This wasn’t really what i expected from the description. I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn’t get into it. I felt it boring and not at all what I expected from the author. It is, however a nice leap into adult fiction and a new genre, but it clearly wasn’t to my taste.

I feel the writing was very good, the plot interesting and there’s really nothing wrong with the book. And I know a lot of people will like this a lot. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

I'm not sure how to talk about this book. It was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it didn't disappoint, but also it didn't fulfill my expectations.

Like every other Stiefvater book, the prose is well-crafted, it has that characteristic style of hers and I love it. Stiefvater's way of presenting the characters is always something that amazes me at how subtle she constructs them, dropping little pieces of who they are into the narrative.

I can say that June was the strongest point of this book, she controls every chapter from her point of view as seamlessly as she controls everything that happens in the Avallon. I liked her as a character, but at the same time I wanted something more.

About Tucker I can't say a lot, it was interesting to see his dynamic with June, but I honestly couldn't care about his character.

The plot as a whole kind of fell short for me, I have to say that everything was thoroughly researched and it shows on the prose, however I didn't see the point of the story. There are some occasions in which it feels like it's going somewhere, mainly because of the commentary on war and certain themes, but most of the time I kept asking me what was the point of this story.

There were some magic elements with the strangeness of the water, I liked the descriptions of it and how it seemed to affect the emotions of those around it, but again I was expecting more.

All in all it's a good book, it's well written and it kept me entertained. As Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors, I enjoyed seeing her writing for an adult audience and I'll be expecting whatever she writes next.

Firstly, Stiefvater is obviously a good writer - I loved the characters and there were plenty of twists and turns in the plot. June is a great heroine and the description of her right from the beginning of the book really evokes someone interesting and unique. However, I found the over-description of the hotel, The Avallon, began to grate as the book went on. I got that it was beautiful, lush and that it was the epitome of luxury - I just didn't needed to be reminded and re-told again and again. I feel that the casting of the hotel as the other most significant character after June meant that the conclusion of the plot was slightly rushed towards the end.

Maggie Stiefvater is a master of subtle horror and mysteries, brought to life through her love for detailed surroundings and light shifts in mood. With 'The Listeners' that skill decisively gets to prove itself to an adult market and doesn't fail to envelope one in its mysteries and intrigues throughout the story.

3.75 rounded up to 4.

First and foremost, thank you so much to Netgalley and Headline for providing me with an early copy of this novel! It was one of my most anticipated of the year and now I’ve read it barely before the year has even began. I’m very grateful. <3

I have a lot of thoughts about this book, most of which are positive, but I had to spend some time thinking about how I wanted to review this. For context, I’m a huge fan of Maggie Stiefvater’s previous series’, The Raven Cycle and The Dreamer Trilogy, and so I had a lot of high expectations when going into this as I feel like I can safely say that Stiefvater is one of my favourite authors based on those works alone. I have not read anything else outside of those series’, and so I wasn’t really sure what to expect beyond beautifully written prose (a given for any Stiefvater venture) and an element of well-crafted magic throughout the novel. I certainly got both of these here with The Listeners.

The Listeners was clearly well-researched and more a passion project for Maggie; you can feel it in her prose, the way she tends to the setting and her characters delicately and with a fair amount of grace. Even her antagonists are handled as though we’re viewing them through rose-tinted glasses, obscuring their more vitriolic and hateful rhetoric behind language barriers and obvious, but again - delicate - symbolism.

Our protagonist, June, is the strongest element of the book from the very first page, beyond even the magic system and setting of the grand Avallon hotel which sits against the backdrop of the Appalachian mountains (a place that Maggie so obviously adores). She commands each scene with her inner monologue and a distinct personality (and aesthetic) that separates her from all of the background characters - even though everyone with a name has their own subtle appeal. Perhaps there would’ve been more to love about them if this was stretched into a duology, or given a longer page count. Regardless, it’s June Hudson that sticks out here, a wonderful blend of some of my favourite characters of Maggie’s in her previous works who makes such an impression, half of my rating could be afforded to her. She does get into a bit of a love triangle, which I could've done without, but it's nothing too egregious

I have some not-so-positive things to say, also, in regard to the glaring lack of queer characters in this novel. Now, fans of Maggie may have been expecting at least one lead or side character to have a queer arc. I believe Maggie even stated somewhere (perhaps in response to an Instagram comment) that this book would include queer representation. What we are given instead is the most subtle and, frankly, kind of insulting single-sentence confirmation that two of the characters (who are so inconsequential to the story that I don’t even know their names) are gay. Whoop-dee-doo. Congrats to us. I would’ve preferred to have no expectation whatsoever and be pleasantly surprised by their quick and fast ‘reveal’ than the author telling us to expect something that came and went like a breeze. It was disappointing, to say the least.

