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danee3's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
4.75
notanotherbookishblog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
moonspluvia's review against another edition
5.0
Reread april 2023: Wow… just wow. I am in complete awe of this book and the entire series. It is one of my favorites for a reason. I loved it then, I love it now, and I will love it again in the future. There is just… something more about this series. I simply cannot put my love into words. I loved this conclusion with my whole heart, with tears to match!! However, if you were to ask me to think about this book objectively, critically, it would not be 5 stars. Let me explain:
* Henry. I hate to say it, I really do, but it must be said. Henry is simply a plot device for Gansey’s character development specifically. I love him, but I forget about him 90% of the time. This is what happens when you bring in a supposedly super important character in the final book of the series. Not only was he a plot device, he is also a sort of a token diversity character. From the odd generalizations of his race to the VERY odd casual racist joke made by Adam and Ronan made it was just weird to me. The other characters are much more complex because they had four books to develop- Henry had only one. Again, I love him, but I wish he was introduced in the series sooner.
* Noah. I have a love/hate relationship with what happens to Noah. I’m okay with him finally getting some sort of peace, but my heart can’t take the fact that everyone forgets him?? Ronan can take things from his dreams, Adam is a psychic on steroids, Blue is half tree nymph, Gansey is made of a magical tree forest… why can’t they remember their dead friend. Because he slipped from time?? He existed before he died so he couldn’t have just disappeared completely from the world, you know?? It just creates this gaping wound in my torso filled with sadness and yearning. Noah was there the ENTIRE time all FOUR BOOKS and there wasn’t even a hint of him in the epilogue. His character deserves to be in peace not only by the narrative but also by the characters themselves. At the very least there should’ve been some sort of insinuation or mention of him/his impact on everyone. But that’s just me.
* Gansey/Glendower. This isn’t a bad thing per se but I wanted to include it. I’ve seen here and there how people thought it would’ve been better if it was revealed that Gansey was Glendower is some sort of way. I think that would’ve really cool and interesting but I’m not mad at the way things played out. I think it’s powerful that Gansey learned in the end to live- and die- for himself and for the people he loves. Glendower was an obsession stemmed from trauma, it seemed right for him to be dead and for Gansey to live beyond that.
Now, here I would usually write what was good about the book, but good lord, there are too many things I could talk about. Even with the faults this book is a wonderful conclusion to my favorite series, and I could cry just thinking about it. I was the same age as the characters of the first book when I read it for the first time, and now I am the same age as them in Greywaren. I have evolved with them and their impossible, infinite, magical, youthful adventure and grown as an adult with them and their existential dread, tearful revelations, and hope for themselves and their future. This book is filled with love and light, angst and heartbreak, life and death and life again, stars in the eyes and trees in the heart. I love this book with all my heart and soul.
That’s all there is.
* Henry. I hate to say it, I really do, but it must be said. Henry is simply a plot device for Gansey’s character development specifically. I love him, but I forget about him 90% of the time. This is what happens when you bring in a supposedly super important character in the final book of the series. Not only was he a plot device, he is also a sort of a token diversity character. From the odd generalizations of his race to the VERY odd casual racist joke made by Adam and Ronan made it was just weird to me. The other characters are much more complex because they had four books to develop- Henry had only one. Again, I love him, but I wish he was introduced in the series sooner.
* Noah. I have a love/hate relationship with what happens to Noah. I’m okay with him finally getting some sort of peace, but my heart can’t take the fact that everyone forgets him?? Ronan can take things from his dreams, Adam is a psychic on steroids, Blue is half tree nymph, Gansey is made of a magical tree forest… why can’t they remember their dead friend. Because he slipped from time?? He existed before he died so he couldn’t have just disappeared completely from the world, you know?? It just creates this gaping wound in my torso filled with sadness and yearning. Noah was there the ENTIRE time all FOUR BOOKS and there wasn’t even a hint of him in the epilogue. His character deserves to be in peace not only by the narrative but also by the characters themselves. At the very least there should’ve been some sort of insinuation or mention of him/his impact on everyone. But that’s just me.
* Gansey/Glendower. This isn’t a bad thing per se but I wanted to include it. I’ve seen here and there how people thought it would’ve been better if it was revealed that Gansey was Glendower is some sort of way. I think that would’ve really cool and interesting but I’m not mad at the way things played out. I think it’s powerful that Gansey learned in the end to live- and die- for himself and for the people he loves. Glendower was an obsession stemmed from trauma, it seemed right for him to be dead and for Gansey to live beyond that.
Now, here I would usually write what was good about the book, but good lord, there are too many things I could talk about. Even with the faults this book is a wonderful conclusion to my favorite series, and I could cry just thinking about it. I was the same age as the characters of the first book when I read it for the first time, and now I am the same age as them in Greywaren. I have evolved with them and their impossible, infinite, magical, youthful adventure and grown as an adult with them and their existential dread, tearful revelations, and hope for themselves and their future. This book is filled with love and light, angst and heartbreak, life and death and life again, stars in the eyes and trees in the heart. I love this book with all my heart and soul.
That’s all there is.
drasticpear's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Making Ronan Lynch smile felt as charged as making a bargain with Cabeswater. These weren't forces to play with.
🦐🦐🦐
lya_eggers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
seudograph's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
4.5
Ah my heart! The buildup over the cycle to a few key scenes was so worth it. There were still some twists & turns. I can’t wait to reread them!
