Bumpy Oak Books

3 stars

This book is actually difficult for me to review because I have such mixed feelings about it. A majority of my mixed feelings about it likely come from my existing thoughts about Maggie Stiefvater as a writer.

Let me start off by saying that I’ve read the Raven Cycle and The Scorpio Races. Both of those works hover in the 4-5 star range for me. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s writing style and the way it hovers between a melodic/lyrical sort of approach and an easy-going conversational/story-telling vibe. I’m here for that in this book as well, and it was absolutely present.

I will also say that I am a fan of Fantasy as a genre in general. The Raven Cycle and The Scorpio Races landed there for me, but I always felt that Stiefvater’s brand of fantasy leaned more toward magical realism and less toward heavy-handed high fantasy. I still feel that’s true. Having now read All the Crooked Saints, which, to my understanding, is Stiefvater’s take on magical realism, I can say that I vastly prefer how she approaches the stronger fantasy vibes.

For the other works of Stiefvater’s I have read, she is so very successful at creating a new world for her readers to explore along with her characters. I wanted more of Thisby and more of Cabeswater, regardless of whether or not I wanted more from those characters and their stories. I did not at all feel that I wanted more from Bicho Raro. In fact, I really found myself wanting to leave.

I did feel connected to some of the characters, but a majority of them were a miss for me. This was a strange departure from Stiefvater’s other works in which I typically finding myself connecting with or at least appreciating a majority if not all of the characters.

The concept of this family line able to perform miracles did interest me, as did the rules governing how the Soria family interacted with pilgrims. However, I found that the way that the main storyline resolved itself was incredibly unsatisfying. Not only that, but the resolution sort of completely disregarded and outright flouted the rules of engagement and aspects of the story that I enjoyed. The final resolution occurred very, very quickly, particularly for a book that I felt was not at all fast-paced from the start.

All of this being said, I did enjoy the symbolism that was blatant and prevalent throughout. I was fortunate in that I enjoy symbolism in general, so was already familiar with owls in myth/legend, coyotes, black roses, et cetera. However, I feel that if I personally didn’t have that background awareness beforehand, a lot of the enjoyment I did get out of this book would have been absent.

Overall, All the Crooked Saints falls in the realm of a 3 rating for me, which is where I enjoyed some things, disliked others, and do not want more. This is one where it probably just wasn’t for me, but I absolutely look forward to more of Maggie Stiefvater’s work in the future.