Spoiler warning: This is the fourth and concluding volume in The Raven Cycle. Readers starting with this book will get very little out of it, and while I am going to try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, it probably will reveal some things about the previous three books in the series, which may ruin your enjoyment somewhat. It’s a great series, made even better when read as a whole. The Raven Boys is the place to start – go read it if you haven’t already.
Told her entire life that she will cause the death of her true love with her kiss, this was not a prophecy that bothered Blue Sargent all that much until she turned seventeen, and broke her promise to herself to stay away from boys in general and Raven Boys, those who attend the posh boarding school in her home town of Henrietta, Virginia, in particular. Now her four best friends are Raven Boys and she’s finding it harder than ever to deny that she’s fallen in love with Gansey, whose death some time in the next year was foretold when Blue and her aunt saw his spirit walking the ley line, or Corpse Road, on St. Mark’s Eve.
The Raven Boys, Richard Gansey III and his best friends Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch, are still searching for the lost Welsh king Glendower. Gansey and Blue have pretty much stopped denying their feelings for each other, but are still hiding their true feelings from Adam, Ronan and the ever more unpredictable Noah, whose hold on reality seems to be slipping the closer they get to the end of their quest. There have been dangers facing them before, but now there is a demon in Cabeswater, the magical forest that is linked with Adam and powers Ronan’s dreams. A dark force is bent on unmaking, causing the woods to twist and disintegrate, occasionally possessing the unwary. The legends say that whoever wakes the sleeping king will get a wish granted. They can ask Glendower to stop the demon – but will they find Glendower before its too late?
I spent the start of April re-reading The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves and Blue Lily, Lily Blue in anticipation and preparation for this book. As I read the first three books one a year, I both wanted to remind myself of the plot of each one and see how they worked when read in one go. Revisiting the series made it even more obvious how skilled Maggie Stiefvater was at crafting the story and made me fall even more deeply in love with the characters.
More here.
I read the first two, and liked the second more than the first. I thought the third was the final, but when I found out it wasn’t I just gave up caring. So you’re saying I should go back and pick up where I left off, eh?
Yeah, that’s basically what I’m saying. What you should do is read the first three close together and then read The Raven King. The series works beautifully as a whole, much better than in separate parts.