Call Down the Hawk (the Dreamer Trilogy, Book 1): Volume 1 (Dreamer Trilogy) Hardcover – November 5, 2019

This book was a HUGE disappointment!Let me start off by saying, that I’ve read The Raven Cycle multiple times, it is one of my favorite series. I was eagerly awaiting The Dreamer Trilogy, and it breaks my heart to say this, but the magic is gone. Call Down The Hawk is dead and lifeless in so many places, that it is unfathomable. The parts that do sparkle, get bogged down by boredom, frustration, and absolute tedium.Spoilers Ahead:The biggest lie we were told about this book, was that it could be read without having read The Raven Cycle. That is a fallacy. The Raven Cycle bleeds into virtually every corner of this novel. From the Lynch family dynamics, to Ronan/Adam, Gansey’s texts, Opal, the ley line, Cabeswater now re-born as Lindenmere. It is impossible for a new reader to come to this book and have a meaningful experience, without having read the previous four installments, just as it is impossible for a long-time reader to come to it, and pretend what came before it, does not exist, which in some cases, is exactly what we’re asked to do, that is what makes this new trilogy so frustrating. Maggie Stiefvater should never have tried to separate them. These two stories are connected by blood, and should be treated as such.The biggest narrative failure in Call Down The Hawk is Carmen and Parsifal. These two characters are bland, boring, and just flat-out unnecessary. They are so disconnected from the rest of the action, that this book would have been a much tighter, powerful and compelling read, had the Farooq-Lane sections just been omitted entirely.A word to the wise, if your going to create a spin-off series, and not bring back beloved characters, at least make sure the new characters you introduce are just as riveting. Sadly, Carmen and Parsifal are not those characters. They are a misfire on every level. The Moderators and Visionary stories could have been told, but in small doses. Instead, it gets dragged out and the pacing of the novel is greatly damaged as a result. Worst of all, is that their storyline is made-up of nothing, but rambling filler, including Parsifal hiding in the bathroom, and than pining for and than shunning Bienenstich.I don’t understand how this was created. Parsifal has got to be the most useless character I’ve ever read. He serves no purpose, other than to annoy Carmen. His one vision that proves useful, only serves to lead her to another Visionary. And than he dies.Which brings me to Liliana. Another new character we don’t care about, who spends most of the time wandering around, interacting with more characters we don’t care about. If the intent was to pair Carmen and Liliana all along, what was the purpose of her and Parsifal at the beginning? This whole storyline feels completely and utterly pointless.One of the frustrations, while slogging through their chapters, was that so many characters in this novel are struggling with their identity, Declan, Adam, Matthew, Jordan, that I kept thinking how rich and rewarding would it have been to see Gansey, whom at the end of The Raven King, was brought back to life, by Cabeswater, a different person. We are never told how he changed, only that he was re-shaped into something new. If your going to have Carmen/Parsifal, who are essentially, an island story anyway, why not instead show Gansey and Blue on their road trip, as he slowly discovers what about him is different. He just returned from the dead a second time, remade by magic and his friend’s love, he’s a new Gansey, a different Gansey. And since so much of this story is about copies and originals, it seems he’d fit right in. Unfortunately, we only get to see him and Blue in texts, while Carmen/Parsifal/Liliana, and their backstories, clogged-up a third of the novel.The biggest disappointment was Ronan’s story, which is ironic, since this new trilogy is supposed to be about him. Ronan has no arc in this book, unless you count his constant moping. He basically just stumbles from one situation into another. First, Harvard, then The Fairy Market, then Hennessy’s house. That does not a cohesive arc make. I suppose, his decision at the end, that he only wants to dream originals and not copies is meant to be something, but it is not enough for me. And his ponderous conversations with Bryde didn’t help. After the sixth one, I wanted to yell....ENOUGH ALREADY! The magic of The Raven Cycle was the interaction between the characters, and I felt the Ronan/Bryde story paled in comparison. Ronan is someone who lost his father, has a strained relationship with his older brother. If the intent of Bryde was to create a father/son dynamic, it failed miserably, because Bryde is not a character, he is just a voice, an empty vessel. Compare this to the introduction of The Gray Man in The Dream Thieves, another new character, another force-to-be-reckoned with, but unlike Bryde, he is fully fleshed-out. We slowly begin to see the layers peeled back from him, revealing his history and personality, and he, through baby steps, is integrated with the other characters, that by the end, he is a part of the fabric of the story. I could not become attached to the Ronan/Bryde relationship, because one of them does not exist, he is a blank slate.Hennessy’s backstory was so convoluted and her relationship with her copies so emotionally vapid, that I could not get attached to them either. I feel like this could have been a very powerful