Series: The Raven Cycle (Page 1 of 2)

BOOK REVIEW: The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK REVIEW: The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie StiefvaterThe Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4)
by Maggie Stiefvater
Purchase on: AmazoniBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

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.

I don’t know. She held him tightly, loving him and keeping him. We could just stay here.
I love you, Blue, but I know what I have to do. I don’t want to. But I know what I have to do.

So the wait is finally over-The coveted final book of the Raven Cycle is finally out-or rather, I was one of the lucky people who got her copy early-and now all our questions have been answered (Were they, though??? No, not all of them, frankly). I finally found out the fate of my beloved Gansey and…I just can’t help to be a little disappointed. IE, this is me all alone, not liking this book:

 photo tumblr_mgwrwynsq01qe9jwko1_400_zps95hzq9rq.gif

It was this: this moment and no other moment, and for the first time that Gansey could remember, he knew what it would feel like to be present in his own life.

GAWD this makes me sicker than a dog, saying that. Was it because I expected too much?? Was it my fault for putting so much pressure on the finale of one of my favorite series of all time? Or could it possibly be that I blame the author a little bit? Because, in all honesty, I kind of do. I mean…this was supposed to be out 6 months ago or more. That’s a long time. At that point, it had already been a year wait, and then adding on many months more is a like a punch to the gut. When I found that out, I was one of those that figured it was more than worth the wait.

Gansey asked, “Do you have time to run an errand with us? Do you have work? Homework?”
“No homework. I got suspended,” Blue replied.
“Get the fuck out,” Ronan said, but with admiration.
“Sargent, you asshole.”
Blue reluctantly allowed him to bump fists with her as Gansey eyed her meaningfully in the rearview mirror.

But here I am, one of the privileged people lucky enough to have finished the book before it’s even been released, and I can’t help but feel like maybe I was a little disconnected. I LOVE Gansey…I can’t even breathe when I think about him. He will always and forever be one of my absolutely favorite book boyfriends ever. But, even with my large and obsessive I-lost-so-much-sleep-awaiting-Gansey’s-fate feels, I still didn’t fall in love with this story like I did with the previous three.

“For what?”
“Emptying another student’s backpack over his car. I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“I do,” Ronan said.
“Well, I don’t. I’m not proud of it.”
Ronan patted her leg. “I’ll be proud for you.”

I guess maybe I should be up front and say that I didn’t think there was enough Gansey-or even Blue-for my liking. And when he did appear?? He was like….so boring. It crushed my heart every time he came on and was totally unlike himself, totally without that whimsical aura around him I’ve become used to. Call me selfish, but I guess I just wanted way more of the guy who has became a large part of my universe in the final installment. And also, just to be up front, I read this in one day and it’s hard to say if some things didn’t get lost in my mad dash to finish, so maybe I’m looking at this from entirely the wrong perspective. But then again…maybe I’m wholly right.

Ronan’s throat was raw. I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anythi
It was unmaking everything Ronan loved.
Please

For those of you Ronan and Adam shippers, this is most definitely your book. I can’t say I’m bitter, because I am quite obsessed with Ronan and I don’t dislike Adam anymore, but it did suck to feel like this book was, yet again, focused on Ronan. Now, that being said, I have a certain friend I just know will die from excitement when she reads this. I’m happy for her-and all those who thought this was the best one ever-but disappointed for myself.

It was Blue’s shoulder and her collarbone and her legs and her throat and her laugh her laugh her laugh. He couldn’t stop looking at her, and here, it didn’t matter, because no one here cared that they were together. Here, he could play his fingers over her fingers as they stood close, she could lean her cheek on his bare shoulder, he could hook his ankle playfully in hers, she could catch herself with an arm around his waist. Here he was unbelievably greedy for that laugh.

I got a little greedy, is all, and I need to get my head on straight, because this book was fucking excellent, in more ways than one. I mean, the creepy demon in this one just…ugh it made my day. The problems in this story, they were everything I could ask for. And oh man….the things that happen because of evil….Agh! They are by far my favorite parts of the story and what made me the happiest-Now, hey, I never said I was sane.

