Call Down the Hawk (The Dreamer Trilogy, Book 1) (1)

The Raven Cycle is one of my favorite series and Ronan is one of my favorite characters in YA. When I heard that there would be a spin-off series that focused a little more on Ronan (and Adam), my excitement was off the charts. This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 and I am so happy to say that it lived up to my expectations and beyond. This book is a testament to Maggie Steifvater’s literary genius. That woman has a way with words. Her diction makes words seem like new again. Stiefvater reminds us that language is not a uniform business and that it has many different stunning qualities. The language of this book is eerie, lyrical, beautiful, evocative, and singularly a product of Maggie Stiefvater. Her words are like a tidal wave of humanness wrapped in poetically blunt symbolism. The prose itself is a character and adds character to the overarching narrative. I’ve never been let down by Stiefvater’s prose and Call Down the Hawk is one of, if not the most, shining example of her writing. That’s not to say that her storytelling is easy to follow. Not really. The path Stiefvater chooses to traverse in order to tell this story is an extremely winding one. In fact, it’s a path that diverges constantly among several different characters, only to come back together again in a multitude of different places. And, enchantingly enough, each of those paths are littered with intimate revelations, powerful observations of human nature and the self, and fear of the unknown. It’s all very magical, mystical, and so very nebulous. I should have known better than to expect this book to be strictly about Ronan and Adam. Steifvater has always been about telling all her characters’ stories, and there are several of them. Yes, this book is about the dreamer Ronan, but there are other lives and stories attached to his. And so the book ends up being maybe 25% about Ronan and even less about Adam. Call Down the Hawk is just as much about Declan, Carmen Farooq-Lane, and Jordan Hennessy than it is about Ronan. At first, I was slightly bothered that there weren’t that many intimate moments between Ronan and Adam, but then I realized that was short-sighted. There is a larger story to tell. Ronan and the dreamers are being hunted and the people who are hunting them have dreams and fears of their own. And at the center of all this is a dark, impending cosmic force pressing in on them, forcing all the characters to look the unknown in the face and be very afraid. The best thing about Stiefvater’s storytelling is not just her writing, but her ability to make all her characters seem so human. Each has their own secrets, their own nightmares, their own dreams, their own burdens to bear. They all have conversations with their innermost selves to further explore the world, their existence, and their purpose within it all. I can feel every single emotion that they feel. The author makes it easy to sympathize with Declan, who just wants his brothers to be safe; to sympathize with Carmen, who just wants peace; to sympathize with Jordan Hennessy, who wants a life of her own; to sympathize with Ronan, who wishes to both keep his dreams alive and to have functioning relationships with Adam, his family, and his friends. It took me a while to get used to this new cast of characters, especially Jordan Hennessy, but as I got to swim deeper in their depths, I found myself falling for each of them, no matter what “side” they were on. They are all so very human that it’s hard to ignore all that they are and simply mark them as “good” or “bad.” The ending is foreboding and not at all the ending I expected. It whisks you away to a mysterious place with mysterious figures and an ambiguous future. I’m afraid for Ronan and his brothers, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Ronan will handle this new terror, as well as his new connection to other dreamers and his relationships with his family and Adam. One thing’s for sure though. I’ll never sleep on “dull” Declan again. There is so much more to him than meets the eye and I am FLOORED by these new revelations. All this to say that, yes, this book is fantastic and I love it to bits.

Like many of Maggie's readers, I was sucked in and fell completely in love with her characters from The Raven Cycle. Of all of them, Ronan was my favorite (second favorite was Mallory's emotional support dog - lol). It had been a long time since books or their characters affected me the way my beloved Gansey, Ronan, Blue, and the women of 300 Fox Way had - twisting me around their proverbial fingers and making me ache when the last book ended. I never re-read books. I have re-read all of those many times. All that to say, I literally whooped out loud when I found out there was to be a Ronan-centered series to follow. I was not sure what to expect from this book. "All the Crooked Saints" was something I finished out of homage to Maggie. To complete it, I had to get it on audio and then speed up the play. I just couldn't get invested in the characters. In the end, I was glad I did. It turned out to be a good story with lots of beautiful, whimsical writing. This book, well, it's very different. Different from, "All the Crooked Saints," and different from TRC. It's darker. MUCH darker. There is lots of urgency, lots of violence, lots of death. If I hadn't loved the Lynch brothers so very much in the earlier series, I am not sure how I would have reacted. You don't get whimsical English octogenarians who ramble on about homing pigeons, nor quirky heroines who eat yogurt and love trees. It's all so much more dire than a quest to find a Welch king. But I guess that's the point. Do I love this book? Yes. It has some absolutely FANTASTIC writing. The action does not slow down. Deep thoughts. Everything is balanced on a razor's edge. But I do miss having some time to breathe. I got somewhat confused with so many new characters. By the time Liliana was introduced, I thought to myself, "Oh, no, not another mysterious, deadly person!" But she tied in nicely later. Overall, I loved the book. I have it in both hardback and audio. I have little time to slow down so I would listed to the audio when I was working. The only criticism I have on the audio was Will Patton's accent for Hennessy/Jordan is awful. He could do English old man with Mallory, but his English young art forger was inconsistent and just plain bad. That's okay, though, he was superb otherwise. I recommend this book. Just be prepared for the fact that they're not in high school anymore, and the stakes have rocketed up. I am sad I will have to wait for the next book in the series, but I truly look forward to it. In the meantime, I might re-read, "The Dream Thieves," my personal favorite (where the only worries they had were night horrors and hopped-up dreamers with Northern accents and Mitsubishi Evos - aka, gentler times).

