#ronan trilogy

[thetypedwriter]

Greywaren Book Review

Greywaren Book Review by Maggie Stiefvater

This book is a fantastic disappointment. 

Of course, the book is good. Of course the writing is absolutely phenomenal. It’s Maggie Stiefvater. Even when I’ve questioned her plot or character development, I have never once questioned her writing. 

She is a wizard with words. Her writing floats off the page and lives rent-free in my head for months. The way she concocts her stories fills me with delight and awe. 

That was never in question. 

The biggest question I had going into Greywaren was: will I get what I want?

The answer is no. 

I think it’s mostly safe to say that a majority of readers saw the Dreamer trilogy as Ronan’s own triage of books. It was pitched that way to us as an audience and the way the books were presented was that it would be about the Brothers Lynch. 

This is a lie. 

Perhaps, Call Down the Hawk could be described as such, the first book in the trilogy, but every book since has fallen further and further away from the original premise. 

The second installment, Mister Impossible, was almost entirely about Declan. And now the final book, Greywaren, I would argue, is about Hennessy and Carmen Farooq-Lane. 

Now. I like Hennessy. I like Farooq-Lane. They’re great characters. 

However, they are not the Brothers Lynch. 

I don’t understand why authors do this. They promise things and entice readers with certain characters, plot points, and relationships, and then don’t deliver. 

I’m sure Maggie has her reasons for writing the trilogy this way, and I’m not pretending to know what they are or that I understand the intricacies of her writing process or the publishing world, but I am just so frustrated that she wrote the trilogy this way. 

Ronan, the so-called main character, is hardly in Greywaren at all, and half of the time when he does have his own chapters, he is either asleep, dreaming, or not taking part in reality. The amount of exasperation I have that Maggie made this choice is overwhelming to me as a reader. 

In the original The Raven Cycle books, Ronan and Adam were my favorites. They were many people’s favorites, including, it seems, Maggie herself. Which is why she set out on a quest to tell Ronan’s own story.

 Except what started as Ronan’s narrative quickly devolved into a tale featuring so many other characters that Ronan’s part became so diluted that it is barely there at all. 

Once again, I love Maggie’s characters. Jordan, Hennessy, Farooq-Lane, etc, they’re all wonderful. If Maggie had them as side characters in the Dreamer trilogy and then set out to write a spin-off series featuring them, I would not be mad. I would be super excited and pumped to read such a cool installment. 

But that’s not what I wanted, what I anticipated, or what I got. 

Instead, the final book about Ronan Lynch and his brothers is really about unrelated side characters who somehow took center stage despite everyone wanting the opposite. 

Irksome doesn’t even scratch the surface of it. 

Greywaren itself is…fine. As I said above, Maggie’s writing is undeniably beautiful. I will say, though, the plot gets convoluted and hard to follow and the ending feels rushed and shallow. 

This book essentially picks up after Mister Impossible, in which Ronan is asleep, along with many other dreamers or dreamt people who need sweetmetals. 

Declan is trying to save everyone, Matthew goes through a rebellious stage, Hennessy is creating, and Farooq-Lane is trying to stop her brother, Nathan, from starting the apocalypse. 

Honestly, when I think about it, this book simultaneously has so much going on and nothing going on at the same time. The overarching plot could be described as: Nathan is bringing on the apocalypse and people try to stop him as well as reawaken their sleeping friends. That’s it. That’s the plot. 

However, it takes 300+ pages to get to the end, which then rushes through really essential reunions and revelations, because there are so many characters we have to switch POV’s between. 

Additionally, there’s a lot of abstract things happening that don’t really contribute to the plot, even if they're interesting to read about. 

Overall, this means you could read 100 pages and have a very minimal amount of progress because everyone is taking one small step instead of having one character (Ronan) taking many. 

Jordan is hardly in this book, and Matthew, whom I anticipated seeing a lot of, is very cruelly shafted by having a sparse amount of chapters and a character arc that feels vague and incomplete.

 After running away towards the beginning of the book, no real headway comes from it and then in the end, bam! Matthew returns to the Barns like nothing happened. 

We don’t see the conversation between Matthew and Declan, we don’t see the reunion between Matthew and Ronan, and we certainly don’t get a scene with all three brothers, which, if you remember, is what this whole trilogy was supposed to be about. 