“Don’t be like that,” Calla said.
“Like what?”
“Bitter.” Maura considered, and then added, “I just want you to look at your future as a world where anything is possible.”
Blue shot back, “Like Gansey not dying before April? Like me not killing my true love with a kiss? Any of those possibilities?”

I did cry, I did laugh, I did smile. Though, because of my disconnect somewhere along the line, it wasn’t as much as I had hoped I’d feel. I’d get the beginnings of butterflies and then they’d disappear almost as immediately as they appeared. I’m not used to this sensation when reading this series, I must tell you. And I don’t know if it’s because I was reading the hardback (though that’s SURELY not it?), because I just really needed more Gansey because, really, I really am just that selfish, or because….I just felt pressure to love it. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know. I am just sooooo mad and upset I didn’t feel the love I’m used to.

“I don’t know, Adam! You’re asking me to define an abstract concept that no one has managed to explain since time began. You sort of sprang it on me,” Gansey said. “Why do we breathe air? Because we love air? Because we don’t want to suffocate. Why do we eat? Because we don’t want to starve. How do I know I love her? Because I can sleep after I talk to her. Why?”

And you might be saying oh, but that’s a good rating! No…it is, really, but in Chelsea ratings? For books Chelsea loves and cherishes and adores and obsesses about for a year and a half?? This is a very lackluster rating. And it makes me so sad.

Richard Gansey was failing to sleep. When he closed his eyes: Blue’s hands, his voice, black bleeding from a tree. It was starting, starting. No. It was ending. He was ending. This was the landscape of his personal apocalypse. What was excitement when he was wakeful melted into dread when he was tired.

So. I don’t know. I just don’t feel like dwelling on why it wasn’t perfect for me as I had hoped it would be. There were too many extra POVs talking about things I just didn’t care about (THOUGH THEY WERE ESSENTIAL TO THE STORY, I REALIZE) and not enough of what I had hoped and expected and longed for. Gansey is still some one I will never forget and I will ALWAYS obsess about this series…but, even with all the peril and darkness and epic endings and fantastic writing…for me?? It just wasn’t enough.

Unmaker, unmaker, I wake, I wake, I wake

 

BOOK REVIEW – Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK REVIEW – Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie StiefvaterBlue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3)
by Maggie Stiefvater
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

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.

My ten favorite things about Blue Lily, Lily Blue

“Ronan kept going, his voice louder. “No. Do you hear me, Cabeswater? You promised to keep me safe. Who are we to you? Nothing? If you let him die, that is not keeping me safe. Do you understand? If they die, I die, too.”

➊ To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Ronan takes the first place hands down even without having any chapter from his point of view. Actually, after the intensity of The Dream Thieves, getting to observe him through other’s eyes (who am I kidding : through Adam’s) was so so so satisfying. I want more, though.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue will be forever remembered as The Book Where I Finally Love Adam. Shocking, I know, given how much I wanted to slap his whiny ass in the previous books (sorry not sorry). First his evolution is freaking interesting on its own (who doesn’t like a Magician with Slytherin-ish potential now tell me? Okaaaay, I might be *a little* subjective. Look at my profile! *waits patiently* Now you get it) and secondly I just can’t ignore that 90% of his scenes are shared by The Boy Who Dreams Baby Ravens. Duh.

“With a savage smile, Ronan shoved the cart off the kerb and belted towards the BMW. As they picked up speed, Ronan called out a joyful and awful swear and then jumped on to the back of the cart himself. As they hurtled towards the BMW, Adam realised that Ronan, as usual, had no intention of stopping before something bad happened. He cupped a hand over his nose just as they glanced off the side of the BMW. The unseated cart wobbled once, twice, and then tipped catastrophically on to its side. It kept skidding, the boys skidding along with it.
The three of them came to a stop.
“Oh, God,” Adam said, touching the road burn on his elbow. It wasn’t that bad, really. “God, God. I can feel my teeth.”
Ronan lay on his back a few feet away. A box of toothpaste rested on his chest and the cart kneeled beside him. He looked profoundly happy. “

➌ I’m gonna throw a PYNCH on there, because I’m redundant like that. Seriously, though. SE-RIOU-SLY. 80% of my favorite quotes are reformulations of something like… meanwhile, Ronan and Adam kept disappearing together.*Almost* every favorite scene stars them : the BARN. The CHURCH. The GROCERY STORE. Oh. My. Gosh. From the shortest looks and grips to the most adorable and heartbreaking interactions, these boys put my heart into overdrive.

#Can’t Compute
#ISHIPIT.ISHIPIT.ISHIPIT.

“Light, or something like light, reflected off it onto Ronan’s chin and cheeks, rendering him stark and handsome and terrifying and someone else. Then he blew on it. His breath passed through the word, the mirror, the unwritten line.
Adam heard a whisper in his ear. Something moved and stirred inside him. Ronan’s eyelashes fluttered darkly.
What are we doing –

➍ Granted, we can say what we want about these books, about the confusion of their plots and the true love bits and Mallory’s dog (okay sorry dog, that wasn’t called for), but the beauty of the relationships pictured will forever make them special for me. The loyalty despite the doubts, the trust – even if sometimes begrudgingly given at first – the support and the BANTER between Blue and her boys is EVERYTHING. Honestly? They’re just all kinds of amazing and a little heartbreaking.

“Ronan’s arms were still locked around her; she felt them quivering. She didn’t know if it was from muscle strain or worry. He had not even hesitated before grabbing her.
I can’t let myself forget that.

You better not is the only thing I will say.

“The door cracked open…”

You know what I mean, guys. The FEELS.

➎ ♪ SQUASH ONE, SQUASH TWO, S-♫

Greenmantle and Piper. Erm- this is the moment I’m supposed to feel bad for loving the villains, right? But-but-b- they’re funny! Who am I to resist them tell me?

➐ JESSE THE YELLER. BECAUSE HIS CURSE IS BADASS TOO. ALSO, I HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR CHARACTERS WHO USE CAPS. BECAUSE OF REASONS.

➑ There’s nothing better than late night calls, don’t you think? (here’s the moment 99% of my friends think, FUCKING FINALLY, ANNA! Oops)

Calla and the Pretty One‘s argument. Or is it Richie Rich? I can never remember.

It’s official : there’s nothing like a Raven Boys reread to make yourself feel a special kind of stupid; so many hidden details that came to light, I can’t even. Really, though : how in the world did I miss so many things the first time? HOW? Was I high or something?

Oh, nope. Maggie Stiefvater‘s plot is just way more layered and complex than I first imagined. Or, I’m smarter now (somehow I doubt it) (it’s been 2 years, not 2 decades)

Sigh. Now I wait.

BOOK REVIEW – The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK REVIEW – The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie StiefvaterThe Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
by Maggie Stiefvater
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

“Suddenly, for the briefest moment, panic forced itself up.
Am I a dream creature? Would I know?

► No one is more flabbergasted than me to realize – to confirm – that Ronan Lynch is undoubtedly my favorite.

RONAN. FREAKING. LYNCH.

Ronan, who’s so keen on showing the kind of thrill-seeking, self-destructive behavior I would usually hate and manages to make me love him nonetheless. Tell me, is there something more powerful than the annihilation of a usual revulsion? I don’t think there is.

He’s so freaking stupid at times. Unable to fucking communicate. It would be so, so easy for me to despise him and hate him a little. Except I don’t, I cannot. I’m way too busy caring for him.

“Ronan watched Gansey over the body of the creature – it seemed even larger in its death – and his expression was as unguarded as Gansey had ever seen it. He was being made to understand that this, all of it, was a confession. A look into who Ronan really had been the entire time he had known him.
What a world of wonders and horrors, and Glendower only one of them.”

