Book Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

12:00 PM


The Raven King
by Maggie Stiefvater
E-book edition, 400 pages
Published April 26th, 2016 by Scholastic
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The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

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.

In a starred review for Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Kirkus Reviews declared: "Expect this truly one-of-a-kind series to come to a thundering close."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378527-the-raven-king

"This was the year he was going to die.”

Here we are. After 4 books and countless broken hearts, we're finally at the end. I finally brace myself and read this book. And I have to admit, it was both dissapointing and amazing as a finale.

I'm really thrilled that the pace really picks up in this book. It wasn't as slow as the other books on the first half, and it picks up even more on the second half. So many things are happening I literally speed reading my book because I can't wait to know what happened next.

The stakes are also getting higher, with the Demon awakened on the last book. It basically has affected all the women in 300 Fox Way and the sleepy old town Henrietta. It's really creepy watching the Demon hurt everyone and everything, and there are so.many.deaths. We could see how literally the whole town (maybe more) is at stake in this book!

The writing style is as gorgeous as ever. The whole experience is just surreal because of the way Maggie writes it. It's like, the whole Raven Cycle journey, I've been suspended between dreams and reality and watching everything unravel.

The relationship between the characters is really my favorite thing about this book. We could see how much they care for each other, how far they'd go to save each other. I love the friendship, but sadly I feel nothing for the romance. I mean, I feel something for Adam/Ronan, but nothing for Blue/Gansey. I guess that's because I also don't care for Blue and Gansey individually (sorry guys!)

Now here's a list of some things that I disliked about this book.
  • The Grey Man story in this book doesn't have a statisfying ending.
  • What the hell is actually happened with Noah in this book? What was the point of him staying for so long? Does he give his life for Gansey or what? SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN.
  • I've said it before, and I will say it again: Noah Czerny deserves better. All this time he's been treated as a supernatural EMF. Whenever something bad happening, Noah would go bad. His talking moment with the boys are really small, and it's like he's not even part of the gang in this book!
  • I know I said I want to know more of Henry Cheng, but that doesn't mean like this! It's like he's replacing Noah as the 4th member of the group!
  • So... if Gansey is not Glendower, than how come his voice could command the dead? Who's the voice that talking to him all those years ago when he was dying?? AND DON'T SAY MAGIC. I want an explanation of what actually happening and what is Gansey for real, and saying it's magic is such a lazy explanation.
  • Also, what the deal with the deathly blue kiss? What makes it so deadly? She kissed him and that's it? He's dead??? No explanation AGAIN??
So overall, I think it's a pretty statisfying ending. It has so many holes sure, but it was a pleasant experience reading and wandering around in pursuit for the dead welsh king.  




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11 comments

  1. Yeah! I am so glad you felt this was a satisfying conclusion to the series despite the minor plotholes. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3

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  2. Thanks for sharing, Tasya! I will make sure to start this series soon, oh my gosh, I always hear so many good things about it - and plus, a good ending to a series will motivate me even further! Thank you for the lovely review :)

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    1. I hope you'll enjoy and love this series! :)

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  3. I am so so happy that you liked this although I just cannot believe you don't care much for Blue and Gansey, my darlings. Anyway, I think the point of Noah was that he was the catalyst of it all. He was the one who set Gansey's quest in motion and gave Gansey his life in a way. I was pretty satisfied with his ending actually, but I definitely wanted more about the Grey man. Maybe there will be a spin off about him? Anyway, lovely review, Tasya!

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    1. I know, I'm a black sheep in this one *hides* I just.. never really care for them as main character, and therefore I just don't care about them being together.... I still don't understand what happened with Noah in the end?? But 99% of the time I'm not sure what's happening in this series so... maybe the understanding will come late to me like always xD Thank you Erin!

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  4. I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MCH OMGGGG. *wild happy sobbing* Although I agree there were many questions left at the end, I almost liked that? Because life rarely wraps up in a perfect bow, so this worked for me perfectly. I AM sad that Gansey wasn't well YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. I really was banking on that. And I DO wish I knew what happened to Noah! THAT ENDED ABRUPTLY. But omg my precious children, I'm so glad the ships sailed and afjdkslafdj it was just beautifully written and I want 9 more books I think.

    Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!

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    1. I get what you mean :D I don't mind open ending but there are just too many questions about the magic, and that's what I'm really curious about! I SHED A TEAR OR TWO WHEN GANSEY, YOU KNOW. Even though I didn't really care for him, but still. The gang reaction really breaks my heart.

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  5. So much for Maggie's books! Now that it's on its last book, I am in to read or marathon read the series! Great review <3

    Yani // Paper Boulevard

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  6. I really, really loved everything about this book. Even though there were questions left unanswered, I think that was okay. Life doesn't give you all the answers, and I think that by having it this way, The Raven King is more true to life than a lot of other books that finish off a series!

    I am just happy that Ronan and Adam happened. If that ship had not sailed, I would have been extremely disappointed.

    I'm glad you liked this one overall, Tasya!

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    1. Sometimes I love open ending, but this book just have too many and most of them are about the thing I'm dying to know so I'm really dissapointed in that matters :( YES! That ship is my otp in this book!<33

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