Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Depending on where you began the story, it was about the Raven King. About friendship. About magic and magicians. About Blue, her raven boys and their quest. About something more.

I wanted The Raven King to be a lot of things and at the same time I wanted it to be none of them. In the end, I think, I got both what I wanted and what I didn't want. Want is a relative concept anyway.

Read this review keeping in mind there are minor spoilers in it, the major ones are hidden, but I still recommend you to read it only if you finished the book.

He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn't want it to be over.

Now I feel devastated. The Raven Cycle gave me a lot: friends, lines to think about at night, concepts to discuss, theories to make, tears to shed. The difference between a good book and a memorable one is that the latter makes you both feel and think. The Raven King made me feel a lot. It made me think even more.

Once upon a time there was a boy who had forgotten how many times he had been told he was destined for greatness. He was also destined to die.

The Gray Man liked kings.
He liked official kings, the sorts who had the title and crown and all that, but he also liked unofficial kings, who ruled and led and stewarded without any noble bloodline or proper throne.

The boy's name was Gansey. Richard Gansey III was the latter kind of king.
What did Gansey want? To find Glendower, to save Noah, to kiss Blue, to help Ronan finish Aglionby, not to hurt Adam's feelings, to kiss Blue just one time, not to die.
Stiefvater, please, I just want�

There also was a girl who had forgotten how many times she'd been told she would kill her true love.

In a different world, she could have been friends with people like Henry for her entire teen years. But in this world, she stayed in Henrietta and watched people like that move away.

The girl's name was Blue. Blue Sargent was a hypocrite, but at least it was scrawled in her own handwriting.
What did Blue want? To belong, to help Noah, to kiss Gansey, to be sure Maura was happy, not to hurt Adam's feelings, to kiss Gansey just one time, not to let him die, something more.
Stiefvater, please, I just want�

There was a boy who had forgotten how many times he wanted to feel awake when his eyes were open.

His fingers were spread on the asphalt and his feet braced like a runner waiting for the starting shot. Three tarot cards splayed before him. He’d taken one of the floor mats out of the car to crouch on to keep from dirtying his uniform trousers.

The boy's name was Adam. Adam Parrish was an unfathomable and a practical creature.
What did Adam want? Freedom, to be understood, to be known, to be wantable, not to care about his resources, to get to the college, not to be afraid of his father, to find peace, not to let Gansey die.
Stiefvater, please, I just want�

There also was a boy who had forgotten how many times he wasn't sure if there was a line between dream and reality.

It was such a throwaway sound now, that laugh. An easy one that said it could be spent so easily because there were more where that one came from. The wound was healing against all odds; the victim would make it after all.

The boy's name was Ronan. Ronan Lynch was dreamer of dreams, fighter of men, skipper of classes.
What did Ronan want? To know that Matthew was safe, to have a mother, to dream, to make Adam smile, to live at Barns, not to finish Aglionby.
Stiefvater, please, I just want�

There was a boy who had forgotten how many times he'd seen his own death.

Joined was perhaps the wrong verb. Manifested was better. The phrase trick of the light was even more superior. Trick of the mind was the best.

The boy's name was Noah. Noah Czerny was dead and knew much more than people gave him credit for.
What did Noah want? To be alive, to stop suffering, to stay a little bit longer, not to steal energy from Blue, not to let Gansey die.
Stiefvater, please, I just want�

Once upon a time, long before Gansey, Blue, Adam, Ronan and Noah lived, there had been a king. The king's name was Glendower. Owen Glendower wasn't the same kind of king Gansey was, but even after so many years he led Richard Gansey III somewhere, he gave him a purpose.

“What then? What if you do find him?�
“That’s all there is.�

(view spoiler)[And there was.

The thing about series is that the third book in the four-book series can be a little bit disappointing. For me Blue Lily, Lily Blue was weaker than the first two books, but maybe that's just me and my obsession with The Dream Thieves. The thing about the last installment in the series is that it can't make the same mistake.
I wanted, Stiefvater, I promise. And now I feel devastated. Not because of the end, but because of the ending. So many people say it is the open one, but I don't see it. It's the good old Happily Ever After. To the fairy tale that The Raven Cycle never was.

Adam Parrish was working. Sometimes when he worked late like this, when he was tired, his mind ran to his life back in the trailer park.

Adam Parrish has the most beautiful development I've ever read about. I met him as an anxious, savage kid who wanted so many things and was always thinking about his resources: money, time, sleep. I always understood his motives, his desire to do everything himself without asking for help. And what a beautiful man he became. Adam went through a lot of shit: made deal with Cabeswater, made ends meet due to the high tuition expenses, got beaten by his father, was rejected by Blue, was slowly losing his mind, 'cause he didn't know what he wanted. Now Adam Parrish knows. He is wantable. He is known. He isn't playing games anymore: he knows how fragile the game may be.

