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zannayo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Gaslighting
trintrin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is always said that second books, especially in trilogies, are supposed to be the weakest links. Why then do I always end up loving the seconds in series more than anything else. What a fantastic read to start off the new year.
Addressing the elephant in the room first. That title was the reason I didn't really want to read this series immediately after reading The Raven King, and it doesn't make it any better after finishing and loving this book. Maggie whyyyyy ಥʖ̯ಥ
Ahem, now, where do I start. This book feels so much more... cohesive? than the first one. Like the characters blend in with each other so well, in a good way. Where Call Down the Hawk was more plot-focused with splatter of good characters, this one was beautiful characters with a plot where you don't fully understand but vibe with. Sort of like a call back to TRC. Where Carmen and Parsifal didn't vibe in the first one, her and Lilliana were an outstanding duo here. Where Ronan was either on a solo mission or with his brothers in the first one, he's with Bryde and Hennessy here, and what a fantastic trio they made! I love their chemistry so much.
The highlight of this book, and the entire trilogy for me, has been Declan. What a pleasant surprise from the Declan we saw in TRC. It feels so nice to see the character you kept rooting for actually turns out to be a decent person.I respect and love him for every decision he made here, and I hope it only gets better for him from here on. All he needs to do is have a real, grown-up conversation with Matthew and marry Jordan to reach perfection. He deserves a tight hug and some warm hot chocolate.
JORDAN MY GIRLLLLLI'm so, so, so proud of her. Creating a sweetmetal all on her own? Having a heart-to-heart with Matthew and making him feel better? Knowing exactly why Declan is doing what he is doing? Girlboss behaviour, marry me please. Or marry Declan, please. That's fine too.
I felt very lukewarm about Farooq-Lane in the first one, because I loved her character, but also needed some development from her to fully adore here. And we got just that in this one.Absolutely in love with her bagging Lilliana AND dumping the Moderators in one smooth move. GO CARMEN
Matthew, what an absolute sweetheart. His POVs always ended up breaking me.I really enjoyed all of his little identity crises moments. Him talking to Jordan definitely seems to be helping, I hope he can find a way to accept his conditions. All he needs to do is have a chat with Ronan now.
HENNESSY, I cannot put into words how much I love Hennessy. She felt very different for the first half of this book. More talkative — was she always talkative? — less self-destructive misery.But then she had to go into her twisted backstory and good lord. I feel so bad for thinking miserable-Hennessy back into existence. That was actually Messed Up™ . I hope my girl gets a good, happy ending. I feel like she's going to be killed off, now that Jordan can live on her own and doesn't have to rely on her dreamer, and evil authors seems to love killing off twins, and also because Hennessy doesn't seem to have a romantic pair yet, and god it's so easy to kill her off and blame it on her non-existent raison d'être or the Lace or any of her past trauma. But I'm hoping against hope she pulls through and gets the happiness she deserves.
It is an absolute CRIME Adam Parrish is not in this book as much as I want him to be.Really got my hopes up seeing the plot venture into the very familiar ley line territory thinking our ley line expert is going to play a bigger role. Guess not. But I adored the few scenes where he did show up. Smelling out Bryde's fishiness, getting Declan to act on it, not being mad at Ronan for whatever he's doing, attempting to repeatedly scry into his dreamscape even after that disastrous phone call. Speaking of that, why does every book have to end with a cliff-hanger of Adam ༼;´༎ຶ - ༎ຶ༽ wdym he's letting his mind wander farther from his body while the ley line cut out. Adam please be okayyy. Not sure what's going on with his duckling friends but we need him to be okay to find out
Getting to the biggest part of the book, THE PLOT TWISTS. Because WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCKITY FUCK?No, in hindsight, I should've seen it coming. What are the answers to some of the major plot twists in TRC? "Ronan dreamt into being." Chainsaw? Ronan dreamt into being. Matthew? Ronan dreamt into being. Cabeswater? Ronan dreamt into being. It was so obvious, the way Bryde communicates through trees out of anything. It screams Ronan. The way he was so harsh on Ronan, but not that useful to solve Hennessy's problems, the way he was described in the same way as one of Ronan's dreamt up mindfuckery would be described. GOD the evidence was right there. Bryde, oh, Bryde. Knew he was fishy. Couldn't help liking him. Fell into the exact same trap as Ronan did. Man, I feel so sick. All Ronan wanted was just a teacher! Someone to guide him, someone who knew better than him. Fuck Niall Lynch, seriously. This is all his fault. What an asshole
Ronan, please let's just go back to being a gay catholic street-racing farmer, shall we?
