All the Crooked Saints
Where to even begin? Just recently I read “The Raven Cycle” by Maggie Stiefvater and fell head over heels in love with it. The magic, the characters, the language, and intriguing Henrietta. It was a world filled with magic and nonsense and friendships deep enough to transcend the pages. With this knowledge in my mind, I happily and quite excitedly bought Stiefvater’s new stand-alone novel “All the Crooked Saints.”
I was also lucky enough to have gone to one of her book signings and heard her discuss her new book in person. I listened with a dopey smile as she explained it was quite odd and “very different than anything else I’ve ever written.” I took that with a grain of salt because which books has she ever written that weren’t odd?
However, my one big mistake going into this was thinking it would hold the same level of love and interest as “The Raven Cycle” gave me. It’s a dangerous assumption to think all books from a singular author will contain the same amazement. Key example: the Harry Potter series vs. The Casual Vacancy.
Is there really a comparison? No of course not. Authors are capable of different types of writing, especially at different points of their lives (ie: Taylor’s Swift’s new album Reputation-what even is it???). So I should not have ridden the Henrietta and Glendower train straight into Bicho Raro, the tiny mystical town in Colorado where Stiefvater’s next book takes place.
But I did, and I paid for it.
The most important question needs to be addressed first: Did I like the book? To be honest, no, not really. It was interesting, sure, but very introspective and philosophical. Within the story itself there were short little blurbs that reminded me of science or history class.
The topics ranged from how satellite radios worked to the history of drought and the flying migration patterns of owls. They were interesting but it broke up the novel into tiny little pieces that left it fragmented and scattered.
The story was disrupted so many times it was easy to put the book down and not pick it up again because I could never remember (or care) where I left off or what was happening.
As for the characters themselves, they’re forgettable and hard to differentiate. She throws so many characters at you so fast it’s not until the end of the book that you can really remember who is who and how they are all related.
In terms of plot, the story is very interesting. The idea of facing your fear or sin in order to start anew isn’t exactly a new idea, but the prospect of being changed because of it was novel and motivating. But the sins never quite made much sense to me, especially Daniel Soria’s-why was his sin connected to Beatriz’s? How is fair for Daniel to rely on Beatriz to solve his own sin? It didn’t make much sense to me.
As far as writing goes Maggie Stiefvater is brilliant. Her metaphors and other poetic devices bring her words to life and give them meaning. She’s a master at language and diction and as an aspiring writer it never fails to leave me awed as well as inspired to create my own masterpiece with the same level of mastery of the craft that she has.
Overall, I got the feeling that this book was for Maggie and no one else. I’m not sure why she published honestly, maybe it was the publishers, maybe it was the money. It has interesting ideas, beautiful writing, but not much in terms of characters or story. For folks looking to fill the gaping hole that is “The Raven Cycle” this is not your book, I’m sorry. Maybe next time.
Recommendation: If you like philosophy or enjoy watching shows like “How It’s Made” you may enjoy this stand-alone novel about a mystical Colorado town and a family with more problems than its residents. However, beware that there are no lovely broken boys or cool girls hunting a sleeping dead king here; or much of a plot at all really. Best leave this for the required religion class in college.
Score: 3/10
