Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 6

the raven kingLet’s talk relationships.  Honestly I think the friendships are the most important relationships in the series but I think most people focus on the romantic relationships.  There is Bluesey aka Blue and Gansey and Adnan (or is Rodam? I’m not really sure what their ship is called) aka Ronan and Adam.  Obviously, Blue and Gansey are a go.  We started to see their relationship bloom in Blue Lily Lily Blue.  They tried to keep their attraction a secret as they didn’t want to upset Adam and honestly that was good call.  Though, I wonder how hurt Adam is really going to be knowing that they can never kiss.  I guess it will still hurt anyway that she would chose Gansey over him.  I think now he can handle it as he seems to be in a much better head space than where he was at the beginning of the book.  We also know that Blue and Gansey will kiss.  We knew that was going to happen since The Raven Boys. We got a glimpse of what it’s going to be like when Blue stepped in the tree and saw them kiss.  She saw how Gansey knew what kissing Blue would mean but wanting to anyway.  I think this goes back to what I said yesterday.  Gansey knows he’s going to die, he might as well go out doing what he wants.  But when will it happen?  Early on in the book? Right before they find Glendower?  Will they only get that one kiss?  Will it end in tears? I’m pretty sure it’s a yes to those last questions.

What about Ronan and Adam?  We know that Ronan is gay.  I do love his coming out or really his lack of one.  I like that Maggie wrote his sexual preference the way she wrote the others.  It didn’t need to be a big reveal because if you were following his arc, you would have seen his preference.  Adam on the other hand is not so clear cut.  He was fully infatuated with Blue in The Raven Boys.  I think in The Dream Thieves it was more just him wanting to be loved.  Wanting to be wanted and he thought Blue was the person who was going to be that for him.  By the end, they sort of realized that wasn’t going to happen.  Things were a little awkward in Blue Lily Lily Blue but I think by the end they found a balance between the two of them.  Adam also starts to suspect Ronan’s feelings for him and is flattered.  Ronan is a rich, attractive guy.  He could have anyone he wanted so for him to want Adam, made him special.  Made him feel wanted. Which is what Adam wants.  I think Ronan has hope that Adam will reciprocate his feelings.  He shows that in the hand cream he gives Adam and the trust he has in Adam when he tells him about Matthew.  He shows Adam his vulnerability, which is not easy for someone like Ronan.  Now, Maggie has said on twitter that she wrote the two kisses that fans have been waiting for.  I can only assume she means these two since the only other couple is Maura and the Gray Man and they have already kissed. So how will Ronan and Adam’s kiss go down?  Will it be a moment of shared grief over loss?  A moment of curiosity on one or both of their parts? Will it be the beginning of a relationship or the realization that they are just friends?  All we do know is that they are going to be a lot more kissing in this book then probably in all the other books combined.

Part 1: The Role of New characters

Part 2: The Role of Characters who are not new but new to Henrietta..

Part 3: The Role of Persephone’s death.

Part 4: The Role of Ronan

Part 5: The Role of Gansey

Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 5

the raven kingRichard Campbell Gansey III, the once and future King. We’ve talked about his friends and their journey but what about Gansey?  Is he the only one who doesn’t have any kind of power? He must feel left out.  He must feel how Blue felt her whole life.  Maybe not.  Gansey was being very mysterious in Blue Lily Lily Blue with his visit to the faculty lounge and staying late after school.  What was he doing?  Does it have anything to do with how he knows he’s going to die.  If anyone has read or listened to the first chapter, you know that Gansey has figured out what his voice on the tape of St. Marks Eve meant.  He knows that he is going to die.  Did this realization start when he was in the cave and heard the wasps?  Or was it when Persephone died?  Who knows but now that he does know, how is going to deal with the knowledge. I think he is going to throw everything into the search.  If he is going to die, finding Glendower is going to be his final thing he does. Let’s not forget the kiss.  Blue’s kiss of death. Haha, Just kidding. Kinda.  That’s tomorrow’s topic.

Part 1: The Role of New characters

Part 2: The Role of Characters who are not new but new to Henrietta..

Part 3: The Role of Persephone’s death.

Part 4: The Role of Ronan

Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 4

the raven king Ronan is a greywaren.  He can bring items from his dreams.  Adam made a bargain with Cabeswater and now has a mystical connection with the forest and Blue is a mirror.  She reflects other’s powers off of them and makes them more powerful.  Gansey has brought together a powerful crew to assist him in his search.  Ronan has fully embraced his powers and seems to have a pretty good understanding of how it works and how it affects Cabeswater.  Adam is still learning how to use his new powers and how to communicate with Cabeswater.  Even though the death of Persephone was a blow to his learning, I got the sense that by the end of Blue Lily Lily Blue he was in a much better place.  How he and Ronan took control of the expedition into the cave the last time showed a new kind confidence in him that he didn’t have before.  Blue is wild card because she is just discovering her powers.  So how will all of their powers combine help with the search for Glendower?  You know that they will have to work together if they are going to find him.

Also, will Ronan figure out to save Matthew from the same fate as their mom?  (BTW, Ronan’s mom is named Aurora.  Do you know who else is named Aurora? Sleeping Beauty.  Guess who just made that connection?  Me, that’s who.) Will this have any effect on the search and Cabeswater? Will we find out more about the mask of Niall and how it relates to Adam?  Is Ronan also a little psychic too or was it just a random dream?  So many questions that need to be answered.

Part 1: The Role of New characters

Part 2: The Role of Characters who are not new but new to Henrietta..

Part 3: The Role of Persephone’s death.

Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 3

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The death of Persephone was a big blow to everyone.  For one thing, she always seemed not immortal but not mortal either.  So for her to actually die was a surprise.  It also put some urgency back into the search for Maura and Glendower.  I think her death will have more impact in The Raven King.  1. The triumvirate of Maura, Calla, Persephone has irrevocably been broken up.   The power of the number 3 is brought up many times in Blue Lily Lily Blue.  The three of them often talk about how their powers are the strongest together.  How will they be now that she is gone?  Persephone also talked about possibly having Adam one day replacing one of them but never says who.  She dismisses this notion but did she know that her time was short?  Who will step up to take her place and be Maura and Calla’s third?  Adam?  Blue? Gwenllian? Artemus?

Part 1: The Role of New characters

Part 2: The Role of Characters who are not new but new to Henrietta..

 

Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 2

the raven king Yesterday we discussed a little bit about the new characters that were introduced in Blue Lily Lily Blue.  Today, I’m going to discuss Colin Greenmantle and Artemus.  They were both characters previously mentioned in earlier books but we didn’t actually see them until Blue Lily Lily Blue.

Colin Greenmantle: The last time we saw Colin, he was walking away from Piper, the Gray Man and a thug before they entered cave.  He had just witnessed Piper kill Jesse Dittley and was not having it.  He was already about to leave after Adam and Ronan paid him a visit with their fake but very convincing evidence of a terrible crime and the death of Jesse was enough for him to peace out.  Is he really gone though? The man who put in so much time, effort and money in to finding the Greywaren.  He moved to Henrietta and became the latin teacher in hopes of ruining the Gray man and he’s just going to walk away? Especially now that Piper has gone over the deep end and will soon be a missing person.  I know that the evidence that Ronan dreamt up was enough to scare him but is it enough to keep him away?

Artemus: Last time we saw Artemus he was being rescued by Blue with the help of the Gray Man and Maura.  He’s Blue’s father and Maura’s ex-lover.  Things are probably going to get a little awkward since the Gray Man is currently dating or at least seeing Maura now.  We really don’t know much about Artemus beyond his past history with Maura and according to Gwenllian, he is the one who tied her up.  That would suggest that he is as old as she is and somehow involved with  Glendower?  From the beginning, it has be a part of Maura’s story arc to find him.  It was the reason that she invited Neeve to come stay with them in The Raven Boys.  Now that she has found him, what’s next?  He obviously has some connection to Glendower and is a magician of some kind.  So how does he fit in the search for Glendower and how does he fit in Blue and Maura’s life?

Part 1: The Role of New characters

 

Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 1

the raven king We are officially a week from the release of The Raven King!  It’s so close!  It’s almost here!  AHHHH!!!  Okay, I’m done freaking out.  Throughout this month, I have posted my thoughts of the last three books as I re-read The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves and Blue Lily Lily Blue to refresh my memory of what happened so far. Now we are going to look ahead to The Raven King, itself and hopefully get some discussion going on what we think is going to happen, what we are looking forward to finally reading (a few kisses come to mind) and how we think it’s going to end.  So let’s get this started.

In Blue Lily Lily Blue, we were introduced to three new characters.  Henry Cheng, Piper Greenmantle and Gwenllian. Henry is a fellow student at Aglionby.  Piper was Colin Greenmantle’s wife and the real antagonist of the book.  Gwenllian the daughter of Glendower who the gang finds in his robber’s grave. Let’s break it down one at a time.

Henry Cheng: The last time we saw him, he was protesting the faculty denying his petition for a student council when scaffolding fell down all around Adam. It should have killed Adam but he used his Cabeswater connection to save himself.  Maggie has said that Henry is going to have a bigger role in The Raven King but what?  He probably has some questions about Adam after witnessing his near death and I have some questions as to what he was doing out so late when Blue and Gansey found him and his car.  Is he connected to Cabeswater somehow? Is he also searching for Glendower?

Piper Greenmantle: The last time we saw her, she was stuck in the cave and waking up the third sleeper with the help of the reemerged Neeve.  Obviously this is not good because this was the sleeper that everyone kept warning not to wake. Even more bad news, it sounds like the third sleeper is a gigantic spider of some sort.  What role will Piper play, since she is obviously not dead and now has a favor thanks to creepy spider sleeper guy.  And what does the fact that it was only two of them to wake him up instead of the preferred three?

Gwenllian: The last time we saw her, she was helping the gang rescue Maura from the cave.  We know that she is like Blue and is a Mirror.  She sings and is annoying to all the women at 300 Fox Way.  As the daughter of Glendower, she probably can help them out in their quest to find him, if they can get a straight answer from her and her powers could be beneficial to the women in 300 Fox Way.  Not to mention give us more insight in to Artemus.  What role will she play in the final book?

My To-Read List for the next month or so

My to-read pile is going to get a little bit of work out in the next couple of weeks.  Not only is the The Raven King finally coming (just in case you haven’t heard) but several other books I’ve been waiting to read are also coming out. Apparently May 3 is the day to release books with four books on my list. It’s also the time for series to end with The Raven Cycle, The 5th Wave, The Selection, and the Taking series are all coming into their conclusions. It’s strange how so many of my series are ending this year but I guess that’s just the way it worked out.  This is all great but I wish they all were spaced out a little bit. I can only read so much at a time.

April 26

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater

Soldier (Talon #3) by Julie Kagawa

May 3

The Hidden Oracle (The Trails of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Invision (The Chronicles of Nick #7) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The Crown (The Selection #5) by Kiera Cass

May 10

The Countdown (The Taking #3) by Kimberley Derting

May 24

The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey

I obviously have a lot of reading to do. What are you looking forward to reading in the upcoming weeks?

 

Countdown to The Raven King!

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Guess what Guys?!  I just figured out we can do slideshows! This is so exciting to me!  Anyhoo, it’s April!  Finally!  Only 25 more days until the release of the The Raven King!  FINALLY!!!!  I can’t wait!  I’m excited but dreading it all the same time because you know that none of us are coming out of this unscathed.  Now that I think about it, keep Stacks in your thoughts in the last week of April, first week of May because it’s going to be a couple of brutal weeks for Kate and I between this and Captain America.  So here we go, to help everyone prepare for the final book in the The Raven Cycle, we are going to look back at past reviews and commentary about one of our favorite series.

First, Let’s start from the beginning with Kate’s review of The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves.  Somehow, I haven’t written a formal review for this series.  Strange.

Here are a few more posts about The Raven Cycle

Public Service Announcement

What I’m Thankful for

Books that Rocked My Face off, Part two

Dear Stackologist: Life is Full of Tough Choices

RE: Sexism, Twitter and Giant Insects

Highs and Lows of Fandoms by Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater

Cover Reveal: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Discussion Posts: Re-reading series before the new installment comes out

Fan Art

Books that Rocked My Face Off in 2015

What I Can’t Wait to Read in 2016

Currently Reading: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

And finally, First Listen of The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Later this week, we will start discussion posts about what we think is going to happen in The Raven King.

First Listen of The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

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As you know we at Stacks are super excited for the release of The Raven King, the final book in her The Raven Cycle.  We are about a month away!  Today, Maggie Stiefvater posted clips of the Prologue and Chapter 1, read by actor Will Patton on her Tumblr.  There isn’t any spoilers since both excerpts have already been released online but Will does reads a mean book.  So go have a listen and come back and post what you think will happen to Blue and the Boys.  Can you believe it’s only a month away?!

 

http://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/141617391621/maggie-stiefvater-heres-will-patton-reading

 

What I Can’t Wait to Read in 2016

It’s 2016!  Happy New Years!!  A new year means new books!  And we love new books even if they just add to our TBR pile.  So here a 10 books that I’m super excited to read in 2016!

  1. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater- The final book in the Raven Cycle and I couldn’t be more excited and dreading at the same time.  It is well documented about how much I love the series and Maggie as an author.  I can’t wait to see what will happen to Blue and the Boys but at the same time not ready to say goodbye.
  2. The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan – The first book in Rick’s new series The Trials of Apollo is going to be good.  I just know it.  For one thing Percy is back!  That’s really all I need to know.  I also hope it means that Leo is also back and happy and in love with Calypso.  That would be the best.
  3. Untitled by Sarah J. Maas – So the next book in the Throne of Glass series doesn’t have a title but hasn’t dampened my excitement for it.  Aelin has all but declared her intentions and now heading for home.  The real fight for Erilea is abou to get real.
  4. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir –  An Ember in the Ashes was one of the books that I loved the most last year.  A mixture of historical fiction, dystopian and fantasy it was truly something refreshing.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.
  5. The Last Star by Rick Yancey – The final book in the 5th Wave series should be interesting.  The 5th Wave was full and real but the The Infinite Sea was a intriguing but not as entertaining.  Now that we know that who the aliens are and not things are really going to go down.  Not to mention the movie for the first book comes out soon and I’m quite interested to see how it transitions from page to screen.
  6. Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard – The Red Queen was the other book by a new author in 2015 that I really loved.  The other was Ember in the Ashes.  It was quite a debut.  I can’t wait to see what Mare will do now.
  7. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare – It’s been over a year since Cassandra’s last series ended. She has filled the void with her novella series Tales from Shadowhunter Academy it hasn’t been the same.  Now we are moving from New York City to LA with Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorne five years after the end of The Mortal Instruments so of course the world is once again in peril and it’s mostly the Clave’s fault.  I do hope it’s better then the last 3.
  8. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – I’ll admit that I was only so so on the first book but I think this series has real potential and I’m willing to give it a go.
  9. The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – Magnus and friends stopped Ragarnok from happening at least for now and now he’s going to have help from his cousin Annabeth.  (Annabeth is going to be very busy this year) We know from the last book that Thor lost his hammer and judging by the title that is going to be a major part of this book but he won’t be the only God as we also know that Loki has been pulling strings for a long time. Things should get interesting.
  10. The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon – Now I’m not sure if this book is really going to come out this year or not but according to Goodreads, it’s scheduled for 11/3 so *crosses fingers* Paige has taken over the syndicate only to be betrayed by her former boss.  It’s time to start a revolution against Scion but I have a feeling they won’t go down without a fight.

And so many more books I want to read and not to mention try to complete our reading challenges. It’s going to be a busy reading year.  How about you? What books are you looking forward to reading this year?