Wednesday, October 8, 2014

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

If you've been following me, you know the whole difficult process I went through in order to get a copy of this.  You see I got the very first book in the series, The Raven Boys, when I attended BEA in 2012.  And even though I was a big fan of the author, in fact there was almost a character with my last name in the first book, I didn't get around to reading it until January of 2013.  After I finished it I was so mad at myself for waiting so long to read it.  I figured they'd probably give away ARCs of the 2nd book at BEA in 2013, but I wasn't able to attend.  So I was lucky enough to find it on Netgalley.  But then I also wanted a matching ARC to go with the first one, so I found a copy of The Dream Thieves on YA Book Exchange.  Now I think when I got the ARC of it, it was already out in the stores.  Plus, I don't think I was smart enough to still go back and post my review on Netgalley where I had been approved for it.  I'm assuming that is one of the reasons they denied my request for the e-galley of this one.  I was heartbroken though when I got the email saying I'd been denied. So, even though it was a Friday night, and I knew probably no one was in the publisher's office, I found someone's email on the Scholastic website and I emailed them with links to all my reviews of Maggie's books, and pleaded my case for getting a copy since I have 3 ways to spread the word about books.  And the person emailed me back on Sunday and said they'd send me an ARC!  So happy!  When I got it, I was at work, and wanted so bad to dance and scream, but I work in a library, and so it wasn't quite the right place for it.  I picked the book up finally on Sunday, and I could barely put it down.  I was reading it so much that I even hurt my wrist again, and had to pull out the brace I got a couple years ago for supposed carpal tunnel on that wrist.  So now, on to the review, and if you haven't read the first two in the series yet, you should probably stop now, knowing the book is awesome, because I can't help if there are spoilers from the first two books.

Where we left off in book 2, Blue's mother, Maura, was gone.  She'd disappeared leaving only a note that she was basically going to look for Glendower.  Ronan had learned that he was basically the Greywaren and could pull things out of his dreams, as could his father.  Adam was living away from his abusive father, but still not with Gansey and Ronan.  Professor Malory, Gansey's friend has come to help with their search.  Mr. Gray is still around, although he's kind of come over to the good side you might say, even though now his boss has come to town, still wanting the Greywaren.  Blue is finding that she is attracted to Gansey instead of Adam, but knows that anything like this would mess up the friendship between the four of them, not to mention the original prediction about how Gansey would die from kissing her.  They have gone back to their cave, only to find a blocked passage, and now they must figure out how to get to the other side of the blockage, and soon they find a cave in a small town on a man named Jesse Dittley's farm.  I love Dittley, his character basically yells the whole time, as shown by the capital letters in the book.  There was at least one conversation between him and Blue that I laughed out loud as I was reading, then looked up to see if anyone noticed I'd done that.  Dittley says the cave is cursed,  his family members have died there.  At first he won't let them explore because of the curse.  But Blue convinces him otherwise.  And once the crew goes in to explore, many things are found, that show they are on the right track.  But there are supposed to be 3 sleepers.  Glendower, one who should not be woken, and a third one that is nonessential really.  In the end they will find two of the sleepers.  One which will help, one which will not, and that is where book 4 will go I guess.  We will lose another beloved character, even as we also get rid of a bad guy.  Kind of another cliffhanger.  And I guess I have to wait another year now to finish!  But that's okay, I'm so glad to have read this one.

I do have one complaint.  Adam has the court case with his father.  And while there might be some hints as to how it goes, it is never really said for sure.  And so I kinda need the answer to that.  Don't know if we'll get it or not, and I want to ask the author.  I will probably ask her when she comes to Kansas City next month.  Another great book from Stiefvater, another important part of the story has been unfolded, and now we just need to tie up all the ends and get to the prize.  If you haven't started this series, you really need to get going!  And thanks again to Tracy van Straaten, the VP of Publicity and Education/Library Marketing at Scholastic for taking my email seriously and giving me the chance to read this early.