she said/she said review: the raven king by maggie stiefvater

We, as you might have already gathered from Basia's W(REC)'D post about Sinner, are big fans of Maggie Stiefvater. We were therefore eagerly awaiting the release of the fourth and final installment in The Raven Cycle, and are happy to present our reviews of The Raven King for today's #throwback.

The Facts​

The Raven King, by Maggie Stiefvater
Basia rates it: 5/5
Connor rates it: 5/5

The Reviews

basia

Reading a Stiefvater book always makes me feel as if I've found a part of myself I thought I'd lost, and closing the book once I've finished leaves me feeling oddly bereft again, as if I can only hold onto the magic for as long as I'm reading the book.

The Raven King is like that, and it is so much more. It is magical and terrible and beautiful and heartbreaking all in one, and my heart aches because this series speaks so clearly to my soul and I will miss it with every fiber of my being. There are unanswered questions but ones that are not so much "plot holes" or "loose ends" but things that allow you, as a reader, to hope.

​It was exactly what an ending should be: it both satisfies and leaves you wanting. I have an indescribable longing after finishing this book, a longing for that something more, but I can't tell you what it is. I don't long for something from Maggie; it's something else, something both related and unrelated to the book and the series as a whole.

​The book hangover is going to be so, so real. Thanks for the ride, Stiefvater. Excelsior.

connor

That's all there is. 

... Or, too put it in many more words: reading Stiefvater is always a curious experience. Something about her prose grabs my imagination so thoroughly that when I finish one of her novels, I feel simultaneously completely listless and completely, utterly content and at ease. 

The Raven King is no different--it's the sort of novel you want to BE. The sort of novel that it takes a series to get to because it takes a series for you to know the characters and for the characters to know each other in the way that makes a novel like this even possible. The sort of novel with the conversations you recognize from your own friendships that run deep and strong and true. The sort of novel that has her characters wrestle to describe the same things you wrestle to describe. 

Everything belongs. Everyone belongs. Every moment is where it needs to be, and when you close this book the last puzzle piece of Henrietta, Blue Sargent, and her Raven boys falls into place. 

Ah, you say. Of course.

That's all there is.