Bella Suartini

Greywaren (The Dreamer Trilogy #3)

Book by Maggie Stiefvater

DETAILS

Publisher : Scholastic Press (October 18, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 352 pages ISBN-10 : 1338188399 ISBN-13 : 978-1338188394 Reading age : 13 - 18 years Grade level : 8 - 12 Item Weight : 15.2 ounces , The majestic conclusion to Maggie Stiefvater’s Dreamer Trilogy. This is the story of the Lynch family. Niall and Mór escaped their homeland for a new start, and lost themselves in what they found. Declan has grown up as the responsible son, the responsible brother--only to find there is no way for him to keep his family safe. Ronan has always lived on the edge between dreams and waking... but now that edge is gone, and he is falling. Matthew has been the happy child, the brightest beam. But rebellion beckons, because it all feels like an illusion now. This world was not made for such a family--a family with the power to make a world and break it. If they cannot save each other or themselves, we are all doomed. Read more

REVIEW

I have mixed feeling about “Greywaren.” While Maggie Steifvater’s (MS’s) writing remains as imaginative as ever, I think that the plot line of “Greywaren” is a bit formulaic (e.g., lots of magical “deus ex machina” resolutions to problems, and lots of “Perils of Pauline” dilemmas and cliffhangers, which the reader knows are going ultimately to resolve themselves…often, magically); and the ending/epilogue seemed a bit flat to me, with many fundamental issues left unresolved. There are spoilers in the review that follows, so be forewarned. First, let me reaffirm: Steifvater is a facile writer; she’s great at setting a scene and grounding her scenes in physical places; her plots have conceptual content (as well as lots of “over-busy” plot machinations), and her characters often have complex histories and personalities (as well as engaging in a lot of recurring teen melodrama). A recent piece in the Washington Post about John Singer Sargent--an artist whose work plays a huge role in “Greywaren”—offered the following observation: “It’s fair to say that [Sargent] was not, generally speaking, a profound artist; he was too bewitched by the surface of things. …But very few people have had more command over the process of moving paint around until it resembles the look and feel of things.” I think the same can be said about MS and her ability to “move words around” to get shimmering surface effects. But at the same time—unfortunately—there are a lot of “teen lit” and “chick lit” tropes in Stiefvater’s writing, and these sometimes lessen the “heft” her books might have without them. To offer one example from “Greywaren”: After literally saving the world, Ronan and Hennessy’s first spoken exchange is: [“You really are a ****head,” he told her. “Check it,” she said.] In responding to dialog like this, I would to say to MS what Bryde says to Greywaren in Chapter 48: “…it’s time to grow up.” I don’t say this to be snarky. I hope that if MS writes another book, she chooses to write an adult-targeted book, with adult dialog and interactions. Another eye-roll-generating piece of dialog occurs in Chapter 52, when Hennessy states after watching Ronan embrace Adam (whom he thought might be dead): “When I look at moments like this, two men in love, reunited against all odds, their feeling so pure, their commitment so deep they’ll literally cross space-time for each other, all I can really think is: I can’t believe how these two blokes will owe Jordan Hennessy for the rest of their ****ing lives.” This reminds me of teenagers (and adults) who can’t bear to deal with a real emotion, and must immediately instead transform it into something ironic, edgy, or joking. (Yes, that’s part of Hennessy’s character, but I think it’s part of MS’s character too. And I suppose MS is poking fun at herself and aspects of her writing here.) I’m surprised that no review I’ve seen has discussed—or even mentioned—MS’s “meta-moment” in Chapter 19, when she starts discussing Adam Parish in the form of notes that an author might make while preparing the outline of a novel: “Introductory paragraph incorporating the thesis: After a challenging childhood marked by adversity, Adam Parrish has become a successful freshman at Harvard University….” This is truly extraordinary…and jarring. In the ongoing narrative of the novel, Ronan and Adam are floating in “sweetmetal space.” However, the fictional narrative comes to a screeching halt here, and in its place, MS seems to say, “I’m the real puppet-master here. The ‘dream space’ that Ronan and Adam are floating in is really my dream space…I am the Prospero to this Tempest; and ultimately, I’m the Shakespeare who’s responsible for both Prospero and The Tempest.” And then she reassures us at the end of this section, regarding the “plot development” of Adam Parrish that: He will be fine. He will be fine. He will be fine. Why did MS include this “meta-moment”? I don’t know. However, I offer the following conjecture: The Raven Boys and “dreamers” cycles are about dreaming, creativity, art, and reality versus illusion. At the very least, MS seems to be telling us: While you may be sharing this dream of mine—and enjoying it—I am the dreamer here! Some additional brief and sundry observations: For me, the lead characters didn’t really seem to “earn” their spiritual transformations and the resolutions to their traumas: Ronan and Adam’s “drama” and dishonesties seem to end after they canoodle in “sweetmetal space” and “see into each other’s souls.” Hennessy’s transformation seems to take place after she produces her own sweetmetal art and kisses a “hot” woman (Carmen). But this all seems too quick and easy to me (but I guess it does serve to tie up the trilogy). Lack of any mature treatment of sexuality: I’ve long felt that a major weakness in the Raven Boy and dreamer books is their lack of any kind of mature treatment of sexuality, either heterosexual or GLB. Most sexuality these books takes the form of a kind of breathy teenage-girl romanticism. (This