Perhaps I should try and explain why – how – he can avoid my ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME radars… It has to be something, right? It has to be some quality I can quantify? Should I wait for some fucking epiphany about why I’m not growling and facepalming and rolling my eyes?

You wish.

There’s only Chainsaw and a baby mouse and longing. There’s only brotherhood and family and hurt and hurt and hurt. Loneliness and anger and that dazzling smile that escapes, escapes, escapes.

There’s also “I’m being perfectly fucking civil” , because come on now.

I know you smiled too.

“And you, Ronan,” Niall said. He always said Ronan differently from other words. As if he had meant to say another word entirely – something like knife or poison or revenge – and then swapped it out for Ronan’s name at the last moment.
“When you were born, the rivers dried up and the cattle in Rockingham County wept blood.”

If this reread taught me something, it’s that above the mysteries – no matter how intriguing they are – Maggie Stiefvater‘s novels are always so very character-driven. It can be seen as a flaw, or it can be your undoing. Me, though? I love these Raven Boys to pieces – they’re real to me. Yet it’s funny how perception can change over the time, really. Indeed it seems that Adam and Blue switched roles during this second read : the first used to annoy me, and I liked the latter. Now it’s the opposite, but I don’t care, it doesn’t change anything because in the end, above the characters, what’s important here are the dynamics and the relationships between them all. Who cares about specifics?

“Ronan Lynch’s second secret was…”

Oh, yes. That. Strangely, I’m feeling more invested in that ship now. Go figure.

Also – so much foreshadowing : we can say many things about the plot – messy, slow, confusing – yet under the chaos hides order. There are so many tiny clues that I didn’t catch the first time, SO. MANY. How’s that for brilliant, I wonder.

I am not ready for this series to end.

BOOK REVIEW – The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK REVIEW – The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie StiefvaterThe Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

4.5 stars, one stunned face, one hundred facepalms, a dozen OH MY GOSH I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE WROTE IT THEN AND I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE, one brilliant book.

“Ronan said, “I’m always straight.”
Adam replied, “Oh, man, that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told.”

Truth be told, I wasn’t fully immerged in The Raven Boys when I first read it, and it took Ronan’s amazingness in The Dream Thieves to make me fall in love with these boys and their strange quest.

Honestly, I didn’t even want to give another chance at what stayed for me the weakest book of the series : God, I was so scared to be disappointed. Not because of Blue’s curse, as I never understood why people were annoyed with the “romance” here (understand : there’s none worthy of attention PYNCH!! , definitely nothing going on between Blue and Gansey, and no will they/won’t they vibes yet in my opinion), but because I found it so sloooow and all kinds of confusing (yes, I mean that it made me feel stupid. No, that is NOT a feeling I enjoy)

Trust me : I am so very surprised at how much I loved it this second time.

One word: FORESHADOWING

All week I’ve been rereading these books and every one of them left a stunning impression on me because of how brilliantly Maggie Stiefvater crafted her plot. Indeed I can’t even count how many times I stumbled upon a sentence and widened my fucking eyes before such talent and well, planning. I don’t know about you, but in the past few years I’ve been too often appalled by how weak and nonsensical plots could get, especially in PNR.

Really, did you look at my name? What do you think, that I chose “frowner” out of the blue? (haha) Elite, Inescapable, Hush, Hush, Alice in Zombieland – They all have a hand in this. Fuckers.

Anyway – what I meant to say is this : no matter how confusing it can appear at first glance, it is NOT messy at all : everything has meaning, even if I didn’t manage to understand it two years ago. Oh! And I should also tell you that I was OVERWHELMED by feels. I know, I know. How can the story’s impact be more powerful the second time is beyond me. I mean, hello, I know all the twists. Go figure.

Not to mention that all these Chainsaw feedings were fucking cute.

OKAY?!
Okay.

