I wish I’d written this review immediately after finishing the novel. Because I loved it. What a satisfying conclusion to a series I never imagined I’d get so damn attached to.
Things are bleak for our heroes. People have died. Bad things are afoot. Cabeswater is in danger. Gansey is destined to die, and it’s surely going to break your damn heart into a billion tiny pieces. I started to get a bit panicky, honestly, that there was no way things were going to end well for this band of misfits I’d come to love so much. (I feel justified in my feelings because the misfits were feeling a bit panicky, as well.)
Blue has stopped denying her feelings for Gansey, even though she’s heard her entire life that if she kisses her true love, he’ll die. So. They don’t kiss. This isn’t a kissing book. Gansey was never in much denial over his feelings for Blue, but is regretting their decision to keep things secret for so long. He doesn’t want secrets from his best friends. First love and friend love…tricky to navigate.
Ronan has never been in denial about his feelings for Adam and Adam himself is coming to terms with his whatever he’s beginning to feel for Ronan. It all made my heart a bit gooey, if I’m being completely honest, and I’m just happy that their relationship exists somewhere out there in the world. Even if it’s book world, which some people claim isn’t the same as the real world because it only exists in your head. (Those people are dum dums.)
But like I said, this isn’t a love story, or, if it is, it’s not just a kissy-kissy love story, but a friend-love story. A quest-love (heh) story. A family-love story. And I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. I spent all the time I wasn’t reading this book resenting the fact that I had to do things other than read this book.
Blue and her boys are still on the hunt for Glendower, all while the demon that Piper and Neeve woke in the last novel is trying to unmake Cabeswater, and thus the world Ronan has so carefully created for himself. It’s terrifying. And through all of this, Gansey’s death hangs over everything. Even Gansey knows something is up, as he’s guessed what this quest has in store for him. I don’t want to say anything more about the story, really, for fear of spoiling the joy of watching it unfold.
I’m just so impressed with the conclusion of this series. Stiefvater crafted a beautiful story and wrapped it up in such a satisfying way, which is rare. She’s created lasting characters, characters I didn’t imagine myself falling in love with when I started this series. And not just the main characters, but the side characters who, while not always directly involved with the flow of the narrative, are just as important. She even brought back Henry Cheng, someone I thought was just going to make a brief appearance in this series, and he was my absolute favorite person for much of this novel. How does she do that?
If I have one complaint about the novel, it’s that I wanted more time with Blue and her boys at the end, when things were finally over and just beginning. And I want to know more about what EVERYONE ends up doing, not just the main characters. I guess what I’m saying is, I didn’t want to say good-bye, and it’s giving me a bit of the sads.
Great review. I totally agree that her character work is just so, so good. I wish we had had a little more time with Blue’s family at the end! They could easily have their own spinoffs.
YES! And I would read all of them.
I was so worried about the outcome of this book. I kept obsessively checking Maggie Stiefvater’s Tumblr three times a day for hints and clues, not that she would reveal anything. I thought the ending was satisfying, but like in previous books, I found the antagonists were among the weaker elements of the story.
And I didn’t want to spend most of the epilogue with Adam and his horrible parents? Come on, give me just a bit more time with Raven and the Raven Boys (and Henry, who would have thought I’d come to love you so much (although I agree that Robobee was a bit of a stretch))! And what happens to Maura and the Grey Man? They can be together now that the Greenmantles are dead, right?
Oh, Adam’s horrible parents make me so sad. I was bummed that we didn’t get any follow up on Maura and Mr. Grey, but in my headcanon, they’re totally together.