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seraphjewel 's review for:
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
by Maggie Stiefvater
Rating at 2 and a half stars rounded down.
At first I was going to have this at three stars, but the more I thought about it the more I decided that this book is way too much of a mess to give it three stars. It's nice that the story finally focused on the plot of the ley lines and the Welsh king again, but it also made it feel like a lot of what happened in the second book didn't even matter. I don't think Kavinsky was even mentioned once, nor do I think that finale with him blowing up cars and summoning the dragon was ever mentioned or had any impact on anything. I love Kavinsky's character but what was even the point of him in the grand scheme of things? Instead this book introduces us to a bunch of new characters who get some focus while once again the main group is left off to the side.
I think Adam suffers the most. The confrontation with his father and all the wrestling with Adam's feelings on the subject was built up from the first book, and what ends up happening? Not only does Adam's moment get stolen away from him by Gansey randomly showing up and being Gansey, but the story cuts off before the reader even gets to know the outcome of the trial! Here Adam is standing up to his long-time abuser and the audience isn't told how it turns out?! I was so surprised I had to pause the audiobook to process this.
Noah sometimes had some interesting moments and sometimes I forgot he was a character because he showed up so rarely to do anything. Gansey continues to be annoying, although I do love that "being Gansey" is played as an insult most of the time. Blue continues to be a non-character except for the rare times when she's allowed to do something on her own. There were some good moments of her facing Persephone's death and the possible death of her mother, as well as her meeting her father. But most of the time she's just there to make quips or shoot her mouth off about something. There's also the love angst which I'm just tired of at this point. She and Gansey don't really have any chemistry to speak of. Adam and Ronan's relationship is building up slower but it feels so much more real, and they actually spend time together doing all sorts of things and they seem to understand each other. Blue and Gansey supposedly have a "true love" but I don't think they've spent more than a few minutes alone together and they don't really know much about each other.
The new antagonists were just weird and confusing. Greenmantle was mentioned in the last book but he didn't feel like that much of a player, and all of a sudden he's much more important in this one. His dynamic with his wife was just plain odd. I never really knew what was going on when the narrative focused on them. Again, if they were taken out of the story, I don't think much would've changed. Glendower's daughter was interesting enough, I guess, and the cliffhanger is making me interested in what's to come next. I just wish this book had more focus on the main characters and actually followed through with some of the things set up in the last book.
In a weird way, I think this book would've worked better as a television show. It would've allowed for all these different characters to have more focus while also moving the plot along.
At first I was going to have this at three stars, but the more I thought about it the more I decided that this book is way too much of a mess to give it three stars. It's nice that the story finally focused on the plot of the ley lines and the Welsh king again, but it also made it feel like a lot of what happened in the second book didn't even matter. I don't think Kavinsky was even mentioned once, nor do I think that finale with him blowing up cars and summoning the dragon was ever mentioned or had any impact on anything. I love Kavinsky's character but what was even the point of him in the grand scheme of things? Instead this book introduces us to a bunch of new characters who get some focus while once again the main group is left off to the side.
I think Adam suffers the most. The confrontation with his father and all the wrestling with Adam's feelings on the subject was built up from the first book, and what ends up happening? Not only does Adam's moment get stolen away from him by Gansey randomly showing up and being Gansey, but the story cuts off before the reader even gets to know the outcome of the trial! Here Adam is standing up to his long-time abuser and the audience isn't told how it turns out?! I was so surprised I had to pause the audiobook to process this.
Noah sometimes had some interesting moments and sometimes I forgot he was a character because he showed up so rarely to do anything. Gansey continues to be annoying, although I do love that "being Gansey" is played as an insult most of the time. Blue continues to be a non-character except for the rare times when she's allowed to do something on her own. There were some good moments of her facing Persephone's death and the possible death of her mother, as well as her meeting her father. But most of the time she's just there to make quips or shoot her mouth off about something. There's also the love angst which I'm just tired of at this point. She and Gansey don't really have any chemistry to speak of. Adam and Ronan's relationship is building up slower but it feels so much more real, and they actually spend time together doing all sorts of things and they seem to understand each other. Blue and Gansey supposedly have a "true love" but I don't think they've spent more than a few minutes alone together and they don't really know much about each other.
The new antagonists were just weird and confusing. Greenmantle was mentioned in the last book but he didn't feel like that much of a player, and all of a sudden he's much more important in this one. His dynamic with his wife was just plain odd. I never really knew what was going on when the narrative focused on them. Again, if they were taken out of the story, I don't think much would've changed. Glendower's daughter was interesting enough, I guess, and the cliffhanger is making me interested in what's to come next. I just wish this book had more focus on the main characters and actually followed through with some of the things set up in the last book.
In a weird way, I think this book would've worked better as a television show. It would've allowed for all these different characters to have more focus while also moving the plot along.