After five years of blogging, sometimes it’s hard to come up with new ideas. So much has changed over the years, including my blogging style, many times over, and I’ve gotten so much more into taking photos and posting on Instagram as a part of my love of books and bookish merch!
In an attempt to keep things interesting and fun, I wanted to started a little something new for me where I take a post that I had originally shared on Instagram — or “bookstagram” for those in the book community — and took it a little further in a blog post. There’s a limited number of characters that you can share on Insta and the point of those posts is more to get to the point, rather than writing a whole narrative, but sometimes each post deserves a few extra words, and “As Seen on Instagram” is a fun way for me to do that!
Yesterday was the release date for ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS and I’m still stalled on page 56. I had actually put the book down to pick back up as audio once it was released because Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is so important that it was too hard to read this book on my lunch break at work when everyone else is talking. I wasn’t able to concentrate like I needed to and I was having a hard time getting into the book without being able to focus on the writing so I decided to wait and let the audiobook focus for me!
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of The Raven Cycle and THE SCORPIO RACES. I adore Maggie Steifvater’s writing and how much she gets readers invested in characters while another detailed plot is forming. I had started reading ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS and I didn’t feel that character investment yet and I knew it was my headspace so I’m excited to start it over again as an audiobook! I borrowed the audio from Hoopla (woo!) and started it this morning so instead of picking up where I left off, I’m just going to restart from the beginning so I can pick up anything I missed.
Already, the writing is similar to the books that I love and it’s also very different. Just by changing the setting, a whole new tone is set up and maybe it wasn’t a bright idea to binge re-read The Raven Cycle because I need to adjust my brain to allow myself to fall into the setting of ATCS. I’m trying to let myself be pulled into the book, which I think might be easier now that I’m listening, so I’m interested to see how it goes!
I was also having a hard time with the religious tones because I’m not a religious person and sometimes it’s a turn-off. I mean, “saints” is IN THE TITLE so I don’t know what I’m expecting but I’m curious to see what the Stiefvater spin is on this concept and what the miracles and miracle-workers actually are. It still seems like there are a lot of magical realism elements which I’ve been enjoying lately so I hope it’s something I’m able to connect with!
Have you read ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS already? No spoilers — how did you feel about it? Is it easy for any Stiefvater fan to enjoy or do you have to enjoy specific elements?
If you want to read the original post, check it out above or head to my Instagram page where you can follow for all kinds of bookish photo updates!
1 thought on “As Seen on Bookstagram | All the Crooked Saints”
This is such a great post idea! Unfortunately, I am having a similar experience with ATCS. I’m stalled around page 150 and it’s taking me ages to actually force myself to sit down and read it. I REALLY don’t want to DNF it because I love Maggie and her other series, but this just doesn’t feel very her or very YA to me.