Addressing the elephant in the room first. That title was the reason I didn't really want to read this series immediately after reading The Raven King, and it doesn't make it any better after finishing and loving this book. Maggie whyyyyy ಥʖ̯ಥ
Ahem, now, where do I start. This book feels so much more... cohesive? than the first one. Like the characters blend in with each other so well, in a good way. Where Call Down the Hawk was more plot-focused with splatter of good characters, this one was beautiful characters with a plot where you don't fully understand but vibe with. Sort of like a call back to TRC. Where Carmen and Parsifal didn't vibe in the first one, her and Lilliana were an outstanding duo here. Where Ronan was either on a solo mission or with his brothers in the first one, he's with Bryde and Hennessy here, and what a fantastic trio they made! I love their chemistry so much.
The highlight of this book, and the entire trilogy for me, has been Declan. What a pleasant surprise from the Declan we saw in TRC. It feels so nice to see the character you kept rooting for actually turns out to be a decent person.
JORDAN MY GIRLLLLL
I felt very lukewarm about Farooq-Lane in the first one, because I loved her character, but also needed some development from her to fully adore here. And we got just that in this one.
Matthew, what an absolute sweetheart. His POVs always ended up breaking me.
HENNESSY, I cannot put into words how much I love Hennessy. She felt very different for the first half of this book. More talkative — was she always talkative? — less self-destructive misery.
It is an absolute CRIME Adam Parrish is not in this book as much as I want him to be.
Getting to the biggest part of the book, THE PLOT TWISTS. Because WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCKITY FUCK?
Ronan, please let's just go back to being a gay catholic street-racing farmer, shall we?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
booksandstardust's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Fire/Fire injury
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Okay, very rarely does the second book get better than the first. Or maybe I've read too many series with Second Book Syndrome, I wasn't expecting this to be anything but a filler book between the beginning and the conclusion and hooo boy was I wrong. So much happens, I can't begin to point out exactly what without spoiling it but it definitely added far more context and helped answer some questions I had while presenting even more. The ending though was a complete surprise and I threw myself right into the next book as soon as possible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent
keen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident
Minor: Vomit
billyjepma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Another tepid 3.5 stars, which is annoying because it feels like Stiefvater is on the edge of doing something really big and exciting with this series without fully committing. But what she does here is still a lot of fun, and you can tell she cares deeply for this world. Granted, her fondness for her story is a two-edged sword because I think that’s what’s preventing her from making this trilogy into something bigger.
I continue to be annoyed with Ronan as a protagonist, and this book didn’t change that. He’s interesting, but only as a blunt instrument, and his motivations are too flimsy to carry the dramatic weight I need from them. He feels stuck in place for most of this book (and the last one), which means he’s once again outclassed by the supporting cast—except for Bryde, who is a shallow and tedious character, tbh. Declan, Matthew, Jordan (the love of my life), and Hennessy continue to steal the show and speak to the bigger ideas Stiefvater is playing with. Whenever they’re in the driver's seat, I’m eagerly buckled in.
The stuff I like here I love, so whenever I encounter something I don’t vibe with, it bums me out, so don’t take my complaints as condemnation because they’re not. There are some spectacular moments of imaginative (and sometimes frightening) spectacle that got my heart pumping. Even when the story started to lose me, it didn’t take long to win me back. However, I will say that the ending does not inspire much confidence in me about the final book. It throws a wrench into things that could lead to something genuinely surprising, but if it sticks to the tempo of the trilogy so far, I don’t know if it’ll resonate with me. I guess we’ll find out!
I continue to be annoyed with Ronan as a protagonist, and this book didn’t change that. He’s interesting, but only as a blunt instrument, and his motivations are too flimsy to carry the dramatic weight I need from them. He feels stuck in place for most of this book (and the last one), which means he’s once again outclassed by the supporting cast—except for Bryde, who is a shallow and tedious character, tbh. Declan, Matthew, Jordan (the love of my life), and Hennessy continue to steal the show and speak to the bigger ideas Stiefvater is playing with. Whenever they’re in the driver's seat, I’m eagerly buckled in.
The stuff I like here I love, so whenever I encounter something I don’t vibe with, it bums me out, so don’t take my complaints as condemnation because they’re not. There are some spectacular moments of imaginative (and sometimes frightening) spectacle that got my heart pumping. Even when the story started to lose me, it didn’t take long to win me back. However, I will say that the ending does not inspire much confidence in me about the final book. It throws a wrench into things that could lead to something genuinely surprising, but if it sticks to the tempo of the trilogy so far, I don’t know if it’ll resonate with me. I guess we’ll find out!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
sunsorbit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
imds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent
msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Tldr; Ronan’s self-destructiveness goes on tour, Carmen and Liliana have ideas, and Jordan and Declan look at art.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/mister-impossible.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/mister-impossible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Car accident
limiwh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse