Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted.
For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey… and is certain she is destined to kill him.
Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.
So, I was stuck flying during the whole Delta debacle when the computers went down and flights were delayed and cancelled and everything was just ridiculous. Luckily, I'd brought some books. And luckily, one of those books happened to be The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. The Raven King, book 4 in The Raven Cycle, is one of the most beautifully written stories that I think I've ever read. While I have come to expect nothing less from Maggie Stiefvater, this one went above and beyond anything else I've picked up by her.
Everything was just so magically descriptive and fantastical that I couldn't manage to put it down. It really did save my trip up to Maine to pick up my daughter. Flights and accommodations were significantly less than stellar so it helped to have something that could completely remove me from the situation I was in and transport me somewhere else completely. The book was terrifying and haunting and heartbreakingly sad and beautiful all at the same time.
It was nice to be able to come back to Fox Way and see Maura and The Grey Man again. To be able to follow Ronan and Adam and Gansey and Blue around one more time. Learning more about Blue's father was a bit shocking, but seemed absolutely fitting considering Blue. There were also some other great plot twists that perhaps I should have seen coming but didn't, i.e. Cabeswater.
I loved the inclusion of Henry and his bee. Henry, someone who had been on the outside and absent for 90% of the story telling played such a wonderful part in this last story. I loved that I got to see Ronan for who he really was. Not just some jerk who liked to fight and piss people off. But someone who loved, and who wanted to BE loved. Who wanted to protect and to fight FOR people... not just fight people. Maybe he was that way the whole time, but the development of a certain relationship in this final installment of the story just made him so much more... Ronan... to me.
Fantastic.
That's really all I can say to sum up how good this book was. Well, fantastic and wonderful and beautiful and all of the other synonyms of all the words. If you've read the rest of the series, please finish it out and pick this one up. If you haven't, then start. The story and the journey they go on will amaze you.
