“He danced on the knife’s edge between awareness and sleep. When he dreamt like this, he was a king. The world was his to burn.”
Summary:
The ley lines have been awakened, but Cabeswater is dying for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, Ronan has been having nightmares and difficulty controlling his dreams, and this sequel continues characters’ journeys from the first book while introducing several new players who threaten the existence of the ley lines.
***Genre: Young adult, Paranormal
***Note: This is the SECOND book in the Raven Cycle. Review for the first book here.
My thoughts:
I must say, this is a tricky one to review. I enjoyed this installment more than the first, yet I found it difficult to differentiate between the two books as they both suffer from a lack of plot and character motivation. However, this book is the more cohesive of the two, and that’s because it presents a clear theme and villain at its forefront.
For example, the antagonist is highly reminiscent of the Joker from The Dark Knight. Apologies for such a cliche reference, but the villain harbors a hatred of himself and of the world that he desperately wants validated by someone like Ronan (a.k.a. Batman lol), and this nihilistic dichotomy spurs Ronan to reflect upon himself and ultimately shed his own self-hatred, a character development that I thought was very smartly done.
Furthermore, the plot still feels rather lax at times, but the author alleviates such flaws by the channeling paranormal events of this book to mirror the inner turmoil of these characters. This made the plot feel not only much less random, but it also served to unify character arcs under one thematic umbrella by tapping back into such core themes of mirrors and self-hatred, thus reinforcing the cohesiveness of this book as a whole.
In that, I’d endeavor to say this book is simply an enhancement of the first. There’s little for me to add considering the plot isn’t defined by any drastically different conflict or events from the first book, yet it feels more driven and deliberate as a result of the unifying conflicts under one reoccurring theme and villain.
“It’s only you,” whispered Orphan Girl. She was holding his hand, crouched down next to him. “Why do you hate you?”
Recommended? Ja.
Once again, the author blows the roof off with her beautifully cerebral prose. Such poetic intricacy might not be so apparent to the virgin reader, yet you can tangibly feel layers being peeled away from these characters as you read, and such complexity was particularly delightful to unearth upon subsequent re-readings of the series.
Not to mention, there’s a terrific web of implication when it comes to character relationships in this book. Blue and Adam’s dynamic was deliciously volatile, Maura’s love interest pleasantly unexpected, and the hints of romantic jealousy between Ronan and a certain other is highly intriguing to unravel: there’s an odd sort of “wrong makes right” chemistry to every single pairing in this book, and I loved that.
Therefore, I’d most definitely recommend this book if you loved the first. I have nothing to say in regards to the plot as it still feels quite loose and aimless, but the author does a much better job honing this sequel to feel cohesive, so kudos for that.
Bottom line: It’s getting better.
The lack of structure to these books makes it difficult for me to distinguish between individual installments. However, with this one, the author built upon the strengths of the first book (stellar prose and characters) while alleviating its flaws (via reoccurring theme and villain), so I give this book at least a strong 4 stars.
Rating: 4/5 frogs
***By the way, I died laughing when Ronan threw Noah out the window. Literally the highlight of the series for me. Oh, and I still love Adam so much; I didn’t think the author could elevate his complexity or angst any more than before, but she did. Yasss.
***And whoop, I knocked out the first two Mistborn books this week! About to finish the trilogy tonight, but Lord help me because my expectations are sky high.
I am planning on reading this series sometime soon. Haven’t read any of the author’s books yet.
Really glad to hear you are enjoying it so far, fingers crossed the third book in the series, you are reading at the moment will deliver a satisfying finale! 😊
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Thank you so much! 😀
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Great review! I completely agree with you on all accounts. I still have trouble distinguishing what happens in each book of the series, but this one is most definitely one of the more standalone installments. Glad to hear your reading of Mistborn is going well!
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Aww thank you! I’m glad you agree! And yes, Mistborn is turning out a lot better than I expected; it deserves the hype. 😉 Thanks for dropping by!
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I love how intricate and detailed your reviews are!! I’m glad you enjoyed this more than the first! And I really love the Joker in The Dark Knight movie, your comparison to it is making me want to read this series even more! ❤️
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Aww, thank you so much! That means a lot! 😀 ❤
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I’m so so glad you enjoyed this one more!! 😀 I definitely did too (though yeah the whole series has some plotting issues- so fair point). But yes this is more cohesive and I love how you describe it as batman vs the joker lol! And I loved the hints of Ronan’s romantic jealousy (man, I ship it!) Awesome review!
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Haha yes, Dark Knight was the first thing that popped up into my head while reading this book (lol classic me), and me too, I totally ship it! 😀 Thanks!
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hehe I get that 😉 Awesome!! You’re welcome! 🙂
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I totally agree with you, I enjoyed this book more then the first + yes the writing is just amazing! Also yay to the two books of Mistborn. I WILL get to them someday haha. Great review!
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Haha yes, the writing never gets old, it’s so good. And thank you so much!!
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I enjoyed this book much more than the first book. I had a hard time getting into The Raven Boys, but this one was more cohesive. The entire series doesn’t balance plot well, but the character development is extremely well-done.
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Same! It was really difficult for me too, and even with this one, I kept on wondering, “So…what’s the conflict?” It’s only when I got to the third book that I started to think, “Eh, why fight it?” and I began to enjoy it more. But I agree, the characters are amazing! It’s kind of a shame the plot didn’t support them as much. Thanks for commenting! 🙂
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Amazing review!! Really curious now. Oh, Mistborn series! When am
i going to start that!!!
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Thank you so much!!! And I do hope you get to Mistborn sometime; the first book was pretty good, but the second was positively nerve-wracking haha! 😀
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Awesome review! I’m really intrigued by this series now. Sounds exciting!
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Thank you! 😀
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I see “ja” instead of yes, are you dutch? 😱😏
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Haha nope! I thought it meant “yes” in German (apparently it’s Dutch?) but yeah, I was just having fun with different languages. I get bored writing my reviews sometimes, and my goofy random side just slips out. 😉
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Hihi yes it’s Dutch! But I think that it also means yes in German 😄👌🏻
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Whew! It would’ve been embarrassing if I got my language wrong XD Oh btw, are YOU Dutch? Just wondering. 🙂
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Hahahaha 😂 Yes I’m Dutch! ☺️
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Kay kay, gotcha 😉 ❤
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And you are German? Or are you learning German?
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Nope! I think I just watch too many WWII movies and random German just slips out lol. You? Do you speak Dutch
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Yes I speak Dutch 😄 I was born and raised here 🇳🇱 And that’s awesome haha, I always watch those with my dad 😊
From what part of Asia are you from?
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Ooh, that’s awesome! I grew up in the midwest part of the States, so I knew a ton of Dutch-heritage people growing up. 😀 (Oh, and I’m from Korea)
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Ooh that’s cool! 😄 It’s really nice to get to know you ♥️
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Same here! 😉 ❤
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(Btw I’m Asian)
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Also, a really awesome review!! 😄
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Thank you!!! ❤
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Love the Batman connection 🙂 This series just keeps getting better and better!
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Haha thanks! And yes, it does! 😀
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Wonderful review! I loved this book! It was by far my favorite in the series! And I love the Batman connection! That’s certainly a unique way to think of it, but you are so right! I love the strange dynamic between Ronan and Kavinsky!
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Thank you so much! Yes, I really liked how contained this installment was as Kavinsky is the most intriguing villain in the series I think. And agreed, the dynamic between Ronan and Kavinsky was terrific! It was a rather sad relationship if I really think about it, but it made me scratch my head at times, and I loved that. 😀
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