RONAN’S THE BEST?!
Ronan’s the best.

Now, is this review useful for you who never read it? The fuck if I know.

BOOK REVIEW: Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK REVIEW: Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie StiefvaterBlue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3)
by Maggie Stiefvater
Purchase on: AmazoniBooks
Add to: Goodreads

“Blue,” he warned, but his voice was chaotic. This close, his throat was scented with mint and wool sweater and vinyl car seat, and Gansey, just Gansey.
She said, “I just want to pretend. I want to pretend that I could.”
He breathed out.
What was a kiss without a kiss?

Oh, Richard Gansey III, you’ve swept me away again!!!!

It was too much, it was too little….it was perfect.

Let’s take a moment to breathe and reminisce about the latest installment of one of my favorite series on the face of this earth. Let’s think back to every heart-stopping, soul-crushing, and earth-shattering moment within this series thus far. Let’s remember where this all started-a girl, a graveyard, St. Mark’s Eve….an apparition of my beloved Gansey. In case you’re just tuning in or live under a rock, since Blue saw dear Gansey in the graveyard on that night, he is destined to die within the year. Not only that, but whenever Blue, our heroine, kisses her true love….he will die.

She wished she could still evoke that Blue who despised him. She wished she knew if Adam would feel terrible about this. She wished she knew if fighting this feeling would make Gansey’s foretold end destroy her any less.

Beautiful, poetic, magical, out-of-this-world writing, Maggie Stiefvater ensnares me in her web, tangling me up and not letting me go. I can’t focus on reality when I am in this world. Nothing else matters but seeing how much closer Gansey is to his fate and what the others are willing to do to prevent it. I sit and I stare ahead at my computer screen, trying to work, but failing as my stomach flutters because I am reminiscing about a Gansey mannerism, a Gansey and Blue encounter, his touch….it’s all too much and I am a heartbroken fool longing for any and every opportunity that might save him. And, even more than that, I crave for the moment when (when, it has to be when or I’ll die) he and Blue can kiss and he won’t keel over and cease to exist. The emotions I feel while reading these stories are palpable and written all over my face. Everything that happens is amazing, but everything that happens is terrible. Nothing good comes from a curse, and Maggie Stiefvater isn’t afraid to do what she’s foretold-for our sakes, I sure hope it was always in her writing plan to find a loophole…..if not, she doesn’t seem the type to stray from her maniacal prophecy because we are all a bunch of love-sick saps who fell head-over-heels for a walking dead man (boy).

There was something unfamiliar about him when he arrived in the Pig. Something ferocious about his eyes, some sort of bite in his faint smile. Something altogether hectic and unsettled. She stood on the ledge of his smile and looked over the edge.
This wasn’t the Gansey she’d seen in the kitchen earlier; this was the Gansey she secretly called at night.

Before I start on the characters and why I officially love them all (yes, even Adam, shocker, right??!!) I want to say one last thing before I forget. Everyone knows how an old movie reel sounds, right? Well, these books are like that. They play out in front of me with a tick, tick, tick and a hazy, grainy feel. It almost unfolds in a slow-motion sort of way, letting you savor each individual word. They’re special, ya know? They’re wholly individual and unlike anything I’ve ever read-Maggie isn’t afraid to play things out just how she wants them to. No one sways her vote, undermines her confidence, or altogether makes her re-think what she’s doing. These stories stay at the pace they’ve set since book one, and I have never seen anything played out otherwise. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again-when I’m reading Raven Boys, it’s like sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair on a hot summer day with only a light breeze to cool me. Each story is like sweet, smooth honey slowly pouring out of a Ball jar…they aren’t hurried, the writing is poetical and un-rushed, and I’m utterly enraptured by each and every page. That’s what reading is all about.

The stars winked through the beech leaves. She’d read that new stars tended to form in pairs. Binary stars, orbiting in close proximity, only becoming single stars when their partner was smashed off them by another pair of wildly spinning new stars. If she pretended hard enough, she could see the multitude of pairs clinging to each other in the destructive and creative gravity of their constellations.
Impressive.

