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Friday, September 1, 2017

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Format: Audiobook, Narrated by Will Patton
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pub. Date: October 21, 2014
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.








I'm not entirely sure what I just listened to. I feel as if I was on hallucinatory drugs while listening to this book because it was just so . . . random.


We start the book with Maura (Blue's mom) missing, which at first I thought I must have fallen asleep at the end of The Dream Thieves and missed the part where she was kidnapped or something, but nope, she just . . . goes missing. And then Persephone . . . well I don't want to spoil what happens to her for those of you who haven't read it, but it was unnecessary and again, totally random (more about this in my dislikes section). It seemed as if we just needed something really dramatic to happen and this plot line was added in. We're also introduced to a new character, Gwenllian—Glyn Dwr's daughter—who is so out of her mind. She doesn't add anything to the story, she's just comic relief.

In general, I was constantly questioning all of the characters' motivations, much like my own as I continue to suffer while listening to these audiobooks. Despite being three books into this series, it just seems like everyone is doing random, magical . . . stuff. Besides them wanting to save Gansey, I get that, but that's it. Why is any of this even happening?

A few people have asked me why I have continued on with this series. Well. The answer to that is that I have all the audiobooks, they are only about 10 hours long, and in about one work day I have the books finished, so why not? Plus I feel like this is one of the series you need to read because it's so widely talked about in the YA community.

Review The Raven King, the final book in this series, coming soon. . . 


While I'm not a Will Patton fan in the slightest, the voices he uses for Calla and Ronan are really funny. They both sound like grumpy grandmas and it made me laugh out loud more than once. Also, to listen to Will Patton do the voice for Gwenllian was pure gold. I about died of laughter each time. Just imagine Iain Glen's (the guy who plays Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones) voice, after he's smoked for 20 years and then was cast as Professor Trelawney.



1) Maybe this is because Will Patton's voices for these two characters are almost the same but I love Ronan and Calla. They both have no filter, they love fiercely, and they're just so deadpan hilarious. I wish the book, and series, in general, focused more on them.

2) Love the bromance between Gansey, Adam, and Ronan. Finally, they all seem to be on the same page and this book really shows how much they care about each other.

3) I like Blue and the Gray Man's relationship. There is almost this father-daughter vibe to it, just without the label. Not only do I think it's sweet, I like how unassuming their relationship is as a whole.


1) I really don't understand the plot of this story. We have Greenmantle and his weird ass wife who are in town threatening the Gray Man, Adam's court case with his dad (which we're never told how that all goes), Maura is randomly missing, oh and the crew is still looking for Glyn Dwr with the eccentric Professory Malory tagging along here and there. I understand the need for subplots for the characters but this was just everything and the kitchen sink.


2) Gansey and Blue are basically a thing now, Blue's visions from The Raven Boys of being with Gansey are now coming true, and yet I still don't feel any spark between them? I get that they are close but it just seems like a really great friendship. . . that involves a lot of almost kisses. I've read books where I didn't ship the couple but I could still feel their chemistry, but this is not the case for Gansey and Blue. There is no spark, no chemistry, and I felt nothing from either of them. The only thing I did feel was the need to bang their heads together to get them to stop being so reckless with Gansey's life.

3) I love eccentric characters, often they are my favorite and I really like the ones in this series, but this story has so many of them that it feels as if they are there to distract the reader from the haphazard plot.

4) What the hell does Blue Lily, Lily Blue means? It's said multiple times in this book, and I feel as if it's supposed to mean something but it's totally lost on me. I get that Blue has newly discovered her powers and all, but why does Gwenllian keep saying it? It was driving me crazy.

SPOILER ALERT: The points beyond this here are PURE spoilers. If you plan on reading these books and don't want to know what happens next I suggest skipping to the "Favorite Quotes" section.

5) As I already touched on earlier, I don't understand what happened to Persephone. I don't understand what she was trying to do, what she thought she could accomplish, or why/how she died. It seemed to me that someone needed to die to give this book a really dramatic moment instead of finding Glyn Dwr, but there it literally makes no sense. It's not even clear what happened to her that caused her death.

6) The ending. Suddenly, Maeve just appears out of nowhere as if she's been lurking in the shadows this entire time? And she just happens to be next to Piper, outside the door to the third sleeper they aren't supposed to wake? Again, this felt like forced drama. This story already has plenty of turmoil in it, we don't need this extra nonsensical, cliche stuff.


All of these quotes were taken from Blue Lily, Lily Blue Goodreads page. I have the audiobook so I couldn't type out the quotes like I would for a print copy.

"I like the way you losers thought Instagram before first aid. Fuck off."
"Ronan could dream a bridge for us."