They were both hungry animals, but Adam had been starving for longer.

He found the still place he was always looking for without knowing it. He found the soulmate he didn't know he always had. He found his own voice in the world so loud around him.

Making Ronan Lynch smile felt as charged as making a bargain with Cabeswater. These weren’t forces to play with.

Ever since his father's death Ronan Lynch hasn't been a smiling type. Ronan's smile usually meant danger. His loose smiles were reserved for his brother, not the eldest, though � for this one he had only smirks � but for the little one. Ronan Lynch was a dreamer, but sometimes it seemed as if he was a dream creature himself. I cared about him the most, because dream creatures are known to be fragile. Ronan both was and wasn't.
Lynches have the most beautiful development I've ever read about. Declan and Ronan spent so many time fighting, so many time showing the hatred that wasn't there. They were brothers after all. Ronan had Declan's back the same way Declan had Ronan's, even if they never admitted it out loud. All the things they never said, all the glances they shared behind Matthew's back, all the secrets they kept from each other and all the things they had to sacrifice in order to save their family. These were probably the most heartbreaking scenes in The Raven King, except for the one that broke my heart.

“Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit,� Ronan said into Adam’s hearing ear, and Adam’s body sagged against Ronan, chest heaving. His hands still jerked and strained to violence. He gasped, “You asshole,� but Ronan could hear how near tears he was.

The best thing about Ronan is that he's always himself. It might be scary � this truthfulness � but it's the thing that makes Ronan who he is. He might have doubts, might have hard time admitting something to himself, but he won't deny the truth. Ronan's nightmares always scared me the most for they were lies. Your fault. Leavable. Powerless. Ronan was none of them. My heart ached for him every time he was hurt, beat faster every time he was happy. And he was. Adam and Ronan found happiness � that was my island I swam to in a troubled ocean The Raven King was.

One of the great things about Blue Sargent was that she never really gave up hope. He would have told her this, but he knew it would only upset her more.

I have a confession to make. I've never really liked Blue Sargent. At one second she was a simple girl, but at the other she did or said something that infuriating I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes. Should I like her because the story ended? I don't think so.
The most troubling thing about Blue is her pride. Did she really need to accuse Adam of being 'difficult', while she was seeing Gansey? Did she really need to accuse Henry of being a typical rich boy she expected him to be? Was it really so difficult to admit to herself that she was overreacting and was simply wrong? No, I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Blue. But I couldn't relate to many of her actions and thoughts. The Raven Cycle was always about friendship. Blue-bad-ass-and-asshole-Sargent parts were precious, as well as Blue's relationship with Noah, though.

Noah Czerny was a very human name to give something that did not look very human to Calla’s eyes. But somehow, she was looking at a shambles of a soul, and in it, there was still a dead kid.

Oh, Noah. I craved for his chapters, I wanted to get more out of his thoughts, his relationship with Blue, his silent mourning with Ronan, his Raven Day. I wanted him to be happy so badly. Wanted him to become that swimmer he'd once been again. Oh, Maggie, I so wanted. After all he's a king too. Not the kind Gansey was. But the kind of king that lived both in the past and the future. The kind of king that became legend without living. I so wanted him to stay, but at least now, I hope, he found peace.

Richard Gansey was failing to sleep. When he closed his eyes: Blue’s hands, his voice, black bleeding from a tree. It was starting, starting. No. It was ending. He was ending. This was the landscape of his personal apocalypse.

Richard Gansey III had the most beautiful pursuit I've ever read about. So many time spent sitting in the library, writing all the things he found in his journal, dreaming of hornets and finding the king. And in the end he found one. Not the king he was pursuing all the time, but the king in himself. Kings in all of his friends. What a band of merry men they all were. Gansey spent so many time looking for Glendower, magic that he stopped seeing simple magic around him. Ronan's loose smile. Adam's relaxed shoulders. Blue's laugh. Noah's encouraging glances. He never needed to find magic. Magic was always around him. He never needed favours. He already got so many, he just had to reach out.

But the more I think about The Raven King the more sad I get. Do I feel kind of betrayed? Yes. Do I feel there was more to the story? I don't know. But I feel there was something wrong.
While I loved so many parts and was happy to the indescribable extent, I still can't get over a lot of things.