I have more to say and I’d be happy to talk about other elements of the book for those who might be hesitant to pick it up without more details, so please feel free to reply on Goodreads to start a (spoiler-free) dialogue. As for now, I’ll be patiently waiting for Maggie’s next endeavour, as I still adore her work and know she has it in her to do something truly extraordinary again.

2.5 stars.
First, I have to admit that I haven't read a Stiefvater book since my book-tumblr-obsession-time with the Raven Cycle about ten years ago. Of course, this isn't what one would call a "typical" Stiefvater novel.

It's supposed to be her adult debut, and I guess it is. Naively, as I requested this, I still expected ... fantasy. Storygraph tags this release as "historical fiction," but the synopsis made me think of a magical sort of hotel; whimsical, lovely, and bright, put in sharp contrast to the arrival of WW2 and the detained Axis diplomats it brings. You know, contrast. Balance, maybe? Juxtaposition, at least.

I did not get that.

The Listeners is a bleak novel. The hotel itself, supposed to be this haven of luxury built on a natural mineral water spring, feels cold and hostile even before the Nazis haunt its halls. A sort-of sentient house is a common trope in fantasy lately, but the Avallon Hotel in The Listeners is not alive, but a soulless husk, leeching out any sort of positivity out of the text. When reading, you feel as if the hotel has died several years ago, and is now just some dried-out mummified body, while everybody still pretends it's alive to keep up appearances.

Our main character, June Hudson, general manager of the Avallon, is equally soulless. This is a very character-focused novel, but unfortunately, the character it's supposed to be focused on is a blank slate. It often felt as if Stiefvater held back characterization moments for June just to keep up the mystery aspect of the book. Tucker, the main "love interest," seems to be that just because he is the other POV character of the book. He and June end up together not because they interact, talk, or have a connection and grow to genuinely like one another, but because they are the main characters in a novel and are therefore destined for each other. Tucker, at least, is a more interesting character than June, but even he feels colorless and empty.
The only characters I could feel genuine warmth towards were Sandy and Hannelore, and both of them seem to be merely catalysts for the few actual plot points that happen in the course of the novel.
The other characters are merely set dressing, sprinkled around the hotel like decoration. Fancy vases in the form of humans.

It's no secret that Maggie Stiefvater has a very unique writing style, leaning towards the poetic and purple. This works extremely well for her fantasy novels, where the lyrical prose underlines the story beats and character moments. In The Listeners, her writing style felt decidedly out of place. I can't even really explain it, but her writing carries with it this hope that something magical is about to happen, but it doesn't. Reading The Listeners feels like build-up after build-up after build-up, only to never reach a climax. Instead, it fizzles out into unimportance. What was all this for?

I found myself speculating on a lot of things. The sweetwater running through the hotel, for once. Is it a magical thing, as the text would suggest, or is it simply ordinary mineral water that June projects her hopes and dreams for her career and this hotel onto? And why does Tucker fear it so? In the end, I feel like I haven't gotten an answer that satisfied me. That might have been intentional, actually. (However, just like when I reviewed "I Who Have Never Known Men" - the intentionality of keeping of the mystery to allow for reader speculation is something that frustrates me personally. I like getting answers. I like solving mysteries. I like having conclusions. That feeling when it all comes together? Irreplaceable. I cannot deal with speculation. That may be a fault of my own, however. Others might like it.)

In conclusion: Could've been great, but it just feels cold and empty. What a shame.
Also, I can't believe that June has three dachshunds and hasn't even given them names.

Plus, annoying commentary of an English-German, German-English translator: Please, look at the German in this book again. Some of it is alright, but most is incorrect.

Maggie Stiefvater’s The Listeners is a lyrical and haunting exploration of connection, creativity, and the unseen forces that shape our lives. Blending her signature poetic prose with a sense of eerie mystery, Stiefvater crafts a narrative that feels both deeply personal and profoundly otherworldly.

The story revolves around characters bound by secrets, whose lives intersect in unexpected ways as they are drawn into a web of supernatural intrigue. Themes of belonging, obsession, and the cost of truly listening—to oneself and to others—are beautifully woven into the narrative.

Atmospheric and thought-provoking, The Listeners is a mesmerizing tale that will resonate with fans of magical realism and introspective storytelling.

Omg this book! Where do I start?!?!? The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater is such a good story. This is so lovely... 5 stars from me. So so good.