is another reason why I hope MS chooses at some point to write a novel targeted at adults.) The closest we come to seeing Ronan and Adam “do it” is when they’re intertwined as disembodied entities in “sweetmetal space”—engaging in a kind of “metaphysical nooky.” One of the messages seems to be: Bodies don’t really matter; rather, it’s all about “inner beings.” (Comment: This certainly fails to capture some important aspects of male sexuality, and probably female sexuality as well.) Declan’s character arc: Many reviewers seemed to be pleased as punch with Declan’s character arc and psychological development throughout the dreamers trilogy. However, I think it’s also important to note that, after his rampage at the Fairy Market, Declan is a mass murderer at the end of this novel. Matthew’s dullness: This became grating to me by the end of the dreamer trilogy. I did indeed wonder what Ronan’s purpose was--either consciously or unconsciously--in creating such a simple-minded brother…a brother who seems to disappear, in many ways, toward the end of “Greywaren”; and who returns, it seems, by walking many miles (hundreds?) to the Barns. (And I never quite figured out why Matthew’s hair got chopped off in the process.) Magical “deus ex machina” resolutions: These occur a lot in MS’s novels. Gansey is resurrected by mysterious ley line entities. At the end of “Mister Impossible” and in the middle of “Greywaren,” conjured-up sundogs provide quick magical solutions to various problems. Other magical solutions/resolutions: the many problem-solving dream creations of Ronan and Bryde, the ever-helpful Visionaries’ visions, Adam’s informative scrying of psychic space, etc. One of the problems with novels that rely on magic is that it’s simply too easy for them to conjure up glib magical solutions to all problems, and this goes on a lot in MS’s work. Also, throughout “Greywaren” characters seem continually to have access to “secret intelligence” that allows them to pass on to other characters addresses to go to, phone numbers to call, etc. These addresses and phone numbers always—and too conveniently—further plot developments. End-of-chapter cliffhangers: One of MS’s narrative tropes/tricks in “Greywaren” is to end many chapters with “Perils of Pauline” cliffhangers. Some examples: End of Chapter 21: “Two minutes later, the first bomb went off.” End of Chapter 27: “He just had time to see that it was his mother, Mor O Corr. Then she shot him.” End of Chapter 40: “Oh, Hennessy thought, shit. A moment later, two bombs went off.” End of Chapter 44: Carmen says, after a pause: “Nathan has Adam and Jordan.” End of Chapter 50: “The end of the world had arrived. Suddenly, there was fire.” These kinds of chapter endings get predictable, formulaic, and tiresome, after a while. Ronan’s whispered words into Adam’s ear: Twice toward the end of “Greywaren” Ronan whispers something into Adam’s ear, but the reader isn’t privy to these words. I hope the whispered words were, “I love you.” Indeed, these three words may be the words that dare not be spoken among the brothers Lynch…or said by the Lynch brothers to their significant others. Even at the end of the novel, the strongest words we get from MS about the brothers’ feelings toward each other are, “…the Lynch brothers discovered they were friends once more.” This is pretty tepid stuff, particularly after all the drama the brothers have been through. “Thinking/controlled” versus “feeling/chaotic/artistic” partners in various couples: Many of the couples in MS’s Raven Boys and dreamer books seem to comprise a “controlled thinker” versus a more impulsive and emotional “feeler.” Examples include: Gansey and Blue, Adam and Ronan, Carmen and Hennessy, and Mor and Nial. There is a similar contrast between the rational, and often corrupt, industrialized “real world” and the more “pure” and natural world of art/dreamers. I leave it to the reader to figure out what these dichotomies are about. Failure to resolve some of the main issues of the book: A number of key issues remain unresolved at the end of “Greywaren”: The nature of “nightwash” remains murky. Who are the entities who live “on the other side” in the ley line universe? Why do dreamers exist in the first place? And perhaps the biggest unresolved issue for me, which is central to the novel: Mor and Niall are terrified that dreamers like the Greywaren/Ronan have too much power for any human being to possess. One of my unanswered questions at the end was: Is Ronan mature enough and “evolved” enough to possess the virtually infinite power of the Greywaren? (And please note, MS doesn’t even begin to address the abuses possible for such a dreamer. To offer but one example: What’s to keep such dreamers from creating living “sex slaves”?) Flat ending: Many reviewers seemed to love the epilogue that MS provided to “Greywaren.” Departing from the crowd, I found it somewhat “flat” and unsatisfying. It was nice, of course, to be reunited with old friends from the Raven Boys saga, and to learn that the protagonists of “Greywaren” lived happily ever after (well, at least for four years after the end of “Greywaren”). But, boy, we sure didn’t learn much about any of these characters. The psychics of 300 Fox Way appear briefly, but disappointingly to me, they act like a gaggle of giggling teenage girls. We don’t learn much of anything about Gansey or Blue, except that they now seem to be boring as hell (and I’m sorry, I don’t care whether or not they’re sociology majors). And there’s not an inkling as to why Gansey and Blue were absent during all the events of the dreamers trilogy. Some characters (Bryde and Niall) get symbolically released, as a hawk and moth, respectively. Finally, despite their metaphysical merging and “Vulcan mind-melding” in the sweetmetal space, Ronan and Adam nonetheless seem to need the nudging and matchmaking efforts of Gansey to get formally engaged. Sigh. Apparently, metaphysical mergings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

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