Henry-new-best-friend-let's-go-to-the-final-part-of-the-quest-together-Cheng was a big part of the story. I can't even say when it happened. It just did. I'm going to be as honest as Ronan would be: I didn't like Henry Cheng at the beginning. I felt he was... the odd man out? Maybe. All of a sudden there was this guy who wanted to be friends with Gansey. Did I find it suspicios? Hell yes. Was I disappointed to find out there was no trick? Maybe. The only trick I keep seeing is Henry Cheng being a big part of the story all of a sudden. I didn't like him at the beginning and even though I almost liked him at the end, he still felt like a stranger in the story. I don't mind Henry, I really don't. I liked his thoughts-thing, but I can easily imagine The Raven King without him. As well as without all the dealers/Laumonier.
The other thing I didn't really see any reason for is Neeve coming back and Piper-I've-no-bloody-idea-what-I'm-doing-in-this-book-Greenmantle. What was the point of both of them? Neeve appeared, was there for a little while, and then died. Was her purpose to make up for her mistakes by warning Sargents about the approaching trouble? And what about Piper? That Queen B scene felt so out of tune. Piper didn't seem to be a stupid woman in Blue Lily, Lily Blue. She was a really nice villainous bad-ass then. Maybe she was just an epitome of human greed, but I still think the book wouldn't be worse without her in it.
Artemus-let-me-just-sit-inside-something-during-all-the-scenes-Blue's... father ? No. Not just him. All the tree-lights thing as well. When he was introduced in the previous book I couldn't care less. I was wrong, 'cause I cared even less about him here. Why was he even in it? To tell us that Blue was a tree? thanks, we knew it all along! some kind of a tree-light? Don't get me started on it. The whole concept sounds ridiculous every time I type it. Glendower being inside a deer would make much more sense, really. Artemus and Blue being druids would make much more sense as well.

And as long as all of the above flaws were minor, major ones still make me feel as if I lost something while reading the final chapters instead of acquiring.

Let's start with the easiest one. While Ronan and Adam got really nice scenes, Blue and Gansey got none. I was overjoyed reading about their party at Henry's, but.. that's it? They made me feel so many things at the same time in Blue Lily, Lily Blue, made me ache for them... for what? The so-called deadly kiss was almost a one-line thing. I've noticed Maggie using this method (writing the most shocking/important/mind-blowing moments with just a few words, i.e, shooting someone/someone dying), but this? Was this all? I agree, it's not a kissing book and it never was. It was probably the only book in which I didn't want characters to kiss (for obvious reasons). But is that all there is?

The thing I'm mostly conflicted about is the one everyone was anticipating for months. The scene. If you know me, you know I love drama. If you don't, now you know. I love getting emotional, being so destroyed after finishing books that sleep seems no longer an option. I've been asking myself: did I want Gansey to die? No, maybe, yes. Most likely. Do I feel disappointed? Hell yes. The ending felt so rushed and forced. All the signs, all the chapters before were screaming about Gansey's death, everything was against him. I'm not saying he had to die well, maybe I am, but this? I feel kind of let down. Thanks for the Noah's part, he deserved to be known as a hero, but I still feel that the ending was an easy way out, as if Maggie initially wrote one ending and then decided to "play safe", that fast it all happened. And Henry � of all people! � gave them this "oh, look, you're all magicians!" thought. Maybe one day I'll come to terms with it, but not now.

The most accurate description of the feeling I have after finishing The Raven King is Gansey's feeling after finding out that Glendower was dead all that time. I know, Gansey, I know. I feel your pain. This was a good outcome, though. He never really needed the king. He needed the journey, he needed the purpose, he needed the quest. (hide spoiler)]

Maggie Stiefvater is the same kind of king as Gansey. She led me, gave me a purpose. She introduced Ronan to me. He taught me to dream big, to dream about impossible things. She introduced Adam to me. He taught me it was okay to ask for help sometimes. She introduced Noah to me. He taught me it was okay just to be there and not to say anything if you couldn't find any words. She introduced Blue to me. She taught me to follow my heart no matter what. She intoduced Gansey to me. He taught me to live my dreams, to pursue my goals, to never give up. He taught me it was okay to be afraid sometimes.
Maggie Stiefvater taught me too. She taught me to write my own story the way I want. Thank you for this wonderful emotional journey, Maggie. I'm sure that's not all there is. There always is something more.

P.S: Thank you, my girls � Nastassja, Katerina and Vera � for buddy reading it with me. The ride on this rollercoaster wouldn't be the same without you. Thank you, Chelsea, for introducing this cycle to me. It gave me much more than it took after all. Thank you, Ana and Arantxa, for listening to my theories I wrote at night and discussing all the crazy ideas we had. It was a wonderful experience.