story, one about family and individuality, but it was executed all wrong. If we had not had to endure the Farooq-Lane sections, I feel more time could have been spent developing Hennessy’s copies, giving them their own distinct personalities. Instead, we are told, one is the angry one, one is the practical one, because those are the parts of Hennessy that manifested in them. That’s the cheap and easy way out. I was sorely disappointed. If this dynamic had been developed in the way the women of Fox Way were (Maura, Calla, Blue, Orla, and Persephone), and we had seen the powerful bonds of sisterhood, when the brutal massacre occurs at the end. It would have been devastating. Instead, I felt nothing.When you think about it, the whole novel builds to a giant pile of nothing.We are told at the beginning, that Bryde is a dreamer, 469 pages later, we still don’t know who he is, where he comes from, or what he wants.We are told at the beginning, that the world is going to burn, 469 pages later, we still don’t know why, when, or who is going to cause it.We learn Declan is not Aurora’s son, but we never see him meet the woman in the painting, who is his birth mother.We are...quite belatedly, introduced to a abstract concept called The Lace, that’s supposed to be terrifying, but we don’t know what the hell it is.We never know the source of the nightwash, or why it plagues the dreamers. Why is it that Niall could travel all over the world, but Ronan can’t even leave home?Instead, we are force-fed meaningless scenes, with more new characters we don’t give a damn about, including the backstories of every character Liliana bumps into and kills, and Adam playing cards with The Crying Club.It’s stated that Ronan and Adam talk on the phone every night. Yet, when Ronan visits him at Harvard the next day, he doesn’t recognize his voice, because Adam has now hidden his accent. What’s going on here? Is Adam using a fake accent at school all day, and his real one, at night with Ronan? Even if that’s the case, why would Adam put on the charade in front of Ronan, when they’re reunited on the walkway? IT MAKES NO SENSE!Also, why didn’t Ronan consult with the women of Fox Way, when Bryde first began speaking to him, in order to discover who he was, and whether or not he should trust him? Or better yet, why didn’t he take Hennessy to have a session with them, in order to discover what The Lace was, and why it was tormenting her? It seems Calla’s psychometry would really have come in handy here. Instead, he just fumbled around in the dark, grasping for answers. Stiefvater’s insistence that this new trilogy be it’s own thing, leads to huge gaps in logic for some of the characters, and a total insult of intelligence to the reader...and it’s a shame.At the end, we are given no answers, no resolutions, and no payoffs for what we just read. Instead, everyone jumps on a hoverboard, with shimmering swords, and goes over a waterfall. Talk about anti-climatic.Now for the good stuff:Honestly, Declan and Jordan were the saving grace of this novel. Their story was fresh and fascinating. Jordan, a dream, living her whole life as someone else, slowly coming into her own, and Declan who has been static for so long, slowly coming alive. Their scenes together were a joy to read, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m also intrigued by Declan’s backstory and his relationship with his birth mother and how The New Fenian fits into the mix. His and Declan’s hug was heartbreaking. The Fairy Market scenes and the haunting image and power of The Dark Lady were magical to behold and brought this new series the closest I felt it got to recapturing the wonder of The Raven Cycle.Ronan and Adam’s scenes were precious. I wish there had been more of them. At least with Adam, Ronan felt alive and animatedMatthew’s discovery of what he is...was a gut-punch. I eagerly await his journey of forming his own identity.This was supposed to be a story about the Lynch brothers and when the novel focuses on them, it works. When it doesn’t, it falters.Speaking of family, the idea that Gansey and Blue would learn Adam is missing and Ronan and his brothers are being hunted by a group of government backed assassins, and not jump on a plane to help them, is insulting. I heard Maggie Stiefvater say she doesn’t want to write The Raven Cycle again, no one is asking her to write The Raven Cycle again, but as I said before, these stories are connected, and out of respect for the characters and the readers, when you write four books about friends who are willing to die for each other, who bring one of their own back from the dead, to get a phone call, like the one they got from Ronan and have them not appear in the rest of the trilogy is pathetic. What are they going to do, go sight-seeing in Oregon, while Ronan is being hunted, and Adam has vanished into the ether? THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL, THEY WOULD STAY AWAY!At the end of The Raven Boys, I was emotionally invested in everything. Gansey’s fate, Blue’s kiss, Adam’s deal with Cabeswater, Ronan’s dreams, Noah’s existence.At the end of Call Down The Hawk, I’m at a crossroads, caring about certain things and not others. The things I look forward to seeing unfold...Ronan/Adam, Declan/Jordan, Matthew, the twisted Lynch family history. The things I don’t care about...Carmen/Liliana, The Moderators, The Visionairies, The Crying Club, Bryde, The Lace, The end of the freaking world. I just hope in the next installment...the magic returns.

