The Laughing Listener
November 2019
Format: Hardback & Audiobook
Narrator: Will Patton *Weeps with joy at his return*
Length: 13 hours & 45 minutes

Story Rating: 5 Stars
Performance Rating: 5 Stars
Overall Rating: 5 Stars

“This is going to be a story about the Lynch brothers. There were three of them, and if you didn’t like one, try another, because the Lynch brother others found too sour or too sweet might be just to your taste.”

After impatiently anticipating this book for almost two years, I finally finished it last week and have taken the days since to try and organize my thoughts into actual coherent sentences. Reader, I was unsuccessful. I don’t even know where to start. I remember reading a tweet from Maggie a while back that talked about how different this series is from The Raven Cycle and man, she wasn’t lying. This book was a complete departure from its predecessors, but I still ended up loving it with my whole heart.

Trying to describe this story to others has been next to impossible. For a while I used the term “slow burn” to describe the plot, but that got confusing because everyone thought I was talking about a romance. Then I tried using the word “suspense,” but that didn’t really fit either. Now I just stammer a lot and say phrases like “low key intense.” This book was way more mature than The Raven Cycle and hovered in a limbo space between young-adult and regular fiction, which I really loved. Ronan is older, his problems are older, I’m older… So it was really great seeing that reflected in the text. But as a reader, I was VERY aware that this was a book about dreamers. I mean, literally ANYTHING is possible in this universe and that created a low level of tension and anxiety that hummed deep beneath the surface of the plot. I had to read this in short bursts over a longer period of time just to give myself mental breaks.

By the time I reached the end, I was actually really sad it was over. I just wanted to wrap myself in a little Call Down the Hawk cocoon and never come out again.

Carrot Hamster

“‘Everyone thinks their world is the only one. A flea believes a dog is the world. A dog believes the kennel is the world. The huntsman thinks his country is the world. The king believes the globe is the world. The farther out you get, the wider you get, the higher you get, the more you see you have misunderstood the bounds of what is possible. Of what is right and wrong. Of what you can truly do. Perspective, Ronan Lynch.’”

Ronan Lynch has got to be one of my favorite fictional characters—hell, maybe my absolute favorite—and I ADORED being inside his brain like this and seeing him at the center of his own story. I can’t entirely put my finger on what it is about him that I love so much, but I feel like him and I see the world in very similar ways. And if you had told me at the end of [b:The Raven Boys|17675462|The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573508485l/17675462._SY75_.jpg|18970934] that one day I would want to lay my life on the line for Declan Lynch’s happiness, I would have LAUGHED and referred you to my therapist. Yet HERE WE ARE. As the oldest, Declan has been taking care of his two younger brothers the best he can—HE’S TRYING HIS BEST AND DESERVES THE WORLD OKAY?!? Seeing his interactions with Matthew did something mushy and gross to my heart.

These Feels

And OF COURSE Maggie Stiefvater was masterful in her atmospheric prose and the way she framed this story. I spent the first half of this book in a state of carefully constructed confusion that unraveled so well as the plot progressed. All of the separate puzzle pieces only come together by the very very last page and GOD DAMMIT I need the next book. It’s obvious that the story arc over the entire trilogy is going to be epic and I’m so excited to see where this crazy ride goes.

“‘You want me to trust you? Save her. Really save her. It’s going to mean telling her what you are. It will cost you emotionally.’
‘Did it cost you to save me?’
There was a long silence. The mist shimmered darkly in the trees. The rain sighed.
Bryde said finally, ‘You are the most expensive thing I have ever saved.’”

By the way, if anyone out there is concerned about reading The Raven Cycle before reading this, you don’t have to. Seriously, you don’t. I feel like a lot of authors falsely promise that these days. But I was actually shocked at how independent this book operates away from its predecessors. I think you’ll have a deeper appreciation for the story and characters if you read The Raven Cycle first, but they definitely aren’t required.

FINAL WORD

This book is indescribably good. If you loved The Raven Cycle, or even if you haven't read them and want a new brand of fantasy, this book is on another level. It’s slower paced, but somehow doubly intense and I loved every friggin’ second. BOOK TWO PLEASE.

#1 ↦ Call Down the Hawk ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#2 ↦ [b:Untitled|31373233|Mister Impossible (Dreamer Trilogy, #2)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1604948211l/31373233._SY75_.jpg|52062093] ↦ ????
#3 ↦ [b:Untitled|31373240|Untitled (Dreamer Trilogy, #3)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|52062110] ↦ ????

______________________________ .

THERE'S A COVER.
THERE'S A TITLE.
THERE'S A RELEASE DATE.
AM I BREATHING???

Shrieking level max

Call Down the Hawk - Likewise Book Reviews

5 Reviews