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.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
“What an impossible and miraculous and hideous thing this was. An ugly plan hatched by an ugly boy now dreamt into ugly life. From dream to reality. How appropiate it was that Ronan, left to his own devices, manifested beautiful cars and beautiful birds and tenderhearted brothers, while Adam, when given the power, manifested a filthy string of perverse murders.”
It’s good to find a series you can fall in love with, and I think this is what’s finally happened for me here.
However, as you very well know, in any relationship there are always bumps in the road. The first book I loved; it wasn’t perfect (nothing ever is) but I liked it enough to buy the entire series ahead, something I’ve NEVER done before. When The Raven King finally arrived (it had been a pre-order about thirty days before its release) I decided it was time to continue with the series and read the popular Dream Thieves, which was, as fate would have it, pretty much everybody’s favorite book of the three.
I took it with grabby hands anxious to see more on FUCKING RONAN LYNCH, FUCK YEAH!...
And I was… really disappointed by it. I mean, the author had an amazing premise, someone who could take anything he wanted from dreams, including nightmares, and for me the end result came out as a clusterfuck of boringness and annoyance. How can you turn dream-stealing stuff into that?? The plot was slow, the character development hectic, and the overuse of purple prose (which I had been fine with in the first book) became mind-numbing and infuriating.
Needless to say, I felt like crap. Here I was reading everybody’s favorite book, and I was once again the black sheep amongst the herd. The very lonely and sad black sheep.
I was scared to find out whether I’d like the third book or not, because if I didn’t then it would mean I had bought the entire series for nothing, and boy would that suck.
But then Blue Lily Lily Blue was so freaking amazing, I fell in love with the series all over again.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect. The plot is still going nowhere and even though the author likes to draw out long and overly complicated metaphors for her characters and the relationships between them, there’s still very little we know about them (something hard considering this is mostly a character-driven story). But I love it nonetheless!
Part of it was probably because this book was SO DAMN SASSYYYYYYYYYY!
There were a few new characters (and not so much) in BLLB and they gave the story some much needed humour and intrigue.
Ronan:
“Behind him, he heard Ronan say, "I like the way you losers thought Instagram before first aid. Fuck off.”
He was fantastic here, I still feel like the author is not quite sure what to do with him besides some family history and a little romance (but not enough, in my opinion) but I still really liked him; he was funny, loyal and overall wonderful. My only complaint (and this is something I have with all characters in this series) is that we don’t get to see enough of him.
Blue:
“Blue,” he warned, but his voice was chaotic. This close, his throat was scented with mint and wool sweater and vinyl car seat, and Gansey, just Gansey.
She said, “I just want to pretend. I want to pretend that I could.”
She was a tough one to judge, because as Jaz said; it looks like the author is still unsure on what to do with her and where she stands in the story.
On the one hand, this makes sense considering her characterization. Blue is a non-psychic in a psychic family. She’s surrounded by the magical while being normal herself, and the only “distinctive” feature she has is not even something that works in her favour, but in others by enhancing their abilities. When she is with the boys she has friends, but now school is coming to an end and she is beginning to realize that they will all go different ways and she’ll stay in Henrietta with little to no chances of ever leaving it or doing something “meaningful” with her life. So even with her friends, she’s bound to be the normal surrounded by the extraordinary. Blue herself is not sure where she stands in this world, which translates to her characterization; she can be flimsy and indecisive.
However, I also struggled a lot with her simply because I do not understand what the heck she’s doing with the Raven Boys. Her friendship with them doesn’t seem as natural as the narration makes you want to believe it is. She’s been warned her entire life about her curse, but the second she finds Gansey and his friends, instead of doing the logical thing and stepping the fuck away, she seeks them out and joins their group for no reason at all!
I thought this was going to be explained by book three, but since it hasn’t I realized that there’s really no reason; the author wanted this story to start so she just shoved Blue into the group and tried to make it work… somehow. But I don’t see it, so I’m always wondering what the hell is she doing there? What??
Not to mention that, as a person who was born in a family of psychics, Blue can be very naïve and stubborn when it comes to the supernatural. Traits that would be better suited for someone like Adam, who lived his life not being touched by magic. But with Blue, it makes her a tad frustrating because, C’mon! You should have known better!
Adam:
“Adam was beginning to realize that he hadn't known Ronan at all. Or rather, he had known part of him and assumed it was all of him.”
He was alright, I liked seeing how his character developed from book one in relation to his friends, as well as his idea of money and a better life. But ever since that deal with Cabeswater, it seems as if something is missing from him. Like, his personality or relevance to the plot besides serving that place. Whenever the author introduces something new and exciting and related to Adam and only him (like the thing with his father) she quickly dismisses it to deal with something else entirely. It didn’t help in showing more of the character.
Gansey:
“What do we do now?" Gansey asked.
From the other room, Calla bellowed, "GO BUY US PIZZA. WITH EXTRA CHEESE, RICHIE RICH."
Blue said, "I think she's starting to like you.”
Even though he’s one of the main characters and pretty much the leader in the search for Glendower (plus the whole thing about him dying soon) Gansey is the character I know the least of. Who is this kid besides his aversion to hornets, obsession with Glendower (which I still don’t totally get besides the explanation of the almost death on the ley line) and his crush on Blue (how did that came to be??).
I love him, but I want to know more about him. About all of them.
Overall, this was a great book, funny and with some cool twists and mysteries! I still wished the characters and plot was more developed, but a great book nonetheless.
