REVIEW: the raven king, by maggie stiefvater

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
on April 26th 2016
Pages: 439
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Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted.

For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey… and is certain she is destined to kill him.
Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.

the raven king is emotional, unexpected, and more than what i’d ever dreamed it’d be.

series finales always worry me. i can’t wait to read them, but i also don’t want to read them for fear of disappointment and the knowledge that we won’t ever hear about these characters ever again. how morbid. but THE RAVEN KING is one of those rare conclusions that not only continue the story after the end, but also enhanced all the previous novels. it made all the previous books make much more sense.

i’d found the first three raven cycle books to be kinda murky and mysterious. the story follows a group of prep school boys and a psychic’s daughter to find a dead welsh king? it’s not exactly fantasy and it’s not exactly contemporary; it just is. but what am i really reading?????? all previous foreshadowing and misinterpreted references become clear. it’s like a veil is lifted and i suddenly UNDERSTAND. it’s so evident that maggie stiefvater knew how the story would play out before even starting THE RAVEN BOYS. everything just clicked together and the story was whole.

“I just want you to look at your future as a world where anything is possible.” (pg. 75, ebook)

the main thing that kept me entrapped in the series were the characters. each and every one of our characters are uniquely themselves. by the final book, you’d expect them to just be themselves but like real people, they continued to be infinitely complex and human. gansey, ronan, adam, noah, and blue are stripped apart (metaphorically) and we finally finally see them as who they are under these dire situations. it made me love them even more. a new-ish character is also introduced and I LOVE HIM. the relationships are great; the characters are great; everything is great.

“Humans were such tricky and complicated things. (pg. 371, ebook)

the most unexpected aspect of this experience (aka reading TRK) is how emotionally invested i was. if i’m being completely honest, the first three books left me feeling neutral. i enjoyed the story and cared for our characters, but that was just… it? but even from the prologue of TRK, i knew this book was going to be different. every other chapter made my hair stand on its end, made me take a moment to stop the rising tears, made me feel like my lungs were going to burst from the internal screams. it was strange and scary and exciting and refreshing, especially since i hasn’t felt this way about a book in a loooooooong time.

“When you dream, do you dream of the stars?” (pg. 288, ebook)

if you’d asked me before reading THE RAVEN KING, i’m not sure if i would recommend the series to you. not because i didn’t like it or anything, but because i felt that the strangeness might not be everyone’s cup of tea. but now? GO READ THIS SERIES. the writing is so good. the pacing is so good. the characters are so good. everything is so good. i usually try to be critical with my reviews, but there’s nothing i can say wrong about this conclusion. THE RAVEN CYCLE deserves all the hype it gets.

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