Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven King
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: 26th April 2016
Rating: ★★★★✰

Summary: 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.

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This post may contain spoilers for earlier books in the series! (but not The Raven King itself)

 

Review:

The Raven King is the final book in the amazing Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. If you loved the other books in this series, you’ll like this book also. This book is a good close to the series, however it was lacking in some aspects.

My favourite part of this novel, as well as the rest of the series, is the characters. This book features a character driven plot and the everyone really come to life in this final book. The friendship between the Raven Boys and Blue is amazing, and I loved reading about their camaraderie. I’m so sad to be leaving these wonderful characters behind.

Also, Blue is a fresh take on a main female protagonist; she’s opinionated, brave, sensible and a bit weird. Plus, the main cast is a diverse group that mesh together effortlessly. Even if they spend as much time arguing with each other as they do enjoying each others’ company. However, there were a couple new characters who materialised in this finale. This seemed odd to me and characters which were mentioned in the previous books suddenly appeared as important to the plot.

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“The head is too wise. The heart is all fire.”

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300 Fox Way is a lovely little household in a town full of magic and mystery. Although it’s a small place which Blue dreams of escaping, I can’t help but love it. Maggie’s writing is whimsical and the whole universe is dreamlike which makes reading this series entertaining. It makes a change to be completely removed from your normal life. Even though I like the writing in this book, I still found it slow at times (which is something I also picked up on in the previous books). There’s a lack of action propelling this book forward, with the build in events gradual. I understand that this is the style of the book, but a part of me wished for something extra to keep me hooked.

I adore this series a lot and even though it was a disappointing conclusion to the series, I don’t love it any less. Yes, there are certain things that happened that I wish hadn’t and things I wish had occurred differently. As a result this is my least favourite book in the series. Yet, I still won’t hesitate to recommend this series to fellow book lovers. Falling in love with the characters in this novel has been such a enjoyable experience that I don’t regret picking this series up.