Most of the reviews here seem to come from diehard Maggie fans, so my goal is to provide a more balanced and, perhaps, critical review of “Call Down the Hawk.” (And warning, there are some spoilers here.)First of all, I liked it. It’s good escapist fare, and it continues (partly) the saga of the “Raven Boys,” and features Stiefvater’s highly creative imagination and colorful use of language. It was fun “getting together” with some of the old characters again.On the more “mixed” or negative side: The plot is simply implausible in places, the characters and the writing suffer occasionally from “teen lit” failings—one-dimensional “superhero” and “super-villain” characters who possess extreme and unrealistic traits, speak in hyperbolic ways, and frequently possess knowledge and skills that exceed their chronological age by decades (this is a failing of John Green novels as well). In addition, I have some observations about Stiefvater’s handling of GLBT characters and her handling of sexuality more generally (hint: Ronan is the most “non-gay” gay character I’ve ever encountered). Finally, the ending of this book was unsatisfying, in my opinion, with a “sword and sorcerer” teeny-bopper tone that was quite anticlimactic.First, a few plot implausibilities:Á la Jordan: If you’re a forger, you don’t go to parties advertising that you’re a forger. The forger’s friend is secrecy, not publicity.If Gansey and Blue knew that Ronan and his family were facing life-threatening circumstances back home, they would be on a plane back to DC. And what happened to Blue’s family?—wouldn’t Ronan be in contact with them at some point. They are psychics, after all?Declan wouldn’t simply have deserted his trashed and exposed townhouse, as he does at the end of the novel.Why is Farooq-Lane—a “newbie”—left with an “asset” as valuable as Parsifal?Use of language in the book:In general, I like Stievater’s writing. But sometimes there are “clunkers” that should have been eliminated or altered by a good copyeditor (perhaps Stievater resisted). For example, when Jordan is introduced in Chapter 4, she is described as “a young woman with eyes like a miracle and a smile like a nuclear accident.” A nuclear accident?—a smile like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island? That can’t be right. I know what she means, but it’s not expressed well. And in Chapter 9: There was “a chandelier large enough to gain sentience” and Breck Myrtle “was not bad with a knife, and nuclear rage lent him super-powers.” There’s something too “cutesy” and “teen lit” in writing like this, in my opinion. And such writing occurs a lot in this book.Hyberbolic, over-the-top characters:Example: In Chapter 66, Ramsey (an obnoxious, character who likes to say, “Badda boom, badda bing”) is described as follows: “In LinkedIn, he could sound like a frat boy in the five different languages most commonly used in the global business market. Farooq-Lane could also speak in [those]…five different languages….” I guess they were also Rhodes Scholars, had received NSF graduate fellowships, and had received McArthur “genius” awards on top of it.GLBT portrayals:As I said at the start, Ronan is the most “non-gay” gay character I’ve encountered in a work of fiction. He’s a brawler and an “anti-fashion” type whose primary interests seem to be cars, racing, and getting drunk. He’s stereotypically masculine in many ways, and “feminine” in none that I can discern. In short, he’s like no gay man I’ve ever known, and I’ve known a lot. You might argue that Stiefvater wanted to portray a non-stereotypic gay character, but then there’s this: Adam’s “queer” friends at Harvard are portrayed in quite stereotypic ways: Eliot speaks in a “breezy” way; Gillian “wore a tie knotted with more certainty and polish than Ronan ever had”; and Fletcher speaks in a “plummy” voice (is that a nice way of saying “fruity”?), etc.In terms of sexuality more generally, Ronan and Adam are presented like characters in a romance novel, not like two high-hormone teenage guys. There’s never even a suggestion that Ronan or Adam look at other men (and, in Adam’s case, at women). Please note, they spend most of their time apart. Do they ever look at online erotica? Do they practice monogamy all the time; and chastity almost all of the time? This is just not a realistic portrayal of male sexuality. I’m sure limits are placed on Stiefvater by her publisher, but she sure doesn’t press those limits very far. In contrast, fairly graphic violence and plenty of bad language can be found throughout her novels.Character development:The example of Ronan versus Declan: Who’s boring and who’s not? (Hint: Declan, the supposedly “boring’ character, is actually quite interesting, whereas Ronan, whom many readers seem to love, is in many ways quite boring.) Some of Declan’s characteristics: He’s quite handsome, but people don’t really seem to notice (“Right!” he said with a theatrical eye roll). Declan turns out to be quite knowledgeable and well-read about art, and other things. He’s traveled around the world earlier in his life with his ne’er-do-well father and has participated in secret and dangerous black markets for exotic goods. He’s served as guardian and substitute parent for his younger brothers and has read child-rearing books to be a good “father figure” to Matthew. He owns and manages a