Waiting on Wednesday: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine in which we share a book that we are eagerly anticipating!

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Author:  Maggie freaking Stiefvater

Release date: April 26, 2016

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love’s death. She doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Why I’m excited: As I was sitting down to do my WoW post this week, I checked to see if I’d done TRK yet and FREAKED when I hadn’t. How is that even possible? Maybe I just assumed everyone knew I was waiting on the edge of my seat for this one. Either way, I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR THE RAVEN KING YOU GUYS OMG. This book is going to end one of my absolute favorite series ever and SPOILER the lives of one of my favorite characters. It’s going to destroy me, but I cannot freaking wait. Honestly considering taking off work to read it.

Also, you guys, THIS. Because if it is what I think it is, ASDFJKL;ASGO9UW3TEOU DEAD BUT DEAD FOR GOOD REASONS. But hopefully not dead like Gansey’s going to be. *cries for days*

http://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/110871243396/mark-this-as-the-day-i-finally-wrote-that-other

My Entry for The Raven Cycle Art Contest

So you may have heard that Maggie Stiefvater is hosting an art contest for a chance to win one of ten decks of the tarot cards she drew for the Blue Lily, Lily Blue blog tour. They printed some extras and she’s giving ten decks away. I have like a genuine need to have these. They are absolutely beautiful and I adore this series and Maggie’s artwork. Anyway, you have to post your entry on your blog or Twitter or whatever. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing my Raven Cycle/Ronan inspired artwork. If not, I mean, just disregard this post. Ha.

Ronan is probably my favorite character from the series (along with Chainsaw, and closely followed by Noah). I think Ronan is a fascinating character, and his ability to pull things from his dreams is both incredible and terrifying. I think my artwork reflects him and myself; at least I hope it does. Let me know what you think in the comments, please! And if you want to enter the contest, you have three days left. Enter HERE. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I Wish Had Their Own Book

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their OWN Book (minor or just maybe a semi main character you wish a book was from their POV)

Luna Lovegood and/or Neville Longbottom – Wouldn’t this be a cool book? Either seeing how they grew up (especially with Luna and her crazy father) or seeing how they lived after the end of the series. Or both.

Big Ger Cafferty from Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus series – I would LOVE to see what goes on with him when he’s just off being the bad guy.

Michonne from The Walking Dead comics – I’d be super interested in seeing even just a few issues that detailed how she got to be the way she is and what happened between the outbreak and her meeting up with the main group.

Rafaelle from The Young Elites by Marie Lu – dear, sweet, Rafaelle. His own book would be tragic and beautiful and I really, really want this RIGHT NOW. Oh goodness. My review of The Young Elites.

Patrick from The Perks of Being a Wallflower – anything with more Patrick would be good

Bree or Sonia from Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid – Bree’s was my favorite section from Let’s Get Lost, for the friend chemistry and emotional depth, but Sonia and Leila got up to some crazy stuff. I suppose they both did. I think a book about them would be really enjoyable. My review of Let’s Get Lost.

Frank from Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson – Do I need to put words here? My review of Since You’ve Been Gone.

The Sargent women in The Raven Cycle series – how fun would that be? Just a book all about the Sargent women: how they came to discover their abilities, some of the hijinks they’ve gotten up to (you know there’s some crazy stuff), etc. Fun, fun, fun. My review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the latest in The Raven Cycle.

Finnick Odair from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – this would be an emotional rollercoaster but I would love every minute.

Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan – OMG, this would be highly entertaining, heartfelt, sweet, silly, heartbreaking, and so, so good.

Which characters do you wish had their own book? Link me up to your TTT if you participated!

ARC Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

So if you’ve read my reviews of The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves, you could probably tell that I LOVE The Raven Cycle series. I was super excited to get approved for an e-ARC of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and I was not disappointed.

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fantasy, young adult
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
416 pages, hardcover

WHY? WHY IS IT OVER??? WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG TO FIND OUT WHAT’S NEXT?? Ahhh.

Okay. Breathe, Stefani. Breathe.

If you haven’t read either of the other two books in the series, this review might contain some spoilers. If you haven’t read either of the other two books in the series, what the heck are you doing with your life?? Seriously. Drop everything, and go read them.

This book picks up where The Dream Thieves left off. Everyone is heading back to school. Blue’s mother is still missing. The Gray Man is still in Henriette, but now so is his employer, Greenmantle. I don’t want to give anything else about the plot away, so if you need more, check out the synopsis on Goodreads.

This book was all about character development. Stiefvater continues to develop the characters in these books in such a subtle and careful way. The characters develop in ways that make you wonder if you haven’t always known that about said character. Stiefvater is a master of her craft.

The Raven Cycle series hypnotizes you when you turn the first page. The books put you under a spell. I don’t think about whether the book is good or not. I completely forget that I’m even reading a book and I float through the pages spellbound by the magic and power of Stiefvater’s words.

The pacing in this book was perfect. It had me on the edge of my seat or relaxed and grinning like a fool when I needed to be. This book had more Gansey and Blue moments that the other two, which was lovely. SPOILER if you haven’t read: I wish it had a few more Ronan and Adam moments. I ship them SO hard.

Even though there’s A LOT happening in this book (mysterious caves, lawsuits, missing people, new characters, tombs, death) this book is about friendship: the friendship between five people who are all in love with each other in different ways. The friendships between the Raven Boys and Blue are beautiful, obsessive, loyal, and downright real. Love love love.

Also, the ending.

The bottom line: My only complaint is that I read this book on my Kindle. I wish it had been a print book so I could flip its pages and feel the magic brushing off on my fingers with each turn. I will most definitely be buying a print copy of this. I cannot wait to reread The Raven Cycle books.

Rating: 9 – practically perfect

Book Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: September 2013

439 pages, hardcover

Check out the synopsis on Goodreads.

I cannot fathom reading a series more powerful, magical, spellbinding, or beautiful as the Raven Cycle books. Diving into one of these books is a completely mesmerizing experience. These pages don’t want to let you go, and honestly, I don’t want them to either. It’s hard to put into words how absolutely amazing these books are. I love Maggie’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series too, but the Raven Cycle series perfectly fits her writing.

The prose (and book and characters and settings) feel otherworldly in a way that other books just don’t for me, even if they are about aliens or fantastical creatures. I said this in my review of The Raven Boys, but it’s as if you can feel the magic rubbing off the pages and settling onto your fingers. The experience of reading a Raven Cycle book is completely and utterly magical.

Okay, so I should probably talk about the plot, right? I don’t want to give too much away that could be potentially spoilery, so this review might just be super gushy about why I love everyone in this book. Ronan, who I think you’re meant to be uncertain about in the first novel, is the focus in this one. I really came to adore him throughout The Dream Thieves. I didn’t feel that warm and cuddly toward him in the first, but I just wanted to hug him a lot in this one. Also, Gansey. Oh, dear God, Gansey. I liked him in The Raven Boys, I think, in part, due to the fact that I could really relate to his passion, his need to find Glendower. But in The Dream Thieves, I fell in love with him. He’s so…swoon-worthy.

In The Dream Thieves, we get dream thieves. Shocking, I know. This is such an interesting idea! People who can pull things from their dreams. I loved that, even after we found out that sometimes it can be dangerous, especially when the ability is abused.

Like in my review of The Raven Boys, I want to give you a few examples of just how beautiful Maggie’s prose is. I reread these sentences a few times because they were…amazing (which feels like a completely inadequate word to describe this book).

“Anything that didn’t impale itself on the sharp line of the sleeping boy’s cruel mouth would be tangled in the merciless hooks of his tattoo, pulled beneath his skin to drown.” – 34

“It was a sort of ferocious, quiet beauty, the sort that wouldn’t let you admire it. The sort of beauty that always hurt.” – 364

“And Ronan did. Because Niall Lynch was a forest fire, a rising sea, a car crash, a closing curtain, a blistering symphony, a catalyst with planets inside him. And he had given all of that to his middle son.” – 370

I can’t tell you how many times throughout this book that I went, “Jesus. That’s good” or “Ugghhh. I will never write something as beautiful and lovely as this book.”

The bottom line: Read it. Do it for your soul.

Rating: 10 – Perfection. One of the best books I’ve ever read (one of the super rare 10s I give out on my blog)

Reading next: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. Thank goodness I had an e-ARC of this.