Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THIS IS THE MOST CONFUSING SERIES EVER.

Seriously.

I have such a love/hate relationship with these books. Like, the story is just so all over the place but these characters are everything.

Gansey is the perfect man.

Blue is so fantastically quirky.

Adam is adorably pathetic.

Noah is both creepy and cute and it wigs me out a bit.

Ronan is a total dick I DON'T KNOW WHY EVERYONE LIKES HIM.

And by 'everyone' I also mean me because he is such a freaking jerk but I STILL think he is a great character and yeah okay I still kinda think he's cool WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.

I don't get it.

So, um, mixed feelings, I guess?

*smiles sheepishly*

WARNING: This review contains unhidden spoilers for the previous two novels in the series.

So. The story. Let's start there.

I'm gonna be honest: it's pretty strange. If you've read my reviews for The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves you'll know that, most of all, I struggle with the unrealistic blend of fantasy and contemporary. It's very hard for me to suspend belief that all of this is going on and a) very few people know about it and b) no one gives these guys any crap for believing such fantasy. Like, whatever happens, no one is ever surprised. That really frustrates me. There are talking trees, dang it. THAT IS WEIRD.

Also, it jumps around all over the place and is just so messy and hard to follow. Basically, the issues I had with the last two are the same issues I have here. I was debating between 3 or 4 stars for this one because it was as equally frustrating as the last one, but it did kind of have more action so I bumped it up. Don't say I'm not a generous reviewer!

It really bothers me that they're 'so concerned' about finding Maura (ie they mention her missing a bunch but don't exactly go out guns blazing to find her) but they're still not bothered that Neve's been missing since book 1? They just basically have rubbish priorities. There's some cool stuff set in caves, though, which is always fun.

As far as the writing goes, I can't say I really enjoy it. It feels like the author just tries to hard: this is YA, after all, not literary fiction. Some of the similes didn't even make sense to me. It's all very flowery and abstract and completely unnecessary. Also tries too hard to be funny and quirky and I just wasn't feeling it. I'm too cynical for that. Leave the quirkiness to Blue and I'll be happy.

These characters though. Oh my heart.

Gansey is still my #1, so I was actually a bit sad that he wasn't such a major player in this one. This is more Blue's story. I love the Forbidden Flirting between them, so again, disappointed there wasn't more. This whole curse thing is such a drag . I did like that Gansey came out a bit more human in this one. Also still unfailingly polite.

You can keep your bad boys.

Man, honestly, Ronan is such a frustrating character. He's got so much angst and is always dramatic and abrupt and rude and for real, if anyone treated me like that I'd be walking away, but for some reason I don't actually hate him? I guess it's partly the 'bad boy' and partly the 'misunderstood'. Like, you know that deep down he actually cares a lot and is decent but still. I like Blue more because she doesn't put up with his crap.

I still love Blue for her quirkiness and because this is kind of her book I have a deeper appreciation for her. Adam, too, is coming into his own a bit. He's less mopey now as he's getting the hang of talking to his magic forest (I still legit can't believe the plot of this series revolves around trees that speak Latin. ) and he has some good moments.

Then there's the entourage: Blue's family, Mr Grey, Mallory ... and introducing the Big Bad Villain: Greenmantle. Boy, was he a total anti climax.

Most of my thoughts of the series are summed up in the last reviews so basically if you liked the last two there's no reason you shouldn't enjoy this one. If you had issues with the previous two, expect the same issues. Nothing has changed, except the plot has moved closer to resolution. That's pretty much it. But, you know ... Gansey <3

So, yeah. Love/hate.

View all my reviews