Maggie Stiefvater: All the Crooked Saints - Review

When is information not information?

There's something incredibly interesting about the way Stiefvater forms her books. The words and sentences used more like poetry rather than novels. In the beginning I really did not like the writing. I couldn't get into it, it was the same with The Raven Boys so that wasn't a surprise to me. What was a surprise was how badly composed the book felt. It's almost like when you're telling your friend some drama, and then you get distracted so you're then telling another story, realise and then switch back. The only way I can describe this is you're receiving a lot of information, but it's not really information about the actual story. This, I must say was disappointing as it caused the characters to feel half arsed and even at the end of the book it felt as though I knew nothing about the characters and nothing much about the storyline. This is what I mean by when is information not information, learning about a characters favourite colour isn't information about the storyline, nor is it particularly interesting. I felt that quite a lot of the stuff I was reading felt as though it was purely filler. I must say though, I did find the book entertaining enough to finish and my favourite character turned out to be the rain girl. (I honestly can't remember how to spell her name right now), the main characters were all my least favourites. I think this may have been intended though, they're all broken and filled with darkness - crooked saints. I really loved how they faced their darkness towards the end and the way the Soria's all face the areas of themselves that are the darkest. The message the book gives is lovely and I really connected with it, it's a shame the execution wasn't my thing. Having said that, this review was originally destined for three stars. And then the ending happened. Oh boy, was that ending terrible. I'm not talking about the epilogue, which was actually one of my favourite chapters, I'm talking about the final chapter with Daniel and Beatriz. I can accept a bit of ridiculousness, but this ending takes the cake. I even had to drop my review to two stars I hated it that much. Just... WTF was Stiefvater thinking? It's rushed, doesn't really fit the theme of the book and it's just all together odd. Needless to say, that's way this review is two and not three stars. Overall, I would recommend picking this book up if you are a Stiefvanter fan, but it has made me consider not picking up any more of her books.

2/5 stars

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