Blue Sargent’s mother is missing, and it’s quite clear that time passes differently where she’s gone. This loss affects Blue deeply, although she has Mr. Grey around and her Raven Boys to take her mind off things. Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam and even Noah are still trying to find Glendover, looking in caves all over the area. They are told repeatedly that there are three Sleepers under the ground, and it is imperative that one of them not be woken. They now have the aid of Gansey’s elderly British professor friend, Mr. Malory, who seems to find being in “the Colonies” fascinating.
Malory is not the only new arrival in Henrietta. Colin Greenmantle, Mr. Grey’s former employer and a very dangerous man, is in town, keeping himself busy plotting revenge and destruction, while also teaching the Aglionby boys Latin. His wife Piper may seem vapid and distracted at first, but it becomes clear after a while why the two were drawn to each other. Ronan is determined to get Greenmantle somehow, and enlists the aid of Adam, whose affinity with Cabeswater is getting stronger, allowing him a wholly new perspective. Adam needs all the distractions he can get, he’s about to face his father in court, and he’s making very sure that none of his friends find out about it.
While it is always lovely to spend time in the world of Blue and her Raven Boys, this book, number 3 in The Raven Cycle is so clearly a bridging book. Unlike in books 1 and 2, where we were introduced to all the characters and a lot of dramatic things happened, most of the story is in a holding pattern here, slowly moving the pieces into place for the final act, which I’m hoping will be spectacular.
I hate to say anything critical of Stiefvater because I think what she’s doing with the Raven Boys series is truly spectacular. But this one definitely felt like the literary equivalent of treading water. Malory’s visit was pretty pointless. Blue and Gansey are still in limbo. Gansey seems to be loosing some of his Gansey veneer but it wasn’t entirely clear to me why he was getting nervous NOW?
I adore the world she has created here but one of the themes that has been fairly consistent is that nobody seems to be plagued with self-doubt. Don’t wake the 3rd sleeper? OK,message received, tally ho! Wait there’s a cursed cave? Well let’s definitely go explore that! I don’t mind that nobody questions these decisions because it would be far less fun if they sat home and avoided the peril. But all of a sudden Gansey’s getting nervous and it felt a bit out of character?
Also Greenmantle and Piper felt a bit, I don’t know, underwhelming? One dimensional? Farcical?
Still I can’t wait to see what comes next and even with this somewhat weaker installment, this series is an all time favorite.
I love the first two books and I liked this one, it just felt like an awful lot of pages devoted to very little. I’m just hoping that she can tie it all together in a satisfying ending in the next one. I need it to be great. I don’t think I can take it if it’s disappointing.
Piper and Greenmantle were somewhat farcical, yes. It was like sociopath by numbers or something.