Book Review: BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE by Maggie Stiefvater

“Are you still reading that book?” my husband asked on the fourth day that he saw me with Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Seeing me with the same book for more than a couple of days is an unusual event at our house, so this anomaly was note worthy.

“Duh, YES, it’s Maggie Stiefvater,” I said as if that answered all possible questions about this odd occurrence.

Maggie Stiefvater. Ahhh…I cannot read one of her books quickly. That would be like reading poetry rapidly. Or gulping fine wine. Some things are meant to be savored, slowly enjoyed so as to make the experience last. I have to read and reread sentences, passages, paragraphs to see how she’s woven her magic through her words. And it is MAGIC.

A little about Blue Lily, Lily Blue from GOODREADS:  (More from me after this synopsis)

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

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is the third book in the four book series, The Raven Cycle. At its center are Blue Sargent and her unlikely best friends, boys from a local high-priced private boys’ prep school: Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah. Led by Gansey the five friends are on a search for a mythical lost king. The first book, The Raven Boys, whipped your head back and forth, front and back as one amazingly imaginative plot twist was laid on top of another. Oh, to be able to read that book again for a first time! The second book, The Dream Thieves, moved the story arc along while the reader got to know the characters better. And talk about clever, imaginative storylines. Wow.

This latest installment, Blue Lily, Lily Blue isn’t as much about story arc as it is about character arcs—though there is plenty of story here! I just felt that I was getting to know the characters in a new light, as they were also getting to know themselves and one another. And we have new characters!! Stiefvater has outdone even herself, (that’s a giant feat!) with two of her newest creations. One is decidedly evil, yet one of my all time favorite characters, sassy, smart, laugh-out-loud witty, blazingly clever. I wouldn’t mind reading a book dedicated to just this character.

Throughout the series, the five teens at the center of the story, have not only gotten to know one another better and become increasingly inseparable, but they have also discovered that their finding one another was destined—that their lives were connected long before they had even met. None can move forward without the others. This plays out beautifully at times in this book, and painfully at others.

Though the second book was about dreams, this book has a definite dream-like quality. It feels a lot like a fever nightmare, where you constantly question whether something is real or imagined or maybe a night terror. Nothing feels right, normal or as you expect it to. I found myself doubting my understanding of things. Stiefvater makes the reader feel just a little off kilter.

In other words, she has written magic.

If you are one of the two or three people on the planet who have not yet read Blue Lily, Lily Blue what’s keeping you?