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A review by claudcloud
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Gansey was aware on a certain level that the description was melodramatic, heightened, illogical. But on a deeper level, it felt true, and familiar, and like it explained much of Gansey’s life. It was how he felt about Ronan and Adam and Noah and Blue. With each of them, it had felt instantly right: relieving. Finally, he’d thought, he’d found them. We instead of you and me."
How do I even begin to describe what finishing this series feels like? By taking a leaf out of its own book(s), I suppose.
No pomp. No grandeur. Just an ordinary Sunday, at ordinary 5:38 PM, me reading the last few lines and yet feeling like my life has been completely turned upside down - irrevocably so. It was me and a book, holding its final pages, wanting to get to the end to find out how it goes, and not wanting it to ever be over.
What can I even say to describe how much I liked reading this? I’ve said in in pretty much all my previous reviews, but I’ll say it again because it just needs to be said: I cannot believe how fast I got attached to this story and these characters. I could talk for hours about what all these kids mean to me and how their stories, individually and together, impacted and affected me, but I would fail to convey just how much they made me feel, and love. These four books now have my heart scattered through their pages forever. It’s hard for me to even think of what to focus on right now because the one word that pops into my head when I try is everything. Which I feel would be a little counter-productive (though I'm still not opposed to the idea HAHAH)
I'm sure you've already guessed by how much I love these kids that I was unbelievably excited about Blue and Gansey and Adam and Ronan (ADAM AND RONAN!!!!!!!!) finally getting their happy endings together - but I would say that the most important kind of love present in these books, and made even more evident by this final book in the series, is not the romantic kind. Rather, it's the bond that these characters have with each other that makes it shine, how they're always better together than they are apart, how much they all care for one another and how evident that is throughout this adventure that we go through with them. It’s the kind of love and trust that's as much inevitable as it is enormous, invincible, unshakeable, and in the end, it’s this forever bond that takes center stage and proves that friendship - real, true friendship - is the greatest magic out there.
This was truly, truly something special. And I will always remember the experience of reading it. It's so bittersweet to think that I'll never read it for the first time again (though I'm already looking forward to several, and I mean several re-reads in the future) - but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I adore it more than I can put into words.