Sunday 1 May 2016

The Raven King - Review




Book Review:
Title: The Raven King
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic

“He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn't want it to be over.”

Read my review for the The Raven Boys (1st in series) HERE, my review for The Dream Thieves (2nd in series) HERE and my review for Blue Lily, Lily Blue HERE

This review may have some minor spoilers for the entire series.
 
All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.


I can't believe it's over. It's actually over. No more Blue. No more Gansey. No more Ronan. No more Adam. And no more Noah. What do I do with myself? I've become way too attached to these characters (like I do with every series I read) and I just don't think I'm ready to let go yet. 

However, saying that, this was quite a brilliant finale. It was action-packed from start to finish (some may argue it was too packed) and my heart was racing - and breaking - constantly throughout it. From the very first book, we've both seen and been told of Gansey's fate. Even Maggie herself said that - and I quote - 'That kid is going down.' Furthermore, I think we were told like four times within the first couple of chapters of The Raven King that Gansey was going to die. Knowing something like that really keeps you on edge. I mean, I could have easily read this book in one sitting, but the constant death reminders scared me, so I ended up reading the book over 2 days to prolong the experience and preserves Gansey's life. 

In the previous books there are little hints of romance, but it's not focused purely on that topic. This book however, has so many more 'romantic' moments with pretty much every character. Some people may not enjoy that, but I for one am a sucker for romance so I loved it. The Bluesy scenes and the Pynch scenes we got were everything I wanted and needed. So much swooning! 
The relationships as a whole within the gang, both romantic and platonic, are just inspiring. They always had each others backs. They always saw the best in each other. And they would die for each other. Literally. It's the kind of friendship you strive for in life.

The Raven King is without a doubt my favourite book of the series, but I did have one little issue with it. I wanted more Noah! Noah is my son. My precious Cinnamon Roll. And I felt dissatisfied with how much Noah we got in this book. It felt like he had been pushed to the side as a minor character, and I didn't like that. Some might disagree with me, but that's just my personal view. If we had more Noah, this would definitely be a five star read, but unfortunately due to that issue I can only give it 4.5 stars, which to be honest is still an amazing rating. 

Other than that, I cannot fault this book. Maggie Stiefvater knew exactly what she was doing. I think the direction that this book took was done well and even though it completely shattered my heart, I wouldn't change anything (apart from having more Noah, obviously.)

So, I guess those are my views about this finale. I haven't spoken much about the plot, because I don't think I can say anything without spoiling it, but in short, I loved it!
It's sad to say goodbye to such a fantastic series, yet I'm excited to see what Maggie has in store for us next. And hopefully, she *might* consider writing about the gang again? (One can dream)


4.5 Stars
Goodreads

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