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kirstenf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Confinement, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence and Death
Minor: Confinement
adamparrishlover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Minor: Body horror
trintrin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The character dynamics somehow seems to have improved? I didn't even know that was possible considering how amazing they were from the start. Every single one of their interactions add more years to my life, I'm not even kidding. Be it Adam and Ronan's relationship slowly taking root, or Adam and Gansey finally not fighting, or Ronan showing he does have affection for Blue, or even Blue pulling the plug on Noah, they all seem so real and so wonderful and I feel like a part of their group.
<blockquote>Blue and her boys were <I>all</I> in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another. analysing every conversation and gesture, drawing out every joke into a longer and longer running gag, spending each moment either with one another or thinking about when next they would be with one another.</blockquote>
I want to childishly believe they will all remain this way until they grow very old and die peacefully, but oh well :D
Plot wise, this book turns its focus back to Glendower (who I still don't care much for) but oh boy were there some mind-blowing plot twists. And worse, some characters I hold very dear to my heart had to go and die. And possibly even worser, some characters who give me the creeps had to make a reappearance. I genuinely don't want to read the next book because 1) that means I officially have to say goodbye to the raven squad, and 2) I really don't want to see Gansey die, even if they do end up successfully resurrecting him. Now that we've had the taste of a major character death, I do not want to go through the same with Gansey.
Adam's character development was great, and so was Ronan's many subtle improvements. Gwenllilian was a nice touch. Not enough Noah scenes. Blue is such an inspiration. Gansey is as loveable as ever. Jesse Dittley is a man with a heart as huge as him. Mr. Gray must be cherished. Calla's strength is amazing. Persephone is one of a kind. Malory, however, I don't know what he brought to the plate, but that seems very fitting to his character, so whatever.
The only thing that this book, or rather, this series lacks is a strong overarching villain. It's all just very villain-of-the-week; not to worry, just a minor inconvenience, and <I>boom</I> he's gone now. Neeve was very unnerving, but she just disappeared. Whelk gave me the creeps, but then he just got trampled over by a magic forest. Mr. Gray was a cool and badass villain who looked like he would definitely get the job done, but he had to fall in love (in the span of a few weeks? days??) and did a full 180°. Kavinsky was a strong candidate but he blew himself up. And now,
Feb 2024 reread: 5 beautiful stars
UHMM I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE WEAKEST BOOK IN THE SERIES? Like I never once hated it or thought it was bad, but for some reason I remember just not thinking this book had much going on for it. Which makes sense, in a way, because the plot is quite slow for a majority of the book and then BOOM everything happens all at once at the end. But this is the Raven Cycle we're talking about, who cares about the plot? Let's talk characters. Wait did I say characters? Whoops, let's talk Adam Parrish.
Adam's character growth was so, so satisfying, especially knowing how much he develops all the way until the Greywaren epilogue.
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement
Minor: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
mariebrunelm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Abandonment and Confinement
Minor: Gun violence
gracefully_jk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Kidnapping, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse
For the worst of the body horror/gore:sunsorbit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Animal death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Confinement
Minor: Domestic abuse
Also contains: ghosts, spirits, and necromancy; possession (of a bird and a spirit); allusions to child sexual assault/pedophilia and child murder (these are only vaguely implied and part of a plot towallflovver's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
dream thieves lost points for the anger and destruction, blue lily gains them back with its focus on the building relationships between the main cast
adam and ronan's dynamic really begins to change in this volume, blue and gansey falling deeper into one another
even blue and ronan taking time to understand one another, adam repairing his bond with gansey
there is a lot of tension in blue lily, and although the ending felt a little rushed, it left me needing to pick up the final book asap!
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Gun violence
Minor: Pedophilia, Confinement, Child death, and Sexual assault
izypup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Grief, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Classism, and Death
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Death of parent
grimmdark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
THAT SAID, out of the three books in this series that i've read thus far, this is my least favorite. again, it was really good! just not my favorite. there's so much happening everywhere all the time with everyone and everything felt kind of scattered? so all the elements of the story kind of just... float aimlessly towards the ending? i don't know. i felt i was kind of grabbing at too many strings at the same time, and it made the story feel perhaps longer than it was. could be because this is also the book that's taken me by far the longest to finish cause i've been busy!
can't wait to dig into trk!
also, i was half expecting neeve to make a comeback sooner or later, but i wasn't expecting that ending! she knew piper's name but the latter hadn't ever told her what it was. so either she guessed it with her powers somehow, since she's such a powerful psychic, or she was there the whole time and overheard it when blue, the gray man, etc... were still there. creepy. why does she even make an appearance such a long time after they escape? like did she just stand there watching piper fading in and out of consciousness for however long that was???
i don't know how i feel about gwenllian! and i'm having trouble believing the guy blue found with maura actually is THEE artemus???? guess we'll see.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing