This series is living up to its promise

3.5 stars. I try not to pay much attention to reviews of books I know I’m definitely going to read soon because I don’t want my opinion to be tainted by anyone else’s, but for some reason I had it in my head that this third book in The Raven Cycle series wasn’t as well received as the first two books. Luckily, that was not the case for me and I loved Blue Lily, Lily Blue just as much as The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves.

Blue Sargent’s mother has gone missing and it’s all Blue can do not to go crazy with worry and anger. She has the support of the 300 Fox Way crew and her Raven Boys, but nothing is the same as having her mother back. After growing a little apart in book 2 with tumultuous change in several of their lives, her groups of friends are growing into their new, more mature selves and coming back together as people important to each other tend to do. Together they start to hunt for their Welsh king and Blue’s mother in earnest, running into some fun characters in the meantime.

The penultimate book in a series is always a difficult one. It’s hard to balance build up for the finale with the structure and integrity of the story at hand. Stiefvater struck that balance perfectly in my opinion. She brought some closure to a few story arcs, told a great self-contained story, and ramped up the anticipation for the final book.