey telling Adam in no uncertain terms that if Adam breaks Ronan's heart then Gansey will break Adam; this is insane. Gansey is the love of my life.
5. Everyone leaving. Ronan and Adam making out, and Ronan being UNBEARABLE about the whole thing the entire time. The "I'm gonna put Adam's hands in my mouth" the unending calling Adam "gaunt" and "beautiful" in the same sentence. I feel fine. If the book ended like 250 pages sooner, I probably wouldn't have been that mad about it tbh. Yes I'm confused about when they went from people who couldn't stand to be in the same room together because they were competing for Gansey's affection...(again, this is a FACT) to being in love, but I've also decided that they are teenage boys and this is something that makes them compatible.
I don't like Opal. I still don't like her. A lot of my feelings have changed since reading CDTH but actually, not the inclusion of Opal.
And I still can only count one sleeper, unless Gwenllian was the second sleeper and Gansey was the third. Definitely willing to accept the ending with Gansey as the third sleeper, in Glendower's place, but PLEASE maggie! Please I beg of you!
EDIT 2/22: Just a thought but Aurora is a sleeper so now i can count four. this complicates matters instead of making them clearer. maybe we STILL haven’t woken all the sleepers.
Glendower is dead, and in 2016 this sent shockwaves through the entire community. Dead? Dead, and that's it. In some ways, I could have been okay with this ending, even with all the build-up, but Gansey's death complicates it. I knew Gansey was going to die. I also knew he wasn't going to stay dead. I thought (and felt even stronger when I was rereading BLLB, even though I knew the ending) that there is a simple and elegant solution to this problem; even finding Glendower, the driving force of the conflict in, at the very least books 1 and 3, dead, really very truly dead in the cave at the end of this book could have been done well. Gansey dies to save the world, or at least his world, Ronan and Adam and Noah and Matthew who is far away, and Cabeswater, what's left of it, because they have all given him so much and he has had much more life than he was supposed to have anyway, and he stays dead, like Glendower in his cave, who fled to the new world, presumably to save his world. Obviously, ideally and emotionally, Gansey becomes Glendower. Glendower saves his life in a real way, and he is Glendower reincarnated. Glendower wakes when Gansey sacrifices himself for the life of his friends and kills the demon. I could even be okay with the introduction of a demon so late in the game, instead of a third sleeper of Welsh-historical import.
I might even be okay with the way this book ends, with Cabeswater sacrificing itself for the life of Gansey so that Gansey might live again, if only we can readjust the framework of the sacrifice and say: Ronan and Adam sacrificed Cabeswater for Gansey. If only the reality of what the trees were wasn't revealed more than halfway through the last book, if only Gansey survived only his bee sting attack at the age of ten not because of time-fuckery and Noah thinking: I ought to save Gansey's life because I did it before so that he can save me and everyone and stop the demon (I like "time-fuckery" but only in theory, and when things are "time is a flat circle" in a way that isn't narratively satisfying - say Gansey time-slipping because he is a reincarnated Welsh King, but instead is actually a twice-reincarnated magical forest that lets his best friend pull stuff out of his dreams, saved because Noah realized he had to be saved in order to stop a demon - the whole thing becomes too complicated to follow. Then I feel bad, because I feel like I'm too stupid to get that I'm not supposed to follow it, but then I feel angry, because I think that maybe you should just follow through on the narrative you promised, which was largely: three sad boys, one dead one, and a psychic/not-psychic girl look for a dead Welsh king and they GET one. On the plus side, I did understand the mechanics of Gansey's death now, even if I'm not entirely sure if it means he can kiss Blue without there being repercussions in the future. God I HOPE he can kiss Blue!
Emotionally - relationships and characters and even 90% of the narrative: you can tell this is something that was worked with love, and is loved by lots of people. It's definitely loved by me. Am I still confused by a lot of the in-between of Adam and Ronan (though actually, most Adam) moving from two boys who were begrudging acquaintances because of the way they were both in love with Gansey (FACT), to boyfriends. Sure, but also the three or four chapters in the middle of the book that go:
1. I think I'm in love with Ronan, that's new since I wasn't aware I liked guys until forty-five minutes ago.
2. Sitting on Ronan's childhood bed because they're having a going away party/18th birthday party for Ronan for Matthew's benefit because things are getting Very Dangerous Around these Parts and if Ronan doesn't listen to Declan he WILL have a stroke (I loved Declan before I read Call Down the Hawk, and I want it on record that I knew all of Declan's Declanisms were because he was terrified that Ronan was going to die), thinking of something Extremely Upsetting From His Childhood, but then Ronan comes in, sits next to him on his bed, and then just....very awkwardly and tenderly...kisses Adam, and then gets up.
3. Ronan sitting on ... the deck...the roof...with Declan and them having something that looks like the first steps of reconciliation. AMAZING, spectacular.
4. Gansey telling Adam in no uncertain terms that if Adam breaks Ronan's heart then Gansey will break Adam; this is insane. Gansey is the love of my life.
5. Everyone leaving. Ronan and Adam making out, and Ronan being UNBEARABLE about the whole thing the entire time. The "I'm gonna put Adam's hands in my mouth" the unending calling Adam "gaunt" and "beautiful" in the same sentence. I feel fine. If the book ended like 250 pages sooner, I probably wouldn't have been that mad about it tbh. Yes I'm confused about when they went from people who couldn't stand to be in the same room together because they were competing for Gansey's affection...(again, this is a FACT) to being in love, but I've also decided that they are teenage boys and this is something that makes them compatible.
I don't like Opal. I still don't like her. A lot of my feelings have changed since reading CDTH but actually, not the inclusion of Opal.
And I still can only count one sleeper, unless Gwenllian was the second sleeper and Gansey was the third. Definitely willing to accept the ending with Gansey as the third sleeper, in Glendower's place, but PLEASE maggie! Please I beg of you!
EDIT 2/22: Just a thought but Aurora is a sleeper so now i can count four. this complicates matters instead of making them clearer. maybe we STILL haven’t woken all the sleepers.