About the Book
-
Author:
- Maggie Stiefvater
Cover Story: DREAM SWORDS, All Caps
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
Talky Talk: Once Upon a Dream
Bonus Factors: Declan, Dream Things
Factor: Cliffhanger
Relationship Status: I’d Die 4 U, I’d Scry 4 U
~*~sPoILeR aLeRt~*~ This is your official warning that Mister Impossible is the second book in the Dreamer Trilogy, which as a whole takes place after the events of The Raven Cycle series, and thus, this book report contains spoilerage for everything that comes before it. Continue at your own risk, babies.
Cover Story: DREAM SWORDS, All Caps
We’ve got Ronan and Hennessey, wielding their DREAM SWORDS, all caps, and standing in front of a getaway car that can become invisible as needed. If they look like a couple of bad bitches on the run, it’s because they ARE.
The Deal:
Last we saw our dreamers, they’d hopped on a hoverboard with the mysterious Bryde and barely managed to escape the Moderators. Now, Ronan, Hennessey, and Bryde are on the run from the law (if that’s what the Moderators even are). Bryde is teaching them the ins and outs of how dreaming works, why the nightwash and the Lace have threatened to kill them so much lately, and how it all relates back to ley line energy. Their goal: to destroy everything that’s drowning out the ley line. But thanks to the Visionary Liliana, the Moderators have seen how the world ends, and all signs point to these three particular Zeds. The Moderators are out to catch and kill, before it’s too late.
Meanwhile, Jordan has been invited to join the illusive women’s secret society, Boudicca, where she learns about the existence of sweetmetals – pieces of artwork that can keep a dreamed object awake even after its dreamer dies. Declan and Matthew join her in Boston and the trio set out to uncover the secrets of how a sweetmetal is made. But with Ronan and Jordan being hunted down, it’s a race against the clock for our favorite dream things to figure out how to save themselves.
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
For the most part, this is a Make It Rain situation. Ronan? My grown adult son. Adam? My grown adult son-in-law. Matthew? My tiny infant baby dream son. Jordan? My bestie for the restie. Carmen Farooq-Lane? Not ACAB.
The exception is this: I want to marry Declan Lynch. Sometimes while reading I thought, “haha why do I love Declan so much?” And then Declan would say, “Did you remember to put premium gas in my car?” And I’d be like, “Ohhhhh right, I am married to a Declan, he and my IRL husband are the same.”
The second exception is this: I hate Bryde. He’s so patronizing and mansplainy, and he only speaks in vague parables like he’s Dream Jesus.
The final exception is this: I want Hennessey to get a lot of therapy.
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Listen, okay. I know why you’re here. It’s why I’m here too. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is almost no Adam-and-Ronan content in this book. I am sorry. Adam appears in a few scenes, but almost entirely with Declan. If you remember, at the end of Call Down the Hawk, Ronan texted his tamquam text to Adam and didn’t hear back. Now, he’s thrown out his phone while he’s on the run, certain that Adam is done with him. And in extremely Adam fashion, Adam is not being super forthcoming to anyone about anything.
But this book still gets seven whole swoon points because DECLAN-N-JORDAN OMG. These two are ~vibing~ each other, and despite Declan’s attempts at being detached, he can’t help but nerd out when it comes to Jordan. They have a few swoon-filled scenes, and one in particular that made me gasp out loud and clutch my heart.
Talky Talk: Once Upon a Dream
You know how when you’re having a dream and everything seems really clear and you immediately wake up and think “whoa, intense” but then an hour later you’re trying to describe the dream to someone and you can’t? That is, fittingly, what this book is like. The whole time I was reading I was so caught up in it, but now that it’s done I’m not sure I could properly explain it to you.
The story flows seamlessly between what’s real and what’s a dream. Maggie’s writing is as beautiful as ever, and I caught myself highlighting every other paragraph. My favorite thing about her writing is the way she’s able to craft a magical, poetic sentence then end it with a cutting remark or sarcastic comment that never fails to yank the reader out of the clouds and ground them back in reality.
Some favorite moments include:
Ronan said nothing else. He just let the silence do its violent work. She found she was both awed and grateful for this bit of nastiness in response to hers. “Did you want to drink my arterial blood after that slash, or just roll around in it”
Declan Lynch had a complicated relationship with his family. It wasn’t that he hated them. Hate was such a slick, neat, simple emotion. Declan envied people who felt proper hate. You had to sand all the corners off things in order to unequivocally hate; it was a subtractive emotion. Hate was sometimes a prize. But hate was sometimes also just a dick move. It was annoying how many people had small redeeming qualities or depressingly sympathetic motives or other complicating features that disqualified it as an appropriate response.
Bonus Factor: Declan
I’ve already vowed to name my first born son Ronan, but now I’m like…do I have to have two sons? Do I want to name a son Declan or do I just want to marry Declan? It’s a complicated jumble of emotions I’m definitely going to need to talk to my therapist about.
Bonus Factor: Dream Things
I always love to see what sort of mindfuckery Ronan will pull out of his dreams and Mister Impossible does not disappoint. Cats with hands, invisible cars, mirrors that show you the best version of yourself. And Ronan’s insistence on naming them all things like, “THE BEDAZZLER, all caps.”
Factor: Cliffhanger
I was so busy being bewitched by this book that I was not ready for the final bit. It is, for the most part, not an action-adventure fast-paced story. There are a few actiony scenes, but it’s mostly a story about people figuring out things that were previously beyond their comprehension. But then Maggie pulls the rug out from under us in the final pages with a series of MAJOR surprises that end with a huge cliffhanger.
And now, we wait.
Relationship Status: I’d Die 4 U, I’d Scry 4 U
I don’t know what else I have to say. I’m ready to tattoo Maggie Stiefvater’s name around my neck like a Jordan Hennessey daisy tattoo. I have already purchased this book in hardcover (for shelf display), ebook (for reading and highlighting) and audiobook (for Will Patton).
I AM COMMITTED TO THIS UNIVERSE AND THESE PEOPLE.
Literary Matchmaking
While these are technically separate series, I’m not entirely sure HOW you can read this series without first reading Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle.
If you’re wanting more stories about boys who can make their dreams real, check out Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King.
For another book that feels a bit like a fever dream, check out Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl.
FTC Full Disclosure: I did not receive money or Girl Scout cookies of any kind (not even the gross cranberry ones) for writing this review. Mister Impossible is available now.
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