All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

All the Crooked Saints

by Maggie Stiefvater

From bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater, a gripping tale of darkness, miracles, and family. Saints. Miracles. Family. Romance. Death. Redemption.

Here is a thing everyone wants: A miracle.

Here is a thing everyone fears:
What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

Reviewed by Joséphine on

3 of 5 stars

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Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: No doubt, the prose was beautiful! However, for the audiobook, that wasn't always a good thing. With nearly every sentence sounding like a decoration, the plot and characters didn't get to shine as much as they should have. What I did like in terms of the narrating style was how pedantic, sometimes even sarcastic, it could be, all while retaining its poetic signature.

So, while I loved the narrator, I think the audiobook of All the Crooked Saints is best left for a re-read. In fact, I think I should re-read the print edition before I write my review proper because I'm afraid I might have missed crucial points. Too often the words ran ahead before I could grasp their meanings. Mind you, I listen to audiobooks all the time, sometimes even at 2.5x the original speed without missing out on the details.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 October, 2017: Finished reading
  • 18 October, 2017: Reviewed