Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

Powers is the third and final volume of the series "Annals of the Western Shore." It is a longer and more substantial book than the previous two, telling the story of Gavir, a Marshland boy taken as a slave when very young, on to his adulthood. While a slave, he is privileged to learn to read, and his special gifts include a remarkable ability to recall what he has read, and a power to dream of the future. He escapes from slavery after his sister is murdered, and wanders the country, first among various bands of men, and later among his own people, leading him towards his own destiny. A powerful capstone to Le Guin's series. (Reading Le Guin directly after reading Maggie Stiefvater only makes Le Guin's stature as a writer seem more towering.) 

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the fourth volume of a quartet called The Raven Cycle. I read and wrote about the first three volumes a year ago, and nearly abandoned the series back then when I learn of the existence of further volumes beyond the four. The series has been on a devolving course since the first book, and it accelerates downwards even more in this final book of the quartet. The writing is not very good, the overall ideas of the story are poorly thought out, and many of the characters exist solely to advance the plot. Basically, the quartet is like a teen series on The CW network, where trite scenarios are played out against shifting contexts as plots move forward just for the sake of being plots. The hell with making any sense out of the whole, just move from one scene to the next with hand-waving or faux logic. Why this author sells at all seems to depend on a complete lack of standards amongst her readership.