Maggie Stiefvater

An enchanting story from Maggie Stiefvater featuring Opal, Ronan, and Adam from her bestselling Raven Cycle, taking place after the events of The Raven King.

Opal (a Raven Cycle Story)

Nova

literally only read this out of love for pynch... didnt know what i expected

chloe rae

I liked this but purely for the little peak into life at the barns and a certain romance. Opal is an interesting character but hard to understand and I just kept asking myself what the point of this little novella was.

Syahla Aurel

Now I need more Ronan and Adam content 😩

Aishling

[3rd re-read: May 12th 2021]
This is honestly my number one comfort book. 

[2nd re-read May 5th 2020: ]
I just read this again cause I couldn’t stop thinking about it all night and I would like to change my rating to 6/5 stars cause it’s just that good my heart breaks over did

-

I would die for Ronan Lynch and Adam Parrish. I hope to god call down the hawk has more chapters from Opals POV cause I just love her and her view on everything. She’s like the female version of what I imagine a young Ronan to be like, full of innocent wonder and emotions that she doesn’t know how to properly express.

Beatriz Aguiar

4.5

cute <33 
i enjoyed reading a book from the pov of opal and getting these cute moments between Ronan and Adam

brianna

i think we’re ALL in love with adam parrish actually

Jasmine

It was great revisiting this story and world. I was so sad when I realized it would only be for 38 pages because I somehow believed this would be a whole book. However, they were 38 fantastic pages and for a short story, it surprisingly left me wanting more. Opal, it was interesting seeing things from her POV. Her curiosity and opinions of the world are quite fascinating to read about. Of course, the main reason I wanted to read this though was for Pynch, I love them so much!! Oh god, they're so domestic now! It was so great to glimpse into their life with them being together. There were times in this I was dying to jump from Opal's outsider perspective into their povs and know what they were thinking. All in all, if this is a preview of what Ronan's books are going to be like, can't wait!

Chloe C

Very cute, but Opal's pov was irrelevant. Everything could have been said in The Raven King's epilogue so I don't get the point of this novella. 
Ronan and Adam were sweet, but so little got dealt with, I'm not sure how to react.
Unguibus et rostro, I guess.

Elisa Bieg

This just popped on my screen this morning at 6 and I despite my attempts to hold it together and stick to my plans and sneak this in when thing were under control, I just gave in and read it all — which isn’t a whole lot, because it’s just a 58-page novella, but still.

I can’t say that this entirely quenched my thirst for more Raven Cycle stories, but it was better than nothing, for sure. Much better. 

I had wanted to hear more about Opal, about who she is, what became of her after everything went down. Turns out that she lives with Ronan, and she is the narrator of this novella — or rather, it’s told in third person, but from Opal’s point of view, which makes for interesting reading at times 😊

Opal is a dream creature who looks a little like a female faun; she is a cross between a toddler and a pet, in the way she thinks and behaves. She lovely, adorable, but also sometimes annoying and has quite a few peculiar, sometimes disgusting habits. 

But she makes a great narrator for this in-between story, giving us a taste of the dynamic between Ronan and Adam, and just a peek at what Ronan is trying to accomplish, which I guess will be the subject of the upcoming Ronan-focused books.

I really enjoyed it, and though I think not everyone will be happy with it, I really appreciate Maggie giving us this little morsel of post-Cabeswater TRC world.

Plus it’s only a couple of bucks on Amazon, so a no-brainer for any fan IMO.

***
Reread in Sept 2019, after rereading The Raven Cycle, and the above still holds true. Except I am still
dealing with a book hangover from TRC, and just scored a CDTH box preorder, and I want more NOW NOW NOW 🙈

Charlotte J. Ruth

3.5*

As always with Maggie Stiefvater, I adored the writing style of this mini novella. And I enjoyed reading in Opal's perspective. However, not much happened in the story.

Writing: 5/5
Story: 3/5

Heather Anne

Could not care less about Opal. Just her for Adam and Ronan.

ℰ.

“Yes”, Adam had whispered, and Opal had felt a rush of love for him. She loved him the best when he was very sad or very serious or very happy. Something about his voice breaking filled her with feeling, and something about the vacancy of his expression when he was thinking hard felt like she was looking at a dream with nothing bad in it, and something about when Ronan made him laugh so hard that he couldn't stop made her love him so hard that she felt sad because one day he would get old and die because that was what things with animalness did.

Francis Buggey

** spoiler alert **
           i didn’t hate this but the closure was good, especially with adam and ronan. i absolutely am in love with the two of them so i needed something and i’m glad i decided to read this

Alexa Jade

the glimpses of adam and ronan!?! nah i’m sick.

Nia Kharebashvili 

3.5/5


I LIVE AND BREATHE FOR DOMESTIC PYNCH!

Chandler Primak

Holy lord

I swear that every time Maggie releases something its better and better than the last. What an amazing short story, I'm so pumped for the Ronan trilogy

Jess Grossmith

Grace O'Callaghan

This was absolutely incredible. 

I loved being in Opal’s head, she was such a unique perspective because all she’s known is the dream world and now she’s in our world which has rules and boundaries and not everything is possible. I adored how she thought about Ronan and Adam. I think she admits to herself that she loves Adam whereas she hides her feelings about Ronan more because she is essentially a part of Ronan and I think that kind of scares her.

Ronan and Adam were great as always. Just the way they talk to each other and the little ways they show they care just melts my heart.

Obviously this is a short story so there wasn’t much plot, but what we got was amazing and I’m glad it wasn’t just wrapped up at the end. It left stuff out and it just left me hooked for the Dreamer trilogy.

The writing was exquisite as always, so dreamy and magical. Almost like the style of magical realism if I’m honest.

Overall I really loved this, I have a hard time giving such short stories 5 stars as I feel like there wasn’t enough time to fall in love with it. I’d still highly recommend it though.

Sophia De La Garza

A fun little in between book to keep me calm as I wait for Call Down the Hawk to be released

Wynne Aretae

i highly recommend reading this if you were unsatisfied with the end of the Raven King. I swear, this will give you the closure the other books didn't give you.

Tiffany Robinson

I finally managed to read this and of course I loved it. I was glad to be back in this world with some of the characters. I enjoyed that it was from Opals point of view so it made for an interesting change. I just wish it was longer and it makes me rally anxious for the Ronan books to come out already!

mary

Opal is so wholesome and my heart is melting

Tanja Hoffmann

Maggie Stiefvater is just so talented. Her writing always shines through, even in a short story.

Paula Narvaez

This was incredible, why does it have to be so short? 
Opal's POV was very interesting and sad, but the way she described everything that was happening around her was amazing. I can't wait to read more about Ronan and Adam, I am obsessed with them.

Opal (a Raven Cycle Story)

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