******

Orla wasn’t wrong, of course. But what she didn’t realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another, analyzing every conversation and gesture, drawing out every joke into a longer and longer running gag, spending each moment either with one another or thinking about when next they would be with one another. Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn’t all-encompassing, that wasn’t blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she’d had this kind, she didn’t want the other.

I think I’ll mention Adam before anyone else because, well, I’ve hated him since book one. He was whiny, petulant, and he altogether gave Blue and Gansey problems (both individually and separately) from the beginning. That’s not to say I’m not biased because I’ve wanted Blue and Gansey together since the beginning, but it wouldn’t deter my thinking in this manner-he was cruel and unkind to people who only deemed themselves his friends and wanted to help, and to me, that is unforgivable. Gansey may have first started as someone who didn’t realize he was saying the wrong things, but even now as he has grown to understand that some things are better left unsaid or rephrased for those around him, he’s always been consistent-he loves his friends to a fault, and he’s only trying to help. And, again, to me, it’s nasty and unnecessary to fault your best friend because he is more privileged than you. But, that’s neither here nor there. My point, which I’m finally getting to, is that Adam, himself, was selfish in the first two installments even as he accused Gansey of acting in such a manner because of his wealth and how he takes it for granted (it all comes back to the wealth). But, something happened this time around-he has matured. He didn’t want to fight with his friends, he realized the error of his ways and wanted to improve his attitude, even if he had to swallow some of his stubborn pride along with it. He was funny, witty, and helpful. This is the Adam I’ve always wanted, and here he is. He has redeemed himself (a fact I never thought possible). Finally.

“No, it’s not. It’s disgusting of me.” Gansey didn’t open his eyes. “Everything has gotten so ugly. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
Everything had begun ugly for Adam, but he knew what Gansey meant. His noble and oblivious optimistic friend was slowly opening his eyes and seeing the world for what it was, and it was filthy, and violent, and profane, and unfair. Adam had always thought that was what he wanted-for Gansey to know. But now he wasn’t sure. Gansey wasn’t like anyone else, and suddenly Adam wasn’t sure that he really wanted him to be.

Ronan!!!! I’ve always liked Ronan. There’s never been a question of that. But in this installment, I grew to adore him. He became an absolute favorite of mine. He was funny, raw, unfiltered-with a single tear, he became more human to me. His feelings became tangible and recognizable, whereas before I think I was missing his humanity. I know that’s weird, but Ronan has always been the wildcard of the group. And while I’ve always liked him, he always felt unreal and a tad…inhuman? to me. I loved his evil smirks, his snark, almost everything he said made me bust out laughing. Needless to say I have yet another Raven Boy to fret over…my heart can’t handle all four of these boys being in danger, but inevitably so, it will happen.

Instead she said, “You know, you’re not such a shithead.”
“No,” Ronan replied, “really I am.”

There was such a creepy undertone to this novel. And I think quite a few of those times the source of that malicious atmosphere centered around Noah. Yet again I’ll say that I fell even harder for yet another guy. He’s always been sweet, our darling Noah, but he was also hilarious (and wholly creepy) in this one. He always said the obvious thing that made any situation lighter and a whole lot funnier (to us as readers), and I couldn’t help but to grasp onto that comic relief. It was spread throughout, as it always is in a Maggie novel, but it centered around Noah, Ronan, and Adam in this one. (And Blue’s inner thoughts, but I’m getting ahead of myself)

He remembered this: He had been lost.
Which meant that if he had come alone, he would have been dead now.
“Sorry,” he said. “I was being sort of a dick.”
“Noah replied, “We weren’t going to say it.”
“I was,” Blue said.

