Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater: Review

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Marathoning this series has been so much fun. I desperately need to read The Raven King but my Amazon order is taking a long time to dispatch... Ahh!

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES! And warnings for incoherent rambling. 

I grew to like Adam once again in this book. Finally. He started off so well in the first half of The Raven Boys and then it all went downhill from there; I could barely tolerate him. Thank goodness he has improved in 'BlueLily, Lily Blue': his lessons with Persephone have helped refine his character. Plus, his interactions with Ronan are giving me hope for a happy ending for them (a fully-fledged Pynch romance would definitely make my week). 

Jesse Dittley, a new character with a minor part in the novel, also warmed my heart. He speaks entirely in capital letters, a stylistic reference to his gigantic height, and this was surprisingly endearing. The subtle humour and camaraderie between the characters is one of my favourite aspects of the series: little happy interludes between the action, such as The Gray Man's almost paternal relationship with Blue, Gansey's late-night phone calls with Blue, and Noah and Blue's ever-adorable friendship, are just as entertaining as the clan's magical adventures. The alternating chaos and harmony at 300 Fox Way when the worlds of Blue's psychic family and The Raven Boys collide is so much fun to read about. For example, Calla's yelling at Gansey: "GO BUY US PIZZA. WITH EXTRA CHEESE, RICHIE RICH.", was a lovely, silly glimpse of normality in the midst of all these wild escapades. 

The mystery in this novel is still killing me and my brain feels like mush, but I don't mind as the fantasy world is, as always, wonderfully-encapsulated by Stiefvater's prose. The fluidity of time is such a confusing concept for me; all the discussions in this book about the collisions between past, present and future were intriguing but also too elusive for my tired mind. It reminded me of that enigmatic quote from 'True Detective' when Rust Cohle says; 'Time is a flat circle'; as in, these ideas about time are hard to wrap my head around. 

Overall, this is a great series that I am both excited, and scared, to finish