ARC Review #1: All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

Hello fellow bookworms! I know it's been a long while since I've posted a blog post, but the past month has been ridiculously busy with orientation for school, work, and a family vacation to Puerto Rico. Which, incidentally, is where I currently am tryingto type this review with an iPad, a keyboard, some not-so-strong wifi, and some serious will power.

I've read eight other books, and their started blog-posts are glaring at me right now, but I literally finished this book two minutes ago and couldn't wait to write this review. 

The end of this year is filled with great new releases, and one of the most highly anticipated is Maggie Stiefvater's  new book, All the Crooked Saints. Now the Advanced Reader Copy for this book has been highly sought after, particularly in the bookstore where I work. Knowing I had plenty of books to 

review and plenty more on my TBR pile, I put myself at the end of the waiting list for the  ARC. Just before my vacation, my dear friend at work told me that she had the ARC but didn't think it was the right time for her to read it and gave it to me to take on vacation. In the past week, this is all I have read. 

So when it came out that Maggie was releasing a new book at the end of the year, a small part of me hoped it would be the first book in this rumored "Ronan" trilogy that she is working on writing. Stiefvater is definitely one of my favorite authors and Ronan was my favorite character in the Raven Cycle. I was disappointed when I found out that it wasn't the Ronan Trilogy, and was not at all interested in the title and the fact that it took place in the 60's. There wasn't even really a summary of the book anywhere online, so I didn't have high hopes. 

But after reading the ARC, I LOVED this book. It might honestly make my top three list in terms of favorite Stiefvater books replacing Scorpio Races. Let's start with a quick summary of the book. I'm going to be careful since this is my first ARC review and I definitely don't need to be sued by my idol for releasing too much info about her book. 

Basically ATCS follows three members of the Soria family living in the legendary town of Bicho Raro, Colorado. This town is known to be the site of many miracles coming to life, thanks to the Soria clan, and pilgrims  travel from all over to receive a miracle and have their souls healed. One of the Soria cousins finds themselves in trouble after a miracle goes rogue and it takes a whole village to save the Soria family. I'm really struggling to not give a lot away. 

MY THOUGHTS: 

FIRST. Don't ask a Spanish-speaking person what "Bicho Raro" means. I asked my Puerto Rican mother, while in a restaurant in San Juan what it meant and she looked at me appalled. Apparentl, in certain dialects of Spanish "Bicho" is a words for male genitalia, when really (at least I hope really) it supposedly  means "rare freak" or "rare weirdo". My mother immediately asked what I was reading. Thanks Maggie. 

I'm not gonna lie. When I first started this book, I didn't think I was going to finish it. The beginning was super slow, and the plot didn't really start to develop until about a third of the way through the book. But later, I realized how important those small things in the beginning were. If you can make it through the beginning, I promise it will all make sense. 

There are a lot of characters in this one. Like I almost had to draw a family tree. Now that I think about it, instead of a map there should be a family tree. The Sorias are no small clan and it's a lot of names to keep track of. But once I kept reading and gathered more and more pieces of each character it was easier and easier to tell them apart. 

Along the same vein each character was so unique and interesting it really made the book interesting to read. A lot of the characters expressed a fear and a desire and it wasn't interesting to see how these seemingly unimportant characteristics really helped to round a character into a whole person and impacted their miracle. I'm Theldon, by the way. It will all make sense when you read it. 

At first, Maggie's writing style made the concept of the book rather difficult to understand. She likes to use a lot of metaphors or unique ways of explaining things, and with that in mind the book was kind of confusing. Like, does that man really have the head of a coyote or is that a metaphor for his mind. Oh no. It's all really happening. 

There was a lot of talk about this book being racist when it was first announced. In fact, I watched this book on GoodReads for a while and it had a 2.46 rating and so many people were giving it 1 star reviews before an ARC had even been released. Personally, I didn't find this book to be racist in the slightest. I thought that Maggie presented the Mexican culture in a really respectful way, and I don't see her as an author that would take on a project like this without delving into the culture and doing a fair bit of research. Now, I myself am not Mexican and I honestly don't know if this idea of "saints performing miracles" is a Mexican legend or a belief of the culture or even Catholicism, but I felt that Maggie described it and turned it into a beautiful story. 

Now that I've read the book, I really love the cover! At first I thought it was kind of ugly, but now it makes sense. 

This book is definitely a more mature YA read, or even borderline adult fiction in just how intensely emotional these miracles are. 

I absolutely loved how miracles were manifested and related to the soul of the person in question. I loved the process of healing a soul, and meaning of a person's miracle. I found this really to be an amazing book and the concept was so original and unique. The story was truly, beautifully done and intricately woven into an incredible tale. Maggie really is a master author, and I hope that one day I can write a story half as good as hers. 

All in all, I loved this book and can't wait for it to come out and buy my own copy. All the Crooked Saints, hits shelves October 10th, 2017. Maggie Stiefvater has created another smash-hit novel! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did! I give this book 📚📚📚📚📚  out of 5! If you've had the chance to read ATCS, let me know what you thought in the comments! 

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