Reviews

El Tercer Durmiente by Maggie Stiefvater

sj_elli's review against another edition

4.0

I really love the atmosphere of these books - it's a vibe. Great world and character building - cannot wait for the final book. Also I love Persephone.

candece's review against another edition

3.0

The third book was of Raven Cycle was ok. I overall enjoyed it.

lisaesmee's review against another edition

3.0

Wasn't the most entertaining of the series. I really like that the ending left us with so many cliffhangers! I actually thought that this was the final book but fortunately it isn't.

treeandme's review against another edition

5.0

I read this in two days!!!!! More...I need more. There's so much that I need to be wrapped up in the final instalment of this series, that the wait is excruciating. This was another fantastic book in the Raven Cycle but I still think that The Dream Thieves is my favourite so far.

vr_0's review against another edition

4.0

I saw a few times that this was labeled as the weakest book in the series and I can see why despite it still being good. It's either the lowest 4 or a 3.8 to be fair. It feels a lot like an outline for a story that isn't quite finished. I made the unfortunate mistake of reading the books too far apart to compare if the writing style is similar or if this book in particular held significance to the flaw. A majority of the chapters hold an event, that event occurs for the most part, then there is no follow up. It's like leaning over a precipice to view something and ducking away before seeing the end which was really a shame. Many times I wanted the events to conclude or to see the impact it had on the characters or even "the awkward morning after" or a reunion after a triumph, not cutting to a week later to avoid the nitty gritty. The nitty gritty is what makes a relationship and that's the point of these books. It's not just finding a sleeping Welsh King, it's what they find together and the impact it has on them as a whole. I'd say the task is accomplished well enough because I feel immensely for these characters but I do feel like a lot is lost and gained through subtext of events.
As I said, I enjoyed the book and the distance it covered but if there was no intent to give emphasis to these events rather than 'it happened', I find I enjoyed the book significantly less.
Here's to hoping the final book will amend some of that.

evireads's review against another edition

5.0

ah FUCK what a story, I found myself staring ahead with my mouth open out of shock so many times. excellent, beautiful, suspenseful. nice. also that epilogue AGAIN???? how incredibly rude

maria_rb's review against another edition

5.0

(Don't start the series in the middle. Start at the beginning. You won't get much in this book if you haven't read the first two.)

The love and affection these characters have for one other breaks my heart in every single chapter. Their friendship is so honestly and beautifully rendered in poignant, barely noticeable details about each other that it makes my heart hurt in a way it hasn't done since I was a teen. It's a good hurt, one that comes from the human connection of true friendship and open vulnerability.

I love the character development and the way she can set a tone with sparse detail and nuance. She allows the characters' behavior to speak for themselves.

This is a middle book and doesn't resolve much, leaving me wishing I had savored it for even longer than I had, but I am now anxious for the conclusion to the series.

digitaltempest's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 of 5 stars

At the end of The Dream Thieves, Blue's mother disappears leaving behind a note that she is going underground. Throughout this book Blue struggles with trusting her mother and being afraid for her mother at the same time as she and her Raven Boys move within touching distance of their goal.

If you love a good plot to go with your characters, Blue Lily, Lily Blue might disappoint. As I mentioned in my review of The Dream Thieves, the plot has taken a back seat to the characters. What started as a fairly interesting plot has been reduced to flailing in the wind with these last two books. Stiefvater's villains also continue to be a point of contention with me. Greenmantle, the antagonist from the last book, makes a personal appearance in this book, but this time he brings his mustache twirling wife along for the ride. However, just as with the first two books, there's still not much compelling about these villains despite this extended look at Greenmantle. Even the other characters seem to barely spare Greenmantle and his wife more than an exasperated sigh for their troubles. They add no substance to an already sputtering plot that is really starting to become redundant in a droning way.

If you don't mind a thin plot and love characters, then this will definitely be a treat, as characters continues to be Stiefvater's strength and is obviously what she enjoys writing. This continues to explore the characters that we have come to know and love and their relationship with each other. I loved how the relationship between Blue and the Raven Boys is described as them all being in love with one another.

But what she didn’t realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another, analyzing 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. Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn’t all-encompassing, that wasn’t blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she’d had this kind, she didn’t want the other.

Adam learns to listen to Cabeswater's needs, reconciling himself with the strange nature of its mutterings and manifestations, while coming to terms with his own feelings of inferiority and learning that his friendships are absolute and lasting. Blue discovers that she is so much more than an amplifier for other people's "magic." While the full extent of this isn't explored in this book, it leaves open so many possibilities for her in the next book and beyond. Ronan continues to be Ronan, but we learn more about his dream things including a reveal about someone in his own life that he pulled from his dreams. Gansey seemed to have the least amount of development other than to start showing more frayed ends around that cultured, privileged perfection he tries so hard to show the world.

Other characters in this series continue to pop in and amuse readers such as the always acerbic Calla, and there's an introduction of a new character that I suppose will be important in the next book, even if I felt his introduction at this points felt a bit forced. (I like the character, but it's hard to see him fitting in the story at this point.) This book also begins to set the groundwork for what will come after their search for Glendower. They're preparing to graduate and they're thinking about what they want to do with their lives. There is disappointment and yearning in these moments as befitting to kids their age. This prods the readers to start thinking of the future (and the end of this story) for this group.

Will Patton returns as the narrator for this book, and even with my mixed feelings of his narration, this series wouldn't be the same without his voice.

I think Blue Lily, Lily Blue tries to be more than it really is. Part of the synopsis says, "Friends can betray. Mothers can disappear. Visions can mislead. Certainties can unravel." A mother certainly did disappear, but the rest of this doesn't really seem to come to fruition. I can see it happening for some of those things, but it's so murky. The plot is just not strong enough to really strongly support most of those claims. It's not a bad book by any means, and there are plenty of revelations that come to light in this book along with a heartbreaking moment near the end. However, this book seemed more ambitious than anything. There was much going on with the characters, but it doesn't really move forward much in terms of story.

lurath's review against another edition

4.0

Blue Lily, Lily Blue follows Blue's character and her family relations more closely and overall progressed the quest for the "sleepers". All the characters get developed more - though like the first book, Ronan does not get chapters in his voice. I think Ronan must be a particularly hard character to write, and since the second story focused on him and his own gifts more than anything, I don't think this third book suffers from not hearing his perspective. He's still present in all his Ronan sharpness and curious relationships with those around him.

After I read this soon after it came out, I had to go read the first two in this series again. I liken this to Stiefvater's writing style - there are layers of intrigue and character development that build on each-other. It's absolutely delightful. And at time, torturous in it the stories emotional impact.

As with the rest of this series, and my other favorite from this author (The Scorpio Races), the landscape is a character in and of itself. Here, you have the town and the UNDER-town, so to speak. The corpse road, ancient burials, and ghosts.

Altogether, I was captivated throughout and am anticipating the next in this series.

uarmybrina's review against another edition

4.0

easily in my top five books of all time, like WOAH! i’ll never be able to say enough about how well the reveals in this series are executed and the prose is just beyond delicious at this point. 

literally thanking everyone for the growth of adam ! also shed so many tears over the found family-ness of it all, they are really such eternal besties.