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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Technically a re-read, but I barely remembered my first time through.
Rating: 3.5/5
Pages:
Started: June 22
Finished: June 23
Summary:
Every time Jordan Henessey dreams, she brings back another perfect copy of herself--and she only has three more copies to go before it kills her. As she and her copies navigate the world of art forgeries and magical forgeries, they can all feel the clock ticking.
The Lynch brothers, the Brothers Lynch. Declan, boring as a mask and hopelessly in love with art. Ronan, harsh for the same reason, a dreamer, and hopelessly in love with his boyfriend. And Matthew, illogically effervescent, probably because he's a product of one of Ronan's dreams. No matter how hard they try, none of the boys can stop dreaming.
Carmen Farooq-Lane joined her mysterious governemnt organization because she thought she'd be saving the world. Instead, she's babysitting a petulant teenager called Parsifal, who happens to be the world's current visionary. When he finally produces a vision that leads them to another dreamer, a Zed, Farooq-Lane has to reconsider where she draws the line between heroism and harm.
Thoughts:
Maggie Stiefvater's writing is the novel-equivalent of a semicolon. Wholly separate images are beautifully connected without the need for any complete conglomeration. It's a gorgeous thing to read, and every time I pick up one of her books, I am more impressed by her way with images. Her plot elements are similarly connected, with lots of characters living in different worlds, existing on different paths, and yet irrevocably connected. The settings (i.e. the Fairy Market) and systems (like dreaming, and the government organization with its visionaries) she creates are stunning, complex and endlessly cool. Her characters are also really fun; their aesthetics and personalities are distinct without feeling trite or stereotypical.
All that being said, this book was missing something. The Raven Cycle series was incredible because it combined a tangible quintessence with found family, culminating in something that readers could care deeply about. Call Down the Hawk certainly had ethos and style, but it lacked scenes or relationships that felt giddy. This book was beautiful, but I could contain myself while reading it. The characters didn't quite seem to understand each other--Farooq Lane was at a loss with Parsifal, Declan was at a loss with Ronan, Jordan was at a loss with Hennesey--and that made me really sad. I experience far too much trying-to-get-an-unresponsive-person-to-cooperate in my own life, so I would very much prefer to read about (at least comparatively) perfect communication and understanding.
Another problem I had was that, in TRC, dreaming was a superpower. Once Ronan got good at it, he was competent and brilliant and it made me so happy. So the fact that dreaming became something dangerous, something to be afraid of, in this book, made me really sad. I like my competence at full force, and that did not come through. That doesn't mean I won't finish the series--I look forward to reading Mister Impossible soon. It did take me a while to get into The Raven Cycle, so maybe it will just take another book before I feel fully connected to/invested in this series.
Words:
Diffident (adj) modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence
Puerile (adj) silly or childish, especially in a way that signifies a lack of good judgement