Book Shelf: All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

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.

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Review: 

All the Crooked Saints is Maggie Stiefvater’s latest release and is a unique and compelling story about the power of miracles and the individuals who wield them.

Set in the 1960’s, All the Crooked Saints introduces readers to the small town of Bicho Raro, Colorado, a place where the desert is home to miracles and mayhem, as well as an oddly eccentric family who have the ability to perform strange miracles. Cousins Daniel, Beatrix and Joaquin are members of the Soria family and all long for a different future. Beatrix is thought to be a girl without feelings and longs for the silence to examine her thoughts; Daniel is the Saint of Bicho Raro, tasked with using love and understanding to help the pilgrims who journey in search of help, but yearns for a different kind of love; while the youngest of the trio Joaquin wants to travel to the city where his alter ego Diablo, Diablo can light up the airwaves with music and passion. Everything changes with the help of an old box truck, a radio and the arrival of two strangers who are about to witness the biggest change Bicho Raro has seen in decades.

As someone who always adores Maggie Stiefvater’s novels, I knew heading into All the Crooked Saints that I was in store for something uniquely different. And Stiefvater definitely didn’t disappoint in this regard. Beautifully written, described and infused, All the Crooked Saints allows readers to visit a daring desert world of whimsical nature and magic in this very different, but alluring story.

I very much felt as though I was in another time and place with All the Crooked Saints. Not only was it set in the 1960’s where life was very different than it was today, but Stiefvater also added a lot of otherworldly occurrences and individuals to the story. Giant men, a priest with the head of a coyote, a man covered in moss and a woman who constantly had rain pour on her and her alone----these were only a few of the strange and unusual things we found within the desert surrounds of Bicho Raro.

Personally, I appreciated the uniqueness of All the Crooked Saints. Maggie Stiefvater weaves adventure, romance and familial bonds together in this luscious and adventurous story. There’s nothing this author could write that I wouldn’t adore and I enjoyed following all these different individuals on their journey. It was entertaining and delightful.

All the Crooked Saints is another enjoyable story from one of my favourite authors that is sure to satisfy readers with this difference and vitality. Can’t wait to see what Maggie Stiefvater releases to the world next!

Rating:
Source: Sent for review by publisher (Thank you guys!)
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Format: Paperback
Australian RRP: $19.99
Release Date: October 10th 2017
Purchase: Bookworld | Booktopia | The Book Depository | Amazon
Final Thoughts: A beautiful but highly unique story.