I could not be any more in love with these books than I already am. The story gets more intricate with each chapter and I have no idea where this whole thing might end. Will they wake Glendower? Or even find him? I don't know! However, more characters and plotlines were introduced and they are coming together now, promising a great finale. Blue is one of my favorite young adult female characters. She doesn't feel like the regular stereotypical YA heroine but is so unique, smart, and weird, I desperately want to be friends with her. The same is true for her Raven Boys. All of them have such a distinct vibe to them and Stiefvater knows how to touch upon clichés without making things feel too obvious. She just takes a tiny bit and then makes things her own. I have no idea how she came up with this whole Glendower thing but I am psyched about it. I feel like I need to pick up a book about Welsh history after I'm done with this. With Blue Lily, Lily Blue Stiefvater shocked me and broke my heart a little. She also managed to make me smile so often, I easily forgive her for the sad parts. I really appreciate that although there are feelings involved there is not much of a love story arc going on. That always annoys me so much and it wouldn't have added anything to the story, so I'm glad she sticks to what is important. Dead Welsh Kings.
I feel like I want to save that scene of Gamsey and Blue driving in his car aimlessly just for the sake of their own company in my memory while I Think He Knows plays in the background bc let's face it, a scene like that deserves a soundtrack like that
It took me a bit to get into it, but once I was in it.. damn, it really sticks. So many things are happening and getting closer, and closer... So exciting ! The whole "crew" is growing on me and I am very curious about the last book !
Star rating in one word? Impossible. Some place I cant pin down between 4.5 and 5 stars? It’s hard for me; every other book so far in this series has felt like some major component was just... missing. It almost felt as if there wasn’t enough content there to make each a feel like a completed “novel” in its own right. BLLB definitely still had that feeling of ‘missing’, but it was so insignificant this time around that I barely even noticed it... which is why I only took (an ever changing, indeterminate amount that exists) between 0 and .5 stars away in my rating ;-).
That said- This is the first book in The Raven Cycle series that kept me positively GLUED; every time Life made me pry my eyes away to go adult... adulting was just that much more torturous :-P. I also seem to have developed a very curious, very bad habit of drinking very strong cups of coffee, very late at night, so as to keep reading, obvs :-D. Otherwise... WOAH. I enjoyed this rollercoaster ride of a book SOMUCHHHH. Words can’t even explain. Just, from beginning to end it was packed with endless amounts of magic, wonder, and excitement. Even was successfully super freakin’ creepy (all too often, too, when you’re reading alone late at night lol) quite often this time around. Everything just felt BIGGER, more intense, more everything! I Loved all of the characters’ developments this time around, and excited at the hints towards furthering such in The Raven King. The level of detail in Blue Lily, Lily Blue is just plain incredible. Descriptions of each scene burned the most amazing visuals and images in my mind that almost-could-be-real-(magic isn’t real Ashley! Snap out of it!)-if-they-weren’t-(prettymuch?)-impossible-in-reality.
This kind of change your life imagery, btw, has just finally blossomed, as it just WAS NOT there in the 2 books previous, and honestly it just could COULD NOT be evoked from me even if there was a spot or two because it wasn’t BLLB level, for me at least.
All of it left me feeling deeply inspired and... well, as I said...
I knew it! I knew that I'd get on the fangirl bandwagon at some point. And it was this book that did it. It's pretty much guaranteeing an amazing fourth book. Everything is coming together, and I'm so excited!
Look, I know I've been team Ronan since I started reading, and that's still true. But, Adam's descent into isolation has been one of the most heart wrenching and real aspects of this story. He's tied as my favorite Raven Boy. Easily.
Now, that's not to say that I dislike Blue or Gansey or Noah. Because I genuinely like them all. I think they're all very well developed and interesting characters.
Oh side note: why was this series in the Romance section of my Barnes and Noble? Romance doesn't feel like a major element at all to this story. However, the friendships. If romance can be about true ever lasting friendships, then I guess I get it. However, that's not what people usually expect when heading to that section...that's all.
There's some romance in this but it feels pretty natural, and I have a feeling it'll break my heart when this slow burn comes to fruition.
But, it's the friendships that make this story feel as realistic as it does, all while surrounded by so much magic.
The writing has been so fantastic throughout this story, and Maggie has done an especially excellent job in this book by giving us more from each character, while strengthening a plot, and subplots. She's an author that definitely knows how to captivate.
Disclaimer: Since writing my review, I have discovered that Maggie Stiefvater is a problematic author - you can find more info here. Because of this, I can no longer promote her books in good conscience. I'm leaving my review here as it is for the sake of transparency.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater is probably the most exciting book in The Raven Cycle, and a fair few things happen. However, I'm starting to feel like by the time I reach the end of this series, I'm going to be disappointed.
I really enjoyed Blue Lily, Lily Blue. I still love all the characters, who are the reason I read this series, but when it comes to the plot, I'm starting to get a little frustrated. It's fair to say things do move on quite a bit in this book - Maura goes missing when trying to look for Blue's father, Mallory comes over to help Gansey with the ley line and he's awesome, we meet Jesse Dittley who I just loved, things happen in caves, and those things lead on to other things - especially when compared to The Dream Thieves, but I'm really starting to feel like things aren't happening fast enough. Sure, there's only one book left, and everything will be wrapped up in this one, but this is the third book, and in the great scheme of things, not a huge deal has happened. Adam woke the ley line in the first book, Ronan got better at taking things from him dreams in the second, in this things are discovered in caves. I could summaries this third book a little better, but spoilers. But that's pretty much it. I mean, come on.
