Review - The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

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.

Review - Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is book 3 in the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. And, as I love all things Maggie Stiefvater, I had to read this. Although, I have put it off because book 4 is not scheduled to come out until February of 2016 so I didn't want there to be a million days in between reading this and reading that but... as with all things... I am impatient. And I had to stop procrastinating and get to reading.

Blue and Co. (Or Gansey and Co. however you want to look at it) are so close to finding Glendower's tomb that they can taste it. Sort of. But Maura is gone and there are curses on caves and Greenmantle is now teaching at Aglionby and Adam has to go to court to testify against his father and things just aren't working out the way they're supposed to be.

Some finagling has to be done to gain access to certain places and to make other things go away... it's getting scary. They're getting so close but everything is upending and they're not quite sure what to do next.

*

That was the best summary I could give without giving much away. As this is still a relatively new book.

First of all, I would like to say that I would love Blue's sense of style. I really would. But unfortunately I am the type of person that can really only rock jeans and t-shirts and still look like some semblance of a human being.

Moving along. This book has a lot of surprises in it. Some interesting. Some incredibly sad. One in particular I didn't see coming at ALL. Not at all. I guess that's kind of how surprises work though. You don't see them coming.

I didn't want to put this one down. I brought it with me to babysit, to dog sit... I brought it to read while I was waiting for my daughter's band concert to start... I read it outside, inside... everywhere and anywhere and all the time. That is how magnificent this installment is. It's also frustrating in a way. Everyone seems so stubborn and no one seems to give anyone the credit that they deserve.

The crew makes some new friends in this story. One I enjoyed immensely and I thought was just absolutely fantastic. Another was... different. Although I'm not sure yet whether or not that's a bad thing. I guess we will have to wait for the 4th book to find out for sure.

I loved Blue Lily, Lily Blue. But then, I love all of Maggie's books. It's fun to read about stories that are set close to home with names of places that I've been to. It had enough suspense without making the entire thing one big ball of "Oh my gosh what's going to happen!?" and the characters (Blue especially) had enough sass to keep things funny. We get a look at how strong they can truly be when bad things happen, and boy do they happen in this one. We also get to see just how magical things are the closer they get to their goal. It's pretty incredible. And I'll just warn you now, you'll get a punch to the gut in the end. Just saying.

If you've read the other 2 in this series, you HAVE to give this one a go. If you haven't, I suggest reading books 1 & 2 first before even attempting this one. You'll be completely lost if you're not all caught up on things. I can't wait for The Raven King to be released!