Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater // I attempt coherency

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.

Let me flail for a moment, so that I can get all the fangirling out of the way before I dive into my serious and analytical review.

Alrighty then. Let's get serious.

THIS BOOK HAD EVERYTHING IN IT TO LOVE. EVERYTHING. OH MY GAAAWSH.

Yeah, no, I don't think we're getting an entirely sensible review here, no matter how much I try to get the flails out beforehand. Be forewarned.

Okay, where to begin? I don't even know.

My review of The Dream Thieves was extremely short because I was sort of blown away and had no clue what to write. This one threatens to be super long just because there is SO MUCH to write about. Maggie Stiefvater really outdoes herself with each new book on so many levels: characters, description, hidden meanings, EVERYTHING. 

The characters just keep developing further and further, even when you think you've fully understood them. They're ever-changing and ever-growing within their own selves, just like real people. And I think that in BLLB, they grow the most. 

Adam - oh goodness, I am SO PROUD of Adam. I feel like a kind of older sibling to all well-written characters in the books I read, and so WANT them to go down the right path and find happiness. And Adam finally let his past go and figured it out about Gansey and charity and kindness. I AM SO SO PROUD OF HIM. He's growing up into a fine young man. 

We're also seeing another side to Ronan - actually, it's less another side and more just a greater part of him. We've only been exposed to a small percentage of Ronan so far (though it's quite a loud bit of him), and in BLLB we have the privilege of catching glimpses of the rest of him that so often gets drowned out by that really loud bit. I think Adam is seeing those glimpses along with us, and through them, his relationship with Ronan tightens.

Really, BLLB is about the tightening of all the relationships that were forged in the first two books. All of our Main Characters get to know each other so much more and get to see parts of each other that they never thought existed. It's situations like these that make or break friendships, and I'm glad that our lovely Blue and her Raven Boys made it through so far so well. 

(A side note: I entirely empathized with Blue-learning-to-drive. Though I think I was half scared of the power I now held in my hands and half extremely thrilled [I discovered I LOVE driving fast, which comes as quite a shocker to those who know me]. Anyway, I quite often, like Blue:

...could never forget that she was a tiny pilot in a several-thousand-pound weapon. 

Except I sometimes did. When I was excited about going fast.)

Talking about relationships, can I just squeal a bit about darling Bluesey here? All the shipping comes out in full force in BLLB and UGH STAR CROSSED LOVERS. It's the worst. I'm really curious to see how Maggie Stiefvater manages it.

But seriously, Bluesey is proof of how much romance can happen WITHOUT KISSING. Think about it. We're all squirming in our couches with our hearts exploding out of our chests and all they've done is JOKE ON THE TELEPHONE ABOUT CONGRESS. 

Let's talk about DEATH (since we're talking about Gansey, of course). There was death in The Raven Boys. There was death in The Dream Thieves. But the death in BLLB somehow was more poignant and heart-wrenching - maybe because, as the series progresses, the people dying are characters I like more and more. Is this just portending the death of one of the main characters - GANSEY PERHAPS? I... hope not. But it's kinda been promised from the beginning, so...

Hey, I can hope, right? ...Right?

BLLB seemed to be, so far in the series, the book most filled with hidden meanings and secret foreshadowing and subtle commentaries. I LOVE THAT KIND OF STUFF, because, hey, I love literary analysis, but I also lovingly hate it, because there's just so much I KNOW I missed. That means that I will most likely be buying these books as soon as I get around to it, because darn it, I love a good reread!

BUT SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE. What kind of an ending was THAT? I am dead until book four comes out.

I liked OH SO MANY, but here's one of my favorites:

 

Have you read Blue Lily, Lily Blue? What did you think?

~Sophia