townhouse, goes to college, and works as a political intern. In short, Declan sounds like a quite interesting person, to me, even if he hides a lot of who his is. And remember, Declan took on all of his responsibilities despite the fact that “Dad always loved Ronan best.” (Lightbulb flash: Declan is into art, dressing fashionably, and child rearing. HE is really the gay brother!)Ronan, in contrast, does not seem to have any real hobbies or interests, other than perhaps cars, racing, drinking, and Adam. Ronan is a kind of a “one note” guy emotionally—angry and off-putting. (Indeed, if Ronan “bared his teeth” at someone one more time, I thought he would richly deserve to be punched in the teeth.) Granted, Ronan is a “dreamer”—and this is where his creativity shines. But being a dreamer is not a choice, as I understand it. He MUST dream. Oh, I forgot another of Ronan’s interests: He likes Latin. However, this is primarily because this was the language that his beloved dream trees in Cabeswater and, later, in Lindenmere, used to speak to him.Also, Ronan curses a lot. (I have no problem with cuss words, but in Ronan’s case it gets tiresome after a point.) Ronan seems to be emotionally stunted in the sense he never learns to modulate his language depending on the people he’s with or the setting he’s in, and he has to refer to the people and dream objects he loves with foul words. He’s not stupid—he went to a good prep school. So, why is he such an angry and indiscriminate “garbage mouth” all the time? And is this the admirable trait of a sexy “bad boy,” or an annoying trait that, one hopes, he grows out of?Unresolved plot issues: By the end of this book, we really don’t have the slightest idea of who or what Bryde is (despite Ronan’s conjectures); we don’t know why the dreamers are leaking “nightwash” if they don’t dream frequently enough; we have very little sense of the interconnection between dreamers and visionaries, or the “metaphysics” of how they operate; we don’t know why the “Moderators” actually believe the “end of the word” scenario that they use to justify indiscriminate murder. So much is left hanging. I believe more should have been resolved and revealed.And then people go floating off on a magic hoverboard, brandishing magic swords (when they’re not schmoozing in diners outside DC eating apple fritters).Go figure!P.S. I assume Jordan is black, although it's never made explicit. She seems a somewhat odd "choice" for Declan to fall for--after all, he seems to be staid, conservative, and worried about appearances, whereas Jordan, in contrast, is black, brash, covered in tattoos, and wears lace bustiers and leather a lot. Talk about "the odd couple." However, the issue of race is never addressed explicitly at any point. Stiefvater seems to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when dealing with "hot" social issues such as sexual orientation and race. People don't mention these things and don't seem to notice them, and the "in group" (such as Adam, Gansey, and Blue) are enlightened souls who, of course, couldn't care less about such things (even though much of the story is set in rural Virginia). Of course, this is not how the real world operates. The issue that Stiefvater seems most comfortable dealing with is class and wealth differences. Even here, though, it's largely a fantasy world that Stiefvater creates. Do Declan, Ronan, and Matthew ever seem to worry about mundane things like paying the electric or gas bills? As in Ronan's dreams, money just seems "to grow on trees."P.P.S. And how the hell does Declan know/infer/conclude he is the son of Mor O Corra? There's a lot of this in the book: Characters just "know" things, almost by divine revelation. For example, Ronan just "knows" when Hennessy is lying at certain points. Ronan just "knows" that Hennessy's "Lace" is a demon. (This is both funny and problematic in that: 1) the reader would not not have any sense what a "demon" was unless he/she/they had read "Raven Boys" and, even those who have read "Raven Boys" don't have a very clear sense of what "demons" are [they seem to be very bad beings in "psychic space" that try to get out and do bad things to people--particularly, dreamers--and they sometimes take the form of weird wasp-like entities]). It would be disappointing if, in her new books, Stiefvater replays the "destructive demon" narrative.

This book (and it's sequel) are so goo, so good, SO GOOD that it left me screaming when I finished it. As always, Ronan is an interesting case because he's the kind of person that I would hate in real life, but can appreciate when I have access to his thoughts in fiction. Declan, on the other hand, is my spirit animal. And it was a delightto have more of Matthew.

I love Maggie's books and I want to know what will happen next for these characters. Hoping for the second book soon

Es una edición hermosa, pero la portada se ve un poco opaca en lugar del brillo que debería tener.El libro está en buenas condiciones.

This is one of my favorite books, so I already knew I'd like it but i didn't expect the paperback to be so pretty! all in all great

My most anticipated book of 2019, and it exceeded all my (already unbelievably high) expectations! I've been an admirer of Stiefvater's writing for years, and Call Down the Hawk was a delight just like every one of her other books.