As I said, I love the characters, I am gripped by this series, and the stakes are seriously raised in Blue Lily, Lily Blue - and that cliffhanger! - but looking back over the series, I am feeling kind of disappointed. It's fortunate that I've started reading the series after the whole series had been published, but I would be pretty annoyed if I had read each book as it was released, and had to wait for the next. The series ends with the next book, and I don't feel like enough has happened. I am still really intrigued by the whole story, and I want to know the out come in regards to Glendower - I find the fact that this is based on real folklore awesome, and the folklore itself so fascinating - but I have read better series when it comes to plot and what actually happens in each of the books overall.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue has definitely got better, it's built on the last two, and things are finally happening, but I'm still left wanting. I'm left wanting because there is only one book left, and I don't feel this series has truly got moving yet. I almost feel like both The Dream Thieves and Blue Lily, Lily Blue could have been shorter and made into one book. And then, maybe, the pace would feel better. But I would still want another two books after. Seriously, I need more. This book is awesome - really, it's so good (hence the four stars)! But looking at the series so far as a whole, I'm really frustrated and disappointed. I'm really looking forward to the final book, The Raven King, but at the same time, I really worried that I'm going to be disappointed. I'm really expecting a lot from this final book, and if it fails to deliver, I'm not going to be pleased.
Gods, it took me way too long to finish this book! I officially marked it as 'currently reading' on 11 May, but I didn't really start reading it until a couple of days (maybe a week?) later. And I finally finished it on 15 June, which was due to a couple of reasons: I was in a reading slump, I read more graphic novels than books the past three weeks and I went to see a lot of movies in between me starting the book and finishing it. But I did finally finish it and, gods I loved it so much!
Blue Lily, Lily Blue continues where the previous book left us - Maura is missing, and the gang has to find her before something bad happens to her. But how do you find someone in a place like Cabeswater? Honestly as much as I didn't really care for the whole Glendower part of this story, I was glad when this book finally went back to the search for him. I mean I liked that we explored Ronan's power in the previous book, but I don't know, I just wasn't that interested in it anymore after a while.
Yeah, this book was once again about the search for Glendower, and they do a lot of cave searching in this book. Partly to find Maura - Blue's mother - but also still because they want to find Glendower. We meet the man behind the Grey Man - Colin Greenmantle - who was not at all who I expected he was to be honest he was a cowardly piece of shit, seriously his wife was tougher than he was and Piper was just a huge bitch, sorry not sorry.
What I kind of disliked about this book was that one character was shouting all the time SO EVERYTHING HE SAID WAS TYPED IN CAPS. I mean sure, tell us that he's shouting, but please stop typing everything in caps? I mean it makes him shout in my head as well and that gave me a headache. Also I want to know what happened to Adam's dad after the court date? We literally DO NOT find out whether he's been released from jail or has to go back there, I mean seriously?!?!
Though the writing was practically the same as the previous two books, I found this third book a lot less confusing. I did however read Maggie Stiefvater's recap of the book, just because her recaps are just so hilarious - but this time I didn't need to read them because I still didn't really understand what was going on. This is mostly the reason I enjoyed this third book a bit more than the previous two!
Like I said, I loved that they went on to search for Glendower again, and for Maura as well, but did it really have to hurt this much? I was nearly crying by the end of the book and then that thing happened and I got mad as hell. I really need to pick up The Raven King soon - which my friend kindly lend out to me as well, thank you Lynn - and I really really really need to finish it in under a month.
In the end, I enjoyed Blue Lily, Lily Blue so much, and I will of course definitely be picking up the next and last book in the series. Definitely recommend this to people who love magic and legends and pain.
So much happened in Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and yet, not that much time actually passed for these amazing characters as the story unfolded. Between missing parents, new, nefarious characters showing up for dark reasons, and more about both dreams and what Adam is capable of, I was enchanted from start to finish! The world is so tangible, even if this is fantasy, I really felt like I could stretch out my hand and touch the trees in Crabeswater, or hug Blue when she needed it. And some characters I found to be inherently bad turned out being quite reasonable, while others have shown me that they might not be as nice as I first thought.
The whole mystery of Crabeswater and Glenwaren moved quietly along, almost on the sidelines, but still omnipresent at the same time. And the four (or should that be five?) musketeers were all feeling a bit separate after summer was over, having to deal with school, being in different places, and not having all the time (or the same time) in the world to spend with each other on their quest.
Stiefvater's writing just keeps getting better and better, it's truly impossible not to be engrossed in this story! Blue Lily, Lily Blue managed to be both character-driven and plot-driven, and the story moved forward very nicely, with a pace that fit the storyline and the characters perfectly. And this review is going to be this short - because I need to start reading the final Raven Cycle book right now! Third person omniscient narrator, in past tense worked well, especially because I felt like I knew more than each character did on their own - but not more than the sum of their knowledge.
Calla wasn't sure what Blue was looking at, but she believed her. Blue wasn't the sort of girl to hand out false compliments, even to her mother. Although she was kind, she wasn't nice. Good thing, too, because nice people made Calla irritable.
She was beginning to suspect that she might just be using the same minute over and over. This might have troubles dome people. Some people might not have noticed at all.
There was something of a turtle in his visage, and he had not only one chin, but another waiting in line behind it.