Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle #3
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: October 21st, 2014
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 1/1/15 to 1/4/15
391 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

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.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

“You can be just friends with people, you know," Orla said. "I think it's crazy how you're in love with all those raven boys."

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 it's safe to say that at this point, I am utterly in love with this series, and its characters. I just read the third book so fast, and now I have to wait so long for the next book. Wait, is it the last book? I don't even want to know. But man, things sure did happen in this installment.

Read the Raven Cycle? Good for you have a cookie. Haven't started the series yet? SHAME. Just kidding, just skim or skip this review. I'm just letting you know this series is amazing, and if you haven't picked it up yet, then consider this your motivation!

As with the last two books, Blue Lily, Lily Blue was amazing. Stiefvater manages to develop her characters even further, which I thought wasn't even possible since it's the third book, but I don't even know why I doubted it. It really pains me to see this side of Ganesy though. I never really thought much of him throughout the first two books, but in this book, I really worry about his future. And basically everyone's future. I would love to ship Ganesy with Blue, but I feel like that would ruin the group of friends? Kind of? I REALLY NEED THE CONCLUSION TO THIS SERIES SO BADLY. Also Noah is mine.

And Adam! I thought he would never have the guts, but apparently I was wrong. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM.   

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the conversations between the characters are very genuine. They actually sound like conversations between a group of friends. I know some people are a little put off by the writing of this series, but I think it fits it perfectly well. I mean, you know sometimes I'm confused by what's going, but at this point I am so enamoured by Blue and her Raven Boys that I just don't even care what happens. I literally accept everything. Heck, even a flying dragon could come in and destroy half of Henrietta, but as long as Ganesy, Ronan, Adam, Blue and her family, and Noah are safe, then I don't care. 

I wish I had more words to say, but the shock of the last third of this book is still affecting me. First off, I wasn't even expecting that, and second NO THAT CANNOT HAPPEN, I just want everything to go back to normal, but I don't even understand why [spoiler] Persephone died? It was because she went between the mirrors right? BUT WHY DID SHE DO IT BY HERSELF. Gah it is so frustrating. Sure I didn't really "know" her but it hurts a bit. [end spoiler] So yes, there you have it. 

In conclusion, Blue Lily, Lily Blue was beautiful and emotional, and I just have so many questions that I HOPE are all answered in the next book. I need the next book. I NEED IT.

Review: The Dream Thieves

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle #2
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Release Date: May 17th, 2013
Source: Physical
Date Read: 11/11/14 to 11/28/14
448 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

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.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them.
Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness.
Her raven boys.

YES MY RAVEN BOYS BECAUSE THEY ARE MY BABIES. This includes Blue too!

When you find a book that's so beautifully written, the intent is to slowly savor it and take in everything a little at a time. This did not happen with the Dream Thieves, though not because it was bad, but because it was too damn good (sorry for the little swear).

Too suspenseful.
Too action-packed.
Too wonderful, with its fully developed characters, that I am convinced exist someone out there in another universe BECAUSE they sound so real. Seriously, someone needs to get me a Noah because he is way too adorable.

If you haven't read the first book in the series, The Raven Boys, I recommend that you take the time during your winter break to READ IT! And also feel free to skim the review even though there are no spoilers. It might just make you confused though. Haha. I feel like I've been pushing you bloggers to read everything in the past month. THAT'S OKAY!

The Dream Theives Thieves (wow I can't spell "thieves") features real characters with their real problems. Well, when I say problems I mean dreamers, their monsters, psychics, and ley lines. Oh and don't forget those hit men and thugs too. It sounds unrealistic, but Stiefvater makes it sound like it's completely normal in the world.

SERIOUSLY, this book has beautiful writing that sucks you in. It's different than your average detailed novel, where instead of info-dumping the life out of you, the author uses lyrical prose to weave together an intricate story filled with AMAZINGNESS AND CHARACTERS AND just, just read this beautifulness. 

Want and need were words that got eaten smaller and smaller: Freedom, autonomy, a perennial bank balance, a stainless-steel condo in a dustless city, a silky black car, to make out with Blue, eight hours of sleep, a cell phone, a bed, to kiss Blue just once, a blister-less heel, bacon for breakfast, to hold Blue's hand, one hour of sleep, toilet paper, deodorant, a soda, a minute to close his eyes.

The one downfall to this though, is that it's sometimes hard to understand. The whole series itself isn't what I would call a light read. Sometimes it takes multiple rereads to get what's happening, or sometimes you have to go back because you didn't catch something. But in the end, it's completely worth it because THIS BOOK GUYS.

And gah, Ronan. To be honest, I didn't like Ronan much in the first book which was why I was surprised that many readers like him the best (or at least I think they do). But I know why now! The ability to steal from dreams? And even without that, Ronan himself is the most complex, and honestly it'll probably take a couple rereads to fully understand him as a person. Although the book centers around Ronan, good amounts were still dedicated to Ganesy, Adam, and Blue. Though I wish there was more on Noah. (my babyyyy)

I can say that I loved The Dream Thieves much more than its prequel. My reasoning? Well all my questions from the first book were answered! So yay to that! And also, though this may just be me, but I spent more time reading this book because I know that Stiefvater's writing is hard to process. SO I just focused really hard! And in the end I loved it! 

So yes, things to get from this review? One, READ THE FIRST BOOK. Then two, READ THIS ONE. And then three, READ THE THIRD BOOK WITH ME. Okay? okay. Good. Go go go. 

Review: The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle #1
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Release Date: July 30th, 2013 (First published in 2012)
Date Read: 6/17/14 to 6/18/14
407 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is 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 has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, 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 never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

As an impulse buy from online, The Raven Boys completely blew me away. To be honest, I knew I was taking some chances with reading this book. First off, I've never read anything from the supernatural or mystery genre. And second, I avoided other books by Maggie Stiefvater such as The Shiver Trilogy, solely because the blurbs didn't appeal to me.

Well. Fortunately, every doubt I had on whether this would be a good book were thrown out the window.

The Raven Boys starts with Blue, our main main protagonist. I instantly took a liking to her. Not only is she eccentric, and short, but she is surrounded by psychics! I've always been enamoured with the lives of psychics, and Stiefvater (wow her name is so hard to type) does an amazing job in showing me this. The author made it extremely believable (though I'm not saying I don't believe in psychic powers), but what I mean, is that it's not overdone at all.

Basically, the plot of the story revolves around the idea of ley lines and Glendower, the ancient Welsh King that lines on said ley line. Anyone who finds him is granted a favor. So obviously, what better way is there to spend your time? There is none, well according to Ganesy. Also, I'm surprised at how willingly Adam and Ronan go along with this. Without Ganesy, the whole circle pretty much falls apart. Or does it? Dun dun.

Also surprised at how Stiefvater manages to not make this all about the romance. Or the budding love triangle. It's really all about a group of friends, searching for a goal, and solving each other's problems

Even though the book switches POV every chapter, I still got a full story of what was going on. I could see what was happening with Adam and Ganesy, and what they thought about the whole situation. And speaking of characters, SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! I loved it! I don't think I've ever cherished any other character more than these. Which is probably why when (spoilers, highlight to read) Noah's rotting body was found on the ley line, I was incredibly confused because I didn't want him to die. But then I realized that nah, he's actually a ghost, and OMG IT'S CZERNY. And then he started to disappear and I was like NO. THAT CANNOT HAPPEN. But then he came back, and everything was okay. End of spoiler. :P

If I were to pick, my favorite character would definitely be.....wow, I started this sentence thinking I could finish it but I can't.

So. Why is this only 4 stars instead of 5? I mean, I really liked it a lot. It was intense, mysterious, and also extremely engaging. Plus Stiefvater writes crazy good. Her sentences pull you right into the story.

Well. It was mostly the ending. And all my questions about it.
MAJOR SPOILERS (highlight to read)
So when Adam gets into the ritual circle, he sacrifices his free will? But he doesn't seem changed when he comes out? WHY? Like I know his personality somewhat changes a little, but I didn't really think so at all. And where did those white beasts come from? And then after all this happens, everything kind of just goes back to normal. Is this resolved in the sequel? DO I GET MY QUESTIONS ANSWERED?

Probably. But I want to know now. boo. End of spoilers, again.

So yes. BUT I ENJOYED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Seriously. I do recommend this to anyone who loves a little supernatural mystery (ok maybe not a mystery but close enough). But yeah. All I can say, is that it's really good. Really good.