Book Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted.
For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey…and is certain she is destined to kill him.
Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.
When I walked into the Raven Boys fandom earlier this year, around two months ago, I was a good four years late. My experience coming into the fandom so late was kind of like this gif:
Everyone was freaking out about Gansey, Blue, Adam, and Ronan and I was just coming in with pizza and asking to join in the fun.
You can check out my reviews of The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. I was a bit slack and never wrote one for Blue Lily, Lily Blue because I was too excited about the release of the final installment.
Now, this gif can also kind of describe how I felt going into the final novel of the Raven Cycle anyway, because I was expecting to just be completely surprised, duped, and amazed by what I read.
First and foremost let me address the obvious: Yes, Gansey DOES die. I appreciate Maggie being so open and positively adamant about Gansey “going down,” to put it in her words. It was poignant and necessary, and despite having known about his impending doom since the first page of the first installment, it still was so amazing. We got everything we desired out of it, the true love’s kiss and all.
The story picks up very soon after the end of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and readers are thrust immediately into the aftermath of Maura’s return with Artemis (who is literally hiding in a closet), and how it is going to affect the overall arch of the story.
Stiefvater’s writing is just as succinct as in the previous installments, and even the introduction of three new characters was seamless and felt absolutely necessary to the progression of the narrative.
Shippers will be so happy with this installment as Lynch x Parrish finally becomes officially canon (which was confirmed by Maggie herself, so don’t come screaming spoilers to me! *hides*). I’m not going to lie, I immediately texted Olyvia to tell her that it was happening, and that I was not ready for the goodness. While it isn’t an overly descriptive section of the novel, it is perfectly done in order for readers to be able to imagine it on their own, and it gives plenty of leeway for those fan fictions that I know are already floating around in the internet-sphere.
Noah. My sweet baby Noah. You deserved to live. You deserved to be there and celebrate the culmination of the narrative with your best friends. You deserved so much. But, I love how Stiefvater still made him so intricately involved in the plot. He was the most excellent example of a character who had lost his “muchness,” (to quote Alice Through the Looking Glass), but was still so important to the entire Raven gang. I really wish there had been a little bit more closure between him and Blue, but that is beacause I think they had such a beautiful friendship.
Speaking of developing friendships, I really could not have been more pleased with the development between Ronan and Blue, as I really think they are almost two sides of the same coin. The loves of Adam and Gansey’s lives, respectively, with hot tempers and overtly opinionated personalities. A small gesture in the epilogue really brought it to fruition and I loved it.
There were disappointments and great successes in the culmination of The Raven Cycle, and overall I think that the entire plot was well executed and what I would consider the best of Stiefvater’s writing so far.
Olyvia and I both really enjoyed it and we were both left with some questions, as every good novel should provide, but the story was just wonderful.
Make way for 5 Bards for the Raven King!
Book Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater was originally published on A Midsummer Night's Read
