YA Weekend: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Publisher: Scholastic (October 2014)
Wendy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.”
I really don’t care of Blue, Gansy, Adam, Noah, and Ronan ever find their Raven King. In fact, I’d rather they didn’t. Just keep giving me wonderfully painful stories about the Raven boys and their bittersweet friendship.
At the end of The Dream Thieves, Blue’s mother had ventured into the dangerous and unpredictable realm of Cabeswater alone. Her sisters and Blue want to find her, but nothing is ever easy when it comes to Cabeswater. Meanwhile, Blue continues to struggle with her curse and her attraction to Gansy, and Adam comes to terms with his reality and his connection to Cabeswater.
And then there’s Ronan. There can never be enough Ronan, though the majority of his story was told in the previous book when it was revealed that he is able to pull things from his dreams, making him the target of the cruel and ruthless man who had Ronan’s father killed.
The only thing this book was sadly lacking was more Noah. The poor undead boy had very little to do, save to provide a kind of warning signal for Cabeswater’s antics. Blue remains a bit sidelined as well, though less so than in the previous book, where I felt she existed only as a bouncing point for advancing the plot. Events and clues founds in Blue Lily, Lily Blue — and the title itself — imply that there is far more to Blue than just a conduit for amplifying psychic magic.
I don’t fault the book for not giving more face time to these characters. There are so many of them, and each book has served to magnify a group of them. While one or more may play less of a role here, Stiefveiter firmly establishes their importance to … to whatever will come. And they are all so unique and intriguing in their own ways, that they are hard to forget.
But it’s the relationship between Adam, Ronan, and Gansy that really and truly gets to me. The depth of their love for each other and their struggles to understand each other, and come to terms with who they are and what their friendship means. Gansy remains the glue that holds them together, and his stability serves as a buoy to the troubled boys, but Gansy has his own issues, that have been slowly unravelling every time he lets his Bruce Wayne-like mask dissolve. The trio, with Noah and Blue drifting along in the currents, is what truly makes this series my most favouritest YA series ever. All my feels. All of them.
The BiblioSanctum 
wow that’s great that you had a wonderful time with this novel! And 5/5? It must be so awesome! I haven’t tried this series but I should as everyone is loving it! I have tried another series about faes. Wonderful review!
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Yup I’ve loved every book in the series so far.
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I listened to the audio of book 1 and the narrator so did not work for me
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He threw me off at first, but now I love him. His Ronan is perfect.
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I read a review of the first book sometimes back and it was entusiastic, just like yours. In fact, many remarks were the same.
This does sounds like a nice series.
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I was worried about the slowness of the actual plot so I’m glad you said that you don’t care if it ever happens. Most reviewers didn’t like Ronan, so I’m glad someone does. I really have to read this series already.
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I am fond of broken people, which are often the ones others dislike. Ronan is a complex character, and not one that wants to be liked. I can appreciate him for what he is and his relationship within the group.
The plot does actually pick up, with them getting closer to their goal, but when they find that, they are struck with whether or not they want it… On Jan 26, 2015 11:26 AM, “The BiblioSanctum” wrote:
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Noah is always in need of more stage time in my opinion. I find him so fascinating and yet we don’t get enough of him!
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Someone always falls to the wayside in each book. Last time, I felt it was Blue, even though she was still present. Noah had very little presence this time, but I am curious to see how much of that is due to the leylines and the magic. I hope we do see more of him.
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