Call Down The Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Dreamer Trilogy #1
Published by: Scholastic Press
Pub Date: November 5, 2019
Pages: 472
Format: hardcover | Source: purchased
Genres: young adult, fantasy, LGBTQ+
Rating:

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. . . .

From the moment I started this book, I felt this immense sense of happiness to be back with the Lynch brothers. It was like slipping on a favorite sweatshirt in a brand new place- comfortable and new at the same time. This is 100% its own series but it is also clearly built on top of The Raven Cycle and I love that. It expands the world building exponentially; “you think you know, but you have no idea”. I LOVED THE WORLD BUILDING! It’s so much bigger than I ever thought, and it’s so classically Maggie- I relished each new nugget of information and seeing all the story strands come together.
It did take some time to get used to new characters, and there isn’t really much of the Gangsey which will disappoint some people, but I thought the easter eggs and references we did get were perfect. I wish there was more Adam but I think we’re going to get that in the second book…. shockingly the real star of the book (besides Ronan obviously), the big surprise, is Declan Lynch! DECLAN! In what world?! Carmen grew on me though her chapters weren’t my favorite but I loooved Jordan, learning about Hennessey’s background, Lindemere, the really weird chapters of randoms that I knew had to have some sort of meaning and connection…
There were parts of the book I didn’t fully understand but I’m sure they’ll make more sense once the rest of the books come out and once I reread, which I 100% want to do! Maggie’s books, ESPECIALLY her TRC/Dreamer books, reward the reread. If you’re a TRC fan, you will love this book. Don’t go in expecting the exact same things, but it will feel familiar and strange and wonderful in all the right ways. BUT THAT ENDING, HOW DARE!!!! I NEED BOOK 2 RIGHT NOW!

Have you read Call Down The Hawk yet? Were you a Raven Cycle fan or new to the world and characters? Let me know all your thoughts below!