This was such a unique series. I wouldn’t know how to describe it but I’m extremely glad I read it. And I love all of the romances 🥹
The only real negative I have for this one is there were some new characters introduced & I dislike that in final books.
3/27/23 - 3/28/23
This was such a unique series. I wouldn’t know how to describe it but I’m extremely glad I read it. And I love all of the romances 🥹
The only real negative I have for this one is there were some new characters introduced & I dislike that in final books.
3/27/23 - 3/28/23
saigealiya's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my god this was everything I'd hoped for and more I can't even begin to describe how amazing of a conclusion to an already fantastic series this was. I was lucky enough to find a copy of it at a local bookstore a few days early so I got to enjoy it ahead of time, but since it hasn't come out yet, I won't say anything but it successfully wrapped up everything in the most satisfying way possible.
myfi's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
catbrigand's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know, man. This is going to be a hard one for me to review, but I'll give it a try. First, the anticipation for this book was so huge for me, like it likely was for everyone else waiting for it. I read the first two books several months before BLLB came out, and while I really liked those two books and was glad BLLB came out, but I didn't have this rabid anticipation when BLLB came out and in fact it was out for like two months before I got around to it. This book, though. The only reason it took me SO long to get to it is because I'm a grad student and I had exams. My favorite secret to life is lowered expectations, because when I don't have sky-high expectations, I'm not going to be as disappointed. So, in fairness to this book, the chance that I would be disappointed by something was relatively high because my expectations were very high.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I liked finally hearing about the assembly of the amazing family of women that raised Blue. I liked the role played by Gwenllian. I liked the resolution of the problems between the Lynch brothers. There was one thing that I liked best of all, and it's hidden in this here spoiler:
There were a lot of things I didn't like. But it's not in a trivial "had high and unrealistic hopes and am irritated by small things" way. Well, one of them. And that was that if I had to read "depending on where you start, the story was about x" one more time, I was going to cast my book into the sea. Another thing, which was less trivial, was that there are a lot of new things in this book--new characters, new plot points, new tangents--many of which were not wrapped up and most of which probably could have been left out, or at the very least, reworked to involve more of the major characters. What I disliked most about this book was how far away I felt it moved from the core of the Raven Boys and Blue but especially the women of 300 Fox Way. I feel like if Stiefvater was set on the direction that this book took, and clearly she was, because she wrote it, it could have been introduced much earlier. Like...instead of 300 pages of Kavinsky and Ronan verbal hate-sex in The Dream Thieves.
The thing I disliked the most as a matter of plot point is below this spoiler, so stop now if you're not into that.
I remember reading Stiefvater's blog post when the book was released and she said that her goal was for readers to say "I want" without knowing what they want afterward. I do know what I want. I want this book to be different. I don't know how, but I do know that much.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I liked finally hearing about the assembly of the amazing family of women that raised Blue. I liked the role played by Gwenllian. I liked the resolution of the problems between the Lynch brothers. There was one thing that I liked best of all, and it's hidden in this here spoiler:
Spoiler
I LIKED NOAH CZERNY. Noah. My king. My half-soul. My dude. My favorite raven boy. It broke me to realize, as the others did, that the Noah they knew was an echo, not a complete Noah, and that they may not have even been friends with the complete Noah. So much of what made their Noah was the quiet and subdued lack of energy, when full-Noah was so much more frenetic. The fact that Noah is the one who gave Gansey his life, deliberately set him on the path to find Glendower so that Gansey would find Noah and the others, knew all along how this would play out, gave me life. He deserved so much more and it kills me that nobody ever knew what or how it happened.There were a lot of things I didn't like. But it's not in a trivial "had high and unrealistic hopes and am irritated by small things" way. Well, one of them. And that was that if I had to read "depending on where you start, the story was about x" one more time, I was going to cast my book into the sea. Another thing, which was less trivial, was that there are a lot of new things in this book--new characters, new plot points, new tangents--many of which were not wrapped up and most of which probably could have been left out, or at the very least, reworked to involve more of the major characters. What I disliked most about this book was how far away I felt it moved from the core of the Raven Boys and Blue but especially the women of 300 Fox Way. I feel like if Stiefvater was set on the direction that this book took, and clearly she was, because she wrote it, it could have been introduced much earlier. Like...instead of 300 pages of Kavinsky and Ronan verbal hate-sex in The Dream Thieves.
The thing I disliked the most as a matter of plot point is below this spoiler, so stop now if you're not into that.
Spoiler
The climax of this book is singularly unsatisfying. I don't mind that Glendower turned out to be a pile of nothing, although a little explanation would have been nice, i.e, what was Artemus' and Gwenllian's deal if it turns out Glendower has been dead all this time. It didn't actually surprise me that much, because if Glendower had actually been sleeping, then the book would have been too tidy for my liking. What I disliked was the introduction of these demon wasp thing, and I don't even understand how it came to fruition or how Gansey's sacrifice killed it. If we're going to go with demons who can corrupt the world it would have been cooler if it turned out Glendower was evil and stuff.I remember reading Stiefvater's blog post when the book was released and she said that her goal was for readers to say "I want" without knowing what they want afterward. I do know what I want. I want this book to be different. I don't know how, but I do know that much.
steganogasaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0