Call Down the Hawk was not at all what I excepted, but an excellent read all the same. Introducing a new Dreamer underworld villain (The Moderators), Ronan once again finds himself a wanted man for his talents. CDTH retains the dreamy, ethereal quality of TRC and, unfortunately, all of it's narrative weakness as well. Stiefvater continues to put more stock in poetry, aesthetic, and impossibility than making sure her plot and characters are clear and make sense. Like the latter Raven Boys books, CDTH's world building is obscure at best and characters largely appear out of nowhere with unknown relevance to the story. I am hoping that she manages to snag all the loose strings by the end of the Trilogy, but after The Raven King I am not at all hopeful. The Brothers Lynch, on the other hand, do not disappoint. Expanding nicely in a quirky and unique dynamic that is perfectly aligned with their previous characterizations and with plenty of room to grow forms the heart of my interest in this novel. The new characters are eventually likable and interesting but lack some of the immediate pizzazz of characters like The Grey Man and Colin and Piper Greenmantle. Adam's microscopic role is disappointing, but fine. I am a bit lukewarm on this trilogy over all. Given that The Dream Thieves is my favorite TRC novel, I was hoping that the Dreamer Trilogy would resurrect some of that feeling. Though it's been good and interesting in it's own way, it largely hasn't, in my opinion, succeeded in matching the previous Ronan-led novel.

This is a nice read. It isn’t perfect, and at the end of it, I felt a little disappointed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and I will read the next two books. Set in the continuity of The Raven Cycle, Call Down the Hawk is a book of dreams and dreamers. The main character is Ronan, one of my favorite in TRC. But here, it looked as if he didn’t get enough space. I wish Maggie wrote more about him and less about secondary characters or villains. She did that in TRC too, and as a writer she need to work on this problem, in my opinion. In this book Carmen Farooq-Lane and visionaries takes too many pages to tell stories that aren’t interesting. These characters are dull, boring and nobody will remember them. Their perspective aren't necessary. I would rather have read about Adam instead, but guess what? There is almost no Adam in this book. He doesn’t even get an entire chapter. By the way where is the paragraph Maggie posted on her Instagram on Adam’s birthday in 2018? Did she eliminate it? And if that’s so, why she did it? The thing is Adam’s absence is felt. Adam is such a fascinating character and he has an important role in Ronan’s life. He’s not only his friend and lover, he’s also an adviser. He has knowledge, he still has power. And the Harvard situation is… cold somehow. I couldn’t empathize with him, because there were a lot of information missing. Why did he stop scrying at Harvard? Why did Ronan call him psychic rather than magician? Who were his friends? What did he like of them? We don’t know. All we have are glimpses of his life. Therefore, I couldn’t help to feel frustrated. I did enjoy Declan’s point of view. He does anything to protect Ronan and Matthew, included lying. He’s been living as a liar since his birth, but now he feels the weight of it. He would love to be free, to be himself, giving up old, boring Declan and just be. I really like his character development. I love Jordan too, she’s a new character and Maggie did a great job on her. Like Declan, she’s stuck in a life she hasn’t chosen. She wants to be awake and be her own person. She meets him in a peculiar way and something changes in them. The plot is decent, even if a bit confusing, and the cliffhanger ending is a good device – personally I hate cliffhangers though. Overall, if you liked The Raven Cycle, give it a chance. It’s a pleasant book, but don’t expect too much. I hope Maggie will do her best in the next one.

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.

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.

Every time I read a new Maggie Steifvater novel, I find myself falling in love with her writing all over again. Call Down the Hawk is no exception. The way characters, relationships, lore, tension, pace, and setting all weave together in this book is fantastic. Given that this is the first book in a sequel trilogy, I was worried that I would find myself comparing it to the Raven Cycle and finding it lacking. This is absolutely not the case with this book. The new characters, expansion of the world-building, and distinctly and interestingly divergent plot in this novel feel so natural and are just as engaging as the Raven Cycle. I am completely invested in this new trilogy and cannot wait to read what happens next. I love that we get to explore more of Ronan's story and the origins of the dreamers in this new trilogy. Jordan and Carmen are fantastic and fascinating new characters I can't wait to read more about. And Declan. I was not expecting to love him so much when I started reading but I genuinely enjoyed all of his point-of-view chapters in this book. The relationships between the Lynch brothers are the heart of this story and it is just as wonderful and painful as it sounds. Highly recommended if you enjoyed the books in the Raven Cycle. Also highly recommended even if you haven't (just read them first, it's well worth it).

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