In the same vein, Adam and Ronan, the couple everyone was most excited to see and read about, had a few paltry scenes in this whole trilogy combined. There are more scenes with Farooq-Lane and Liliana than there are with arguably, the main couple. 

The injustice of this vexes me beyond words. 

Even in this book, at the very end, the reunion between Adam and Ronan that we waded through 300 pages to see, is brief and from someone else’s POV. 

What on earth? Really? This is the reunion we waited years for and we didn’t even get to experience it though Ronan’s own eyes. 

As I write this, I realize that I feel cheated and shafted. 

At this same time, I don’t know how fair it is to feel that way. It’s not my book or my characters, so who am I to demand anything of Maggie? I understand this. 

On the other hand, this was a book pitched to us and advertised as a series about the Brother’s Lynch. I would very much argue that by book three especially, this is completely unfounded and untrue. 

Did I still like the book? Yes, of course I did. However, I just wanted more. I wanted what was promised at the beginning. I wanted less abstract and confusing chapters and more chapters with essential characters actually talking, meeting, and growing. 

I wanted resolution, development, and conclusions. 

Instead, I got a muddled, albeit gorgeously written story, where all the characters felt full with potential, but never truly reached a point of promise. 

Like I said at the beginning, this book was both fantastic and a disappointment in so many ways, a fantastic disappointment that will always leave me wanting more. 

Recommendation: Read it. However, you’re not going to get the development or scenes that you want. Beware of this. Use fanfiction to fill in the gap that this trilogy wasn’t able to deliver on. 

Score: 6/10

#greywaren spoilers #greywaren #maggie stiefvater #The Raven Boys #the raven cycle #pynch #ronan lynch #ronan trilogy #Adam Parrish #dreamer trilogy #6/10 #book blog #books #book review #Book Recommendations #book rec #YA Book Review #book recs #popular fiction #Popular Books #top books #favorite books

[elainiisms]

i just have to post these here bc i think about this DAILY

#actually in tears over this like WHAT are you on about #pynch #trc #the raven cycle #the dreamer trilogy #adam parrish #ronan lynch #elainposting

[dcvina-claires]

i love it when a piece of media is like: is there anything more painful than knowing your sibling? is there anything more tragic than knowing they are the only person who will ever share the same experience as you? they were the only constant in your life. they were there since birth and now, no matter how they betray you, you will still love them. you will always feel the need to protect them even if you can no longer bring yourself to talk to them. will anyone else be able to understand? will anybody be able to love you and hate you and fear you the same way a sibling loves you and hates you and fears you? no, probably not

#all for the game #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #twinyards #the raven cycle #the dreamer trilogy #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #the originals #klaus mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #the umbrella academy #legacies #lizzie saltzman #josie saltzman #the haunting of hill house #the fall of the house of usher #six of crows #grishaverse #kaz brekker #jordie rietveld #the gilded wolves #tristan maréchal #séverin montagnet alarie #freya mikaelson #kol mikaelson #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves

[jordeclans]

the dreamer trilogy (2019-2022)

#the dreamer trilogy #tdt #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #jordan hennessy #carmen farooq-lane #liliana #bryde #adam parrish #pynch #jordeclan #carliana #carmenhennessy #call down the hawk #mister impossible #greywaren #the lynch brothers #niall lynch

[catbishonen]

Ronan Lynch you will always be legendary

#my art stuff #the raven cycle #ronan lynch #fanart #the dreamer trilogy

[madamevandeleur]

Ooooh boy

#the dreamer trilogy #tdt #ronan lynch #adam parrish #the crying club #mister impossible #greywaren #call down the hawk #like adam. #what is this. #this is not who you were raised to be around.