I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit one thing: this story is, and always will be, to me, the Gansey and Blue show. I’m sorry. I love every single character without a doubt, but Gansey is my first priority and my true love of the story. I was smiling ear-to-ear for the first fifty percent, just happy to be back in Gansey’s world of mint leaves, Welsh kings, and new love for his best friend’s ex-Blue. One of the cutest things about Gansey since day one, even above his kindness and motivated way of life, is how he’s always had a soft spot for Blue, even though he didn’t realize it. He calls her Jane, just because he wants to, and I melt every time he says it. That’s his personal coined name for her, and it kills me every time it’s repeated. He breaks my heart with his loyalty and devotion to his friends (and now crush, Jane), and one scene in particular brought tears to my eyes-(view spoiler) And…I dunno-it warmed my heart. His curiosity, his strength, his palpable fear, it touches me and burns deep in my soul. He will always be a favorite male lead of mine, no matter his fate in book four.

Casually, out of view of Ronan, making sure Adam was still sleeping, Gansey dangled his hand between the driver’s seat and the door. Palm up, fingers stretched back to Blue.
This was not allowed.
He knew it was not allowed, by rules he himself had set. He would not permit himself to play favorites between Adam and Ronan; he and Blue couldn’t play favorites in this way, either. She would not see the gesture, anyway. She would ignore it if she did. His heart hummed.
Blue touched his fingertips.
Just this-
He pinched her fingers lightly, just for a moment, and then he withdrew his hand and put it back on the wheel. His chest felt warm.
This was not allowed.

In all reality, there was no way I wouldn’t have loved this-it’s impossible. But, there were many ways I could have been disappointed in different areas. But, as it was, I loved every page and every quote and every idiosyncrasy. The banter for these books is unrivaled and unlike any other I have ever seen, taking bickering to an almost educated level. Some of the banter is petty, of course, but it still has a different quality to it that I admire. Ronan was the best at banter, though-any person he went up against, it was hilarious. Even he and Blue had great chemistry in this installment…one scene in particular makes my heart soar. Both in the beginning and the end Ronan proves he’d risk it all for them (which we knew already)-but we never saw such loyalty to Blue. I loved that aspect. Blue’s inner dialogue was cute and funny, adding yet another intricate layer to this finely woven masterpiece. This was complex story-telling at it’s finest. My only regret? I read it way too fast. Now I have to wait a year for the tragic (or maybe not so tragic? Please, Maggie, Pleeeeeeease??!!) final installment. With the unraveling of book four I’m sure something wicked this way will come…..and here I am devouring the third book in one damn day.

But the horror was his spine, bent back on itself. It was his hand, pressed to his throat. It was his breath-a gasp, a gasp, a choked-off word. It was his fingers, shaking as he held them to his mouth. It was his eyes, open too wide, too bright, cast up to the ceiling. Seeing only pain.

My final exclamation, true story, as the final page was withering away before me:
“Oh, my God. Oh no.”

Guess there’s nothing left to do but wait for hell to inhabit the tiny town of Henrietta. Or has it already done so?


“Queens and kings
Kings and queens
Blue lily, lily blue
Crowns and birds
Swords and things
Blue lily, lily blue”

*****************************************

Aaahhhhhh Omg-Prologue and Excerpt HERE-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/238426271/S…

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG GOMGOMGOGMFGOSsfsadfashfsdafasdkjfdahfjasdhfjasdhfhsdafhsdafhasdhfhsadfhasdfhsadhfhasdhfjsdahfsdjafhasdhjfhsadjkfhkjsdahfjkhasdkjfhsdkjahfasdhjfhjashfksh

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Yes, that about sums THAT up perfectly.

Maggie you evil genius….I can only imagine the amazing amount of peril you have up your sleeve for this book…

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I NEED this book like I need my next breath. That excerpt???!!!! Maggie you about ruined all my hopes and dreams for my dear, dear, dear, sweet Gansey.

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If you haven’t read this series, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. If you haven’t, you must read it IMMEDIATELY.

See what all the

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is about.

GO ON. NOW. READ IT. What are you F’in WAITING FOR?! GO.

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