Synopsis

The dreamers walk among us . . . and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming – they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives – they will sleep forever if their dreamers die.And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all.

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . .

 

Review

Unpopular opinion!

3,5 stars (3 for 85 % and 5 stars for the remaining 15%)

 

First, I want to say that I love the Raven Boys series and that Call Down the Hawk was pre-ordered the moment I heard of its publishing date.

I even ordered the special Owlcrate edition and the UK cover.

To say the expectations were high is a euphemism.

BUT

Sadly, it took me 85 % to finally:

– get to care for the new characters;

-understand this new plot scheme and rules;

-stop missing the Ladies at 300 Fox Way, Gansey, Blue and even Adam (he only has two short cameos);

-stop mourning the absence of humor, banter and sarcasm.

Harsh? Probably but that was my personal reading experience.

 

What I did love and that will get me to read the other books in this series was the last 15 to 20 %!

Let’s detail some more here.

The plot centers around the Lynch brothers. Ronan is still fearless but he also seemed subdued somehow. I guess being older, he matured and is more reasonable than before.

We see him as a young man, living at the Barnes. He does no longer has to struggle to go to school so it probably helps with his temper.

But that Ronan is a little sad and lonely.

His “gift” as a dreamer will prevent him from living closer to Adam, who is attending Harvard. He tried but failed spectacularly to pretend being normal and able to share Adam’s life when said life was in a dorm, surrounded by other students.

This makes for alone time and I was sad for Ronan.

 

We will also follow Declan in this story and I have to say that it was one of the perks as we got to see behind Declan’s façade. Why Declan chose to appear bland and boring. What Declan knew and did with his father. And we also learn a big secret about his past that had me nearly falling from my chair! We only got a whiff, an appetizer and now I want more! How? Why? When????

And that interesting part has to be continued in the sequel.

 

Mathew will also have to grow in this story. No shocking reveal for us but he will be altered by what he’ll learn.

 

Then there are the other characters.

No Gansey, Blue, Maura, Mr Grey and co.

No.

Hennessy, Jordan, Carmen Farooq-Lane, Liliana, Parsifal, the mysterious Bryde ….

I think we got too many new characters at once. Short chapters and changing POV made it difficult for me to really care and understand these newcomers, their purpose, their tragedies, their dark side and their hopes.

What began to work was when they all began to cross paths, when the Lynch brothers began to bond with some of the new characters.

 

Why did “these” persons want to eliminate dreamers was simple and yet I personally found a little far-fetched. King of taking a canon to kill a fly if you want.

 

What I loved in The Raven Boys was also the banter, the sarcasm and the humor. I found so few of this here! And that was one of the main assets of the previous series.

 

I could not honestly give more than 3,5 stars for a book that I put down many times because I just did not care for a long time.

Will I read the sequel?

Without a doubt because now I got my bearings and some things, big reveals and all have yet to be explained!

Have you read it? Or do you plan to?  Did you like it (I hope so !).

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Sophie

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37 Comments

    1. Well Lashaan Maggie is oen of my favorite authors so I really wanted to give this book a fair chance! I think the sequel will be better as I now am used to teh characters and have a better view of the global plot! Thank you!!!

      Reply

  3. I’ve heard this book was not as good as people expected it to be. I haven’t read The Raven Boys, even though I plan to. But I think that my journey with that world will probably end up with The Raven King.
    Thank you for your honest review. I really appreciate it.

    Reply

  6. Aw that’s a bummer this wasn’t quite as gripping as the Raven Boys. The missing banter and sarcasm definitely sounds like it was a change from the earlier stuff. Glad it got better at the end though- hopefully the next one will kick ass!

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  9. What a bummer! I have yet to read this author and I have no excuse books her books are sitting on my shelf. Maybe I will put this one off indefinitely. I hope that your next read has lots of WOW factor, Sophie. 🙂

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  10. It always seems extra disappointing when a highly anticipated book does match expectations. Especially when it’s a spin-off with characters you already know and love.

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  11. Oh Sophie, I thought you knew it wasn’t going to have the original cast of characters in it. Maggie had been saying for a while on social media that this would be Ronan’s story – only. She did say there will be more Pynch later on, but this was the set up book so not to expect it.
    I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my list for this week!!

    Reply

  12. Fingers crossed you’ll love the sequel even more. It’s so hard to go from a favorite series that has banter and warms our heart and then the spinoff is something entirely different. Thank you for the heads up!

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    1. It makes perfect sense teri as that’s precisely what I did today for Mogsi’s review of Queen of Nothing LOL

      Reply

  14. I haven’t read it yet but I haven’t been in the mood for novels and I want to wait until I am so I can properly love what I am reading ;D I am sorry you didn’t enjoy this one as much as you wanted to 🙁 It is definitely a companion series and not a sequel.

    Reply

    1. Yes with new characters indeed! I just wished for a kind of cross over Olivia because I miss the old characters.

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  16. It’s tough to spinoff from a favorite series. I had high hopes for this one as well, but I am glad to hear it got better, because that’s promising for the next book.

    Reply