Ronan made a noise of glorious disdain.

"Don’t just snort at me! Tell me why not. You’re a magical creature. Why can’t you do magic?"

With acidic precision, Ronan replied, "For starters, I’d have to sleep right there by the pit, since I’d have to be touching something to pull it out of a dream. And I’d have to know what was on the other side to even know what kind of bridge to make. And then, even if I pulled all that off, if I took something that big out of my dream, it would drain the ley line, possible making Cabeswater disappear again, this time with us in it, sending us all to some never-never land of time-space fuckery that we might never escape from. I figured after the events of this summer, all this was self-evident, which was why I summed it up before like so—"

Ronan repeated the noise of glorious disdain.

"Thanks for the super helpful alternative suggestions, Ronan Lynch. Your contribution at the end of the world will be tallied up accordingly," Blue said.

16 comments:

  1. You're a trooper for hanging on through this series even though it's not really doin' it for you! :P I read the first book ages ago---I thought it was ok, but when it came time for book two, I just wasn't driven to pick it up. Good luck with book 4! :D

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    1. It's really easy because I have them all as audiobooks, and they are 10 hours each so I finished them each in a day or so. And I didn't like book 4 much better so... oh well haha

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  2. I haven't read this book or even started this series and I never read a book by this author that I really enjoyed but honestly, it sounds so weird. I don't know if the first two books are similar or not but I'm probably gonna pass on this series.

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    1. It is really weird... I feel like maybe if I was in middle school I would like this one but for the me now, it just doesn't work for me sadly.

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  3. BLLB was my favorite book in the series, but I have such an up and down relationship with this series-loved books 1&3, was really bored by books 2&4. I agree, the series can get really random and almost too quirky at times and it was hard for me to really feel invested or follow along. I hope you like the Raven King! -Cristina @ Girl in the Pages

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    1. I think TDM is my favorite of the series but I don't love that one either. There were so many times that I had to rewind the audiobook because I zoned out so many times, often over the same sections over an over again.

      I finished this series a while ago, I'm just spreading out the reviews. Sadly, I also didn't love The Raven King.

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  4. I haven't read these ones yet. I keep thinking about it, but I also keep seeing mixed reviews, so I just can't decide. Maggie Stiefvater will be here in November, so I'm contemplating binge reading them that month, but we'll see. I love that you're sticking with the series even though it isn't your favorite. Hopefully it'll get better from here!

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    1. I saw Maggie at a local book event and I think she is so witty and artistic so I had high hopes for this series but alas...

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  5. Oh man. I read and loved the first book back when it released but never got around to finishing the series. Mostly because I'll need to reread or be completely lost. I do feel so out of the loop since it really is so talked about in the community like you said so I know someday I'll pick them back up. I hope you enjoy the last book better than this one.

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    1. I liked The Raven King slightly better than this one but still didn't love it but I'm glad I now understand what people are talking about in the community. I hope you enjoy the rest of the books more than I did when you get a chance to read them!

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  6. Oh no! I have yet to read any of the books in this series, but I know that they are very popular, so I have been holding off for a little while. I can imagine that there are some eccentric characters in this series because the author seems to be that way inclined. When there is an overload of anything, including those characters that are so off the wall different, it would distract from the plot. I might give these a try still, but I am not quite so sure if it is a series for me.

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    1. You should definitely give them a try still, you might love them! I never want my negative reviews to make people not read books unless there is something morally wrong in it.

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  7. Out of all the books in the series, the first is my favorite and I think this one is my least favorite. Just like you, I'm pretty much confused of the things happening in the series and pretty sure 80% of them has no purpose? I love the relationship between the Gray Man and Blue, but I don't understand about the relationship between gangsey... it seems pretty toxic to me with all of those angst, anger and issue?._. Or maybe it's a read between the lines thing which I didn't get either. So yeah. Hopefully your next read is better!

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    1. I would agree with 80% having no purpose, or at least a purpose I don't understand. The Gray Man and Blue is really cute! Though I didn't see the toxic part with Gansey but I just didn't feel the spark.

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  8. Aaaack. As always, though, lovely review Brittany :D Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this one. <3 Hugs. But daaaaamn it. I am so sad that you are not liking these books at all :( Sniffs. But you are amazing for reading them, lol. <3 I still haven't read book four o.O But loved the other three. Just need to do a re-read first.. one day. Soonish. Hopefully :D You are awesome sweetie. <3

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    1. Thank you! You're very kind and I'm glad that you don't hate me after the negative reviews of these books. However, I did read book 4 and still wasn't a fan... sigh

      Thanks for stopping by!

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