Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater

NOTE: This is a book that very much relies on the first two in the series (The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves), so if you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend that you do!

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. 

 (Description courtesy of the inside jacket flap)

I truly admire Steifvater's ability to create dynamic, thoughtful, and nuanced characters. Blue, Ronan, Gansey, and Adam are stellar. And Noah, though very much secondary in this particular book, is still integral without being ignored or showing up like some sort of deus ex machina. Ronan is still as infuriatingly angry as ever, but a few moments in Blue Lily explode assumptions and bring out the many layers necessary to make him likeable despite his surliness. Adam has moved on (at least a bit) from his days of being unable to take help from anyone, especially Gansey, but is still exceptionally motivated to make a life for himself on his own terms. And Gansey himself is wonderfully conflicted throughout this instalment, and Stiefvater allows us, her readers, to see into his fragile core, unlocking emotions I certainly wasn't expecting to see.

The suspense is high in Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Colin Greenmantle, the ever-despicable Piper, and the Gray Man, all round out the suspenseful subplot, raising the stakes around who will find Glendower first in order to ask for his favor. Of course, in this book we find out there is more at stake than previously realized. This time around Blue and the boys are reminded that there are three sleepers in the ground, one of which is not to be woken by any means. But as all the parties descend into the depths of Cabeswater to find Glendower, nobody knows for certain which grave they are to avoid entering.

To top it off, Blue's mother is still missing, her father may actually be around somewhere nearby, and things are starting to go to hell in a hand basket at 300 Fox Way. You may notice I didn't mention Blue much earlier on in this review, and that's because I feel that her story is almost an entire subplot on its own. Blue is fascinating. Blue is strong and heroic. Her story is complicated in so many ways that it's really impossible to just lump her in with everyone else. The added anxiety around her missing mother, her newly awakened abilities, and the introduction of mirror magic into her life, have all worked to make her into a very conflicted and independent character apart from her interactions with the Raven Boys. 

Though they are all integral parts of a larger whole, I feel that Blue is very much at the core of the group, especially with her magic-amplifying capabilities! All in all, this is a fantastic instalment in The Raven Cycle series, incorporating magic, mystery, action, mythology, secret caves, mirror lakes, and horrifying dreams, and I seriously can't wait for the fourth book to come out next year!

Highly Recommended

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