Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Young adult, fantasy, magical realism

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.
The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.
Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

I think The Dream Thieves is my favorite of the series so far (RONAN) but BLLB was excellent as well. This was the first book of the series that I read on audio, and the narrator did a fantastic job with all the characters. I finally know what a Henrietta accent sounds like!

Blue Lily, Lily Blue picks up almost immediately where The Dream Thieves left off. Things are just a lot more intense in this book than the previous ones. Gansey is closer than ever to finding Glendower, the mysterious employer of the Gray man is right on their backs, Moira is still AWOL, and meanwhile Blue is stuck in the middle of everything, trying to keep at least some part of her life stable. There's a lot happening in this book in terms of plot, but the shining stars continue to be the characters.

I have always loved Maggie Stiefvater's writing style, but it really shines in this series. It captures the feeling of magic in the every day world so beautifully, and the words weave together so many intense emotions that it's almost magical in itself.

There are a lot of revelations and unexpected directions in terms of plot and character development. I cannot wait to see how these play out in the final book!

Oh, and just for laughs, a clip of the audiobook version of the Blue Lily, Lily Blue song:
https://soundcloud.com/kritiyer/bllb-song/s-qe68C