[laniepalooza]

they are on an fbi watchlist :3

#ronan lynch #hennessy #jordan hennessy #the dreamer trilogy #the raven cycle #the raven boys #greywaren #mister impossible #call down the hawk

[eternalchemy]

"adam and ronan are a sun and moon pairing" yes and ronan is the sun. but specifically like this:

#having many thoughts #bc obviously ronan does not feel like a traditionally sunny character #but this. oh #and adam being the moon well. #i dont even want to think about the implications of gansey as the earth and adam and ronan both orbiting around him #oh ive made it worse for myself #anyway haha #pynch #adam parrish #ronan lynch #the raven cycle #trc #the dreamer trilogy #td3

[intradaya]

ugh these guys again

#ronan lynch #adam parrish #pynch #the raven cycle #the raven boys #the dream thieves #blue lily lily blue #the raven king #the dreamer trilogy #call down the hawk #mister impossible #greywaren #trc #trb #blue sargent #opal lynch #trc art #art #procreate #procreate art #artists on tumblr #digital art #intradaya: art

[julamari]

He’d been a liar his entire life.

#declan lynch #trc #the raven cycle #td3 #tdt #the dreamer trilogy #jordeclan #ronan lynch #matthew lynch #the brothers lynch #fanart #art #drawing #sketch #doodle #character design #ink #traditional art

[hairymoths]

We saw you across the bar, and we really hate your vibe, now fuck off

#hairymoths #fanart #the raven cycle #ronan lynch #art #maggie stiefvater #the raven boys #the dreamer trilogy #jordan hennessy #hennessy #j hennessy #jordan h #greywaren #call down the hawk #mister impossible #hmoth

[theravenkin]

god bless adam parrish. he's my baby boy. he's an absolute cunt. he's cold and calculating. he is angelic and dusty. he wants anything but to become the hard violence of his father. he refuses to embrace his own softness. he is miserable. he is filled with joy. he is elegantly somber. his grin is elastic and amiable. he is cruel and has killed a man. he sobbed to his sleeping lover and brought him his pet bird as an apology. he is two-faced. he can't hide who he really is no matter how hard he tries because the hiding eats away at him from the inside. he loves his soulmate so innately that they connected on a spiritual plane beyond normal human comprehension. he can see the ether. he is making love to a god. he lets a boy hold his hand. he transferred three times. he is touch-starved and hungry for his lover all of the time. he is peculiarly polite. he is bossy as hell. he never got to take ronan's clothes off that one time. what does his voice sound like when he erased the appalachia from it--empty? blank? can he erase his origins from himself, or will the mountains always cling to him? he tried to break up with his lover while said lover was in a coma but it made him hate himself so bad that he decided to risk his life for him instead. he wants a bigger, showier wedding someday. the federal government fears him. he loves his man no matter how long he tried not to love him. he will love him forever without hesitation. he is an impeccable dresser. he shows up in your dreams. he keeps on making the same mistakes but he will never make those mistakes ever again. or won't he? adam parrish. bitch. magician. god. boy. bless his heart.

#i love adam parrish with all my heart. #adam parrish #the raven cycle #the dreamer trilogy #pynch #ronan lynch

[squash1]

:’-)

[greywaren / young royals]

#this is me when both my hyperfixations have happy endings :’D #So. many. feelings. #anyway #tdt #the dreamer trilogy #young royals #prince wilhelm #simon eriksson #wilmon #ronan lynch #adam parrish #trc #the raven cycle #pynch #adam and ronan #young royals netflix #mine #young royals season 3 #young royals spoilers

[dcvina-claires]

oh yeah don’t mind me i’m just thinking about how blue and gansey are technically the main characters of this story but it’s still not entirely about them and how ronan isn’t the hero of this story but he is the hero of a story that branches off from it and how adam would’ve been the villain in a worse version of the story but he had too much loyalty to the narrative to let his friends go and how the story could never be about noah but it also could never be about anyone except for noah

#the raven cycle #trc #the raven boys #trb #the dream thieves #tdt #blue lily lily blue #bllb #the raven king #trk #blue sargent #richard gansey #ronan lynch #adam parrish #noah czerny #the dreamer trilogy

[jordeclans]

can't think about this for longer than 5 seconds without wanting to flip furniture and rip my hair out

#the raven cycle #the dreamer trilogy #the lynch brothers #ronan lynch #matthew lynch #declan lynch #tdt #trc #cdth #the dream thieves #call down the hawk #mister impossible #greywaren

[excelsiant]

some silly ronancore tweets:

#should this be a part one because i've got many more #trc #the raven cycle #ronan lynch #tdt #the dreamer trilogy