Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3)
By Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Blue and her Raven Boys are as close as they've ever been to finding Glendower, yet the sleeping Welsh king still seems out of reach. Blue also worries about what’s happening to her missing mother, as her family at 300 Fox Way has become inextricably tied to her friends’ quest, too. Everyone has invested too much in this search to back down now, even as Cabeswater continues to change Adam and another dangerous visitor has been drawn to Henrietta.

Review: I can’t even I can’t even. I. Can’t. Even. I’ve never felt more incapable of writing a review for a book than I do at this moment for Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Because when a book is so utterly flawless, me writing about it is just so lame.

We’ve still got a little bit of time left in 2014, but I can’t imagine another book overtaking Blue Lily, Lily Blue as my favorite book of the year. That’s not to say that I won’t love any other books until the end of December, but this book exists on its own plane of perfection. I’m not exaggerating about its perfection, either. Story progression: perfect. Character development: perfect. Prose: so perfect, it makes me wish it had a human form so I could be best friends with it.

I’d waited, for the most part most impatiently, for a year to hold this book in my hands, and once I started reading, being apart from it was almost unbearable. Squeezing in reading time on weeknights can be tough sometimes, but dammit, I found time for Blue Lily, Lily Blue, even at the expense of sleep. I hated putting the book down for the night; there was never a good place to stop because every single page was magnificent.

Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah have all become permanent residents in my heart, and the bond between them has never been stronger. It’s beyond friendship now; they’re really their own family, and though like any family they have their occasional squabbles, there is nothing they wouldn’t do for one another. Nothing. I’ll never forget that moment in The Raven Boys when Ronan turns his car around to go back and help Adam, and there’s a scene in Blue Lily, Lily Blue that left me similarly awestruck (and nearly crying) by the magnitude of its emotional depth. These characters may be enveloped in myth and the paranormal, but oh my God, do they seem so real, especially when they take a wrecking ball to your heart. And you should steel yourself for heartbreak here.

I’ve loved Blue from the outset, but she’s phenomenal in Blue Lily, Lily Blue, which only seems fitting with that title. She knows she can rely on her Raven Boys for anything, but without sacrificing an ounce of her fiery independence. I love that she’s a badass who carries a pink switchblade, but I love her gentle side, too. I also need to mention her bravery in the face of the disappearance of her mother, Maura, and in having to deal with some things alone because she’s the only one who can do them.

I know I haven’t shut up about the characters yet, but they truly, truly do make this series. All four boys yanked at my heart in this book, so much so that I couldn’t even tell you who was the most responsible for all of the fissures it now has. Ronan is as acerbic as ever (and that’s why I love him), Adam is as complex as ever thanks to his bargain with Cabeswater, and Noah is as Noah as ever but even more poignantly so. My dear, dear Gansey is as Gansey as ever, determined to find his king, fiercely protective of his friends, and finding it more and more difficult to ignore the whisperings of his heart.

OK, still not done gushing about the characters. I have to mention Calla and Persephone, my two favorite psychics at 300 Fox Way. Calla’s abrasiveness, even when directed at my Gansey, is hilarious. I also just want to say how freaking awesome the Gray Man is. I love this guy!

I’ve read some amazing sequels this year, but returning to Henrietta with Blue and the Raven Boys was the sweetest reunion imaginable. Blue Lily, Lily Blue, like its predecessors, is genius in its purest form. I wish I could write like Maggie Stiefvater. I wish I were Blue Sargent. I wish I could meet the Raven Boys and help them with their quest. I wish I could go for a ride in the Pig. I wish I could pet the Dog. I get Gansey’s obsession with Glendower because I’m just as obsessed with Gansey’s obsession with Glendower and everything to do with Gansey and the gang. I have no clue how I’m going to survive the wait until the next, and final, book. *Sobs*

All in All: Read. This. NOW.