Okay so here's the thing. I recently mentioned to my friend Lucinda (who is a children's librarin in London currently) that I was going to get Call Down the Hawk for Christmas, and she sternly told me that I can't read that until I've read The Raven King, so hadn't I better hurry up and read The Raven King? The thing is I've been putting it off for almost two years, because, as I said in the review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, there's a prophecy that Gansey will die, and I just can't bear for it to happen. Lucinda told me that people who are dead can always be brought back to life in magical books. She basically told me to stop whinging and get on with it.
So I did.
And I loved it. Seriously, this is the best book of the quadrology, for me. I absolutely loved it.
It is Gansey's book. Which makes sense! The first one is Adam's, the second one is Ronan's, the third one is Blue's, so it was obvious that this one would belong to Gansey and his long quest to find the body of Glendower. The others do get a look in but in a far lesser way.
Adam is trying to just make it through to graduation, really. He's Cabeswater's magician, and he's struggling to keep Cabeswater under control because it has a demon. And the demon may or may not be possessing him.
Ronan is skipping school, not caring about anything except going back to his family home so that he can dream and keep his father's dreams alive. He gets Matthew and Declan out of Henrietta, but there's a problem because Declan is involved in his dad's ex business of magical artifacts, and there's something bad coming to Henrietta.
Blue's dad Artemus was freed in the last book, but he's currently living in a pantry at Fox Way, unwilling to come out or talk to anyone. Blue is also seeing Gansey, only they're keeping it secret from everyone, and of course, she can never kiss him because if she kisses her true love, he will die.
Then there's Henry Cheng. We met him in previous books as a co-student of Gansey and co at Aglionby, but in this book we see him a lot more. Gansey and Blue go to a toga party at his dormitory house, and then Henry takes Gansey to a secret place at Aglionby and tells him something. He then goes along with the other four in the rest of the novel, which I actually really liked. I liked him as a character and I felt like the others needed another one, as Noah is largely missing by this point. You know, cos he's dead and all, and the ley line is failing at keeping him around and his energy is growing less and less by the day.
Ronan and Adam kiss, which I knew happened because of Twitter, and which I thought was PERFECT. It was totally lovely, and they're both adorable. I like how Ronan had so many feelings that he had to go stand on a roof. Haven't we all been there? I'm sorry to put this spoiler in this review, but it was SO LOVELY and I love them both SO MUCH, and also, this book has been out for over three years, so get on with it, you know?
Gansey is........... still wanting to find Glendower, but he also wants much more out of life. If he finds the dead king, what does that mean for the rest of his life. It's a lot for him, bless him.
I loved this book. It is a good ending to the series, things happened in perfect ways and there were a lot of genuinely funny bits, touching bits, moving bits. I loved it. I'm giving it five out of five. So good.
And I faithfully promise I will read Call Down the Hawk in a much swifter time!
This page, after Ronan and Adam have kissed, was the most perfect. I loved it.
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