“He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn’t want it to be over.”
-Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King
In the last book in the Raven Cycle, Blue and the Raven Boys are getting closer and closer to finding Glendower as a darkness starts to takeover Cabeswater. Their interference with the ley line has expanded to the town of Henrietta, and each is as desperate as the other to save the life of Gansey, Blue’s true love and in mortal danger. By the end of the series, so many different stories are intertwined that it’s difficult to tell who’s the real hero of the story.
Oh my goodness. Where to even begin with this series? This past month has been my foray back into Maggie Stiefvater’s work, and I forgot how absolutely lyrical her writing is. She’s often given the title “Master Storyteller” and for good reason. Every single one of her books is woven so smoothly together, giving the reader all of the right pieces at the right time, inserting a magical quality that’s entirely believable. If you haven’t read any of her work, I highly recommend it.
One thing I specifically like about this final book in the series was the way that you could see the development in the characters. Blue, Gansey, Ronan, and Adam all bear marks of their journey toward finding Glendower, and by the end, they’re all trying their best to save Gansey. Always Gansey. Ronan was probably my most favorite character (check out my playlist for him!), just because he put up such a hard shell, but you knew he would do anything for the people that he loved. Absolutely anything. The well-developed characters help to flesh out the emotions that emanate from the book, the emotions that draw you into the story and won’t let you go until it’s over.
The structure of the plot will have you on the edge of your seat until the very last breath of this story. Stiefvater expertly shifts between characters throughout the text, showing how the darkness seeps into each aspect of the story. Stiefvater’s plot is poetic and original, living through the complex characters she creates. Overall, a fantastic ending to a well-crafted series.
5/5 stars