This post contains spoilers for Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle and Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series.
I’ve been listening to Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and I’ve really been enjoying it. This is no surprise; I’ve read it before and Beth and I are avowed Maggie Stiefvater fan girls. One of the things that I really enjoy about rereading a book is that you get a chance to notice all the little things that the author sets up to sign post the direction of the narrative. Noah is the smudgy boy, which at first I took to mean that he was like Pig Pen but now I’m starting to wonder if his smudge was more than that? And, does the tension between the psychics mirror the tension that develops between the raven boys or foreshadow the covering and uncovering of secrets as the time goes on. And, I didn’t notice the first read through that Blue is the page of cups (“So full of potential” they say.) Coincidence that the one person that makes the leyline powerful is the one that is full of potential? I think not. Oh, and there’s some nice, not-at-all subtext about Chain Saw and Ronan Lynch. Anyway, today, I got to the part in Raven Boys where the death is. And, it was heartbreaking again. After that I thought for a minute about what kind of fan art I could make, if I wanted to, to honor this fallen soldier in the narrative. I’m a knitter and a tatter so my fan art would have to be something made with needles, shuttles and fiber.
This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about knitting something for a character. If you’ve been with us for the full year you’ll know that Beth and I once had a…disagreement? moment of upset? over a character’s death. Back when the second Daughter of Smoke and Bone came out I fell in love with Akiva’s angel sibling Hazael. And, while I read the book I sent a series of texts about my new book boyfriend to my sister who politely engaged my new obsession without a hint of what was to come. She’s good about not ever spoiling anything, including your inevitable heartbreak. So, I was devastated when Hazael was slain at the end of the second book. And, a little angry at my sister for not even a tiny hint that it was coming. (I got her back for it, though.) After reading that I book I started my first fan art knitting project: a shawl I’m calling My Fallen Angel.
For the knitters in the room, I am using the dreambird pattern by ravelry user Nadita Swings. It is completely shaped by short rows, so it looks complicated but is pretty easy (as long as you don’t lose your place in the pattern).
I am knitting it up in fingering weight palette yarn from knitpicks in the colors seraphim and hazelnut for the feathers and fairytale for the body.
Since I’ve been reading Raven Boys, in addition of thinking about what I could do for the dead, I’ve been musing about what a Blue Sargent sweater would look like. I think it would need to have design features that look like rips and it would have to be made in bright colors. In the meantime, if you’re as excited for the upcoming release of the fourth book as we are and you’re also a knitter you can try your hand at Alasdair Post-Quinn’s corvus pattern.
It is double knit, so that can be challenging at the beginning and at the edges. But, It is a cool pattern that’ll up your chart reading fu.
Are you the kind of fan that makes fan art? What is your favorite fan made piece? Hit us back in the comments!
Earlier this month, we posed the question, should you reread the 
I don’t remember what panel at 
*Beware of Spoilers*
I know that Adelina is supposed to be the villain of this story. The entire marketing campaign has been how this is from the villainess point of view instead of the usual heroine. I agree that’s unique but I’m having hard time seeing Adelina as a villain or “the villain” of this novel. If anything she is just one of many bad guys in the story. Teren is out right terrifying. His obsession and religious furor makes him so certain that his work camps and plans of eradicating all malfettos from Kennetra is the true villain of the story. I think we are supposed to see the Daggers led by Enzo and Raffaelle as the heroes but they are committing treason by allying themselves to Queen Maeve of Beldain. Maeve is also an elite with the power to bring back the dead. For this reason she obviously takes much better care of malfettos or survivors of the blood fever but she is also planning on taking over another sovereign nation. Queen Guiletta is not exactly a saint either but now that she has ascended to the thrown she is making in effort. She sees how Teren is treating the malfettos and orders they be treated better. She wants obedience, not revolution. She knows that the children of many influential people are malfettos and they would not like to see their children poorly treated. Unfortunately, Teren sees things differently and by the time she realizes how much power she has given him it’s too late. Could she have been a more effective leader if it wasn’t for Teren? Most likely. But back to Adelina. She was caste out from the Daggers for betraying them, killing Dante and making the mistake that lead to Enzo’s death. She and her sister Violetta seek out new allies to help her in her revenge against Teren and his inquisitors. Throughout the book, Adelina experience illusions of people she has killed that and they get worse as the story goes on. She also hears voices and becomes more and more paranoid. *Spoiler* We learn in the end that the elites powers are turning against them. They were given powers of the Gods but their human bodies can’t handle it. Adelina has the power of illusions. Creating images to make people think, see and feel things that are not there. For her it makes her see her dead father and hear voices and be paranoid. I couldn’t help but think this sounds like schizophrenia or another mental illness. Having your villain show signs of mental illness is a little problematic to me. I’m pretty sure that is not the author’s intent. As I said, the elites powers are turning against them. If Adelina had different powers her side effects would be different but her powers and her dark feelings are what makes her a threat. Also a little problematic is that Adelina is a victim of domestic abuse. Since she was a child she was beaten and abused by her father. She lived her life trying to gain the love of a man who hurt her. When she kills him and finds the Daggers she does what she can to make them like her and to fit in and they turn on her too. This is an emotionally scarred woman. I’m not saying that what she has done in the last two books are excusable but I also don’t think that labeling her as a villain is accurate either. If anything, I find myself rooting for her to succeed then any other character in the book.
