Initial Impressions 4/29/16: I can't believe it's over!! Let's start it all over again! Okay, so I don't have the time to do that but honestly I cannot get enough of this series. I mean THESE CHARACTERS. They've fallen so deeply in love with each other and have such an all encompassing friendship and I've fallen so deeply in love with all of them. 
 Obviously I had so many feelings about starting THE RAVEN KING and finishing The Raven Cycle. I'm sad that it's over and that we won't have any more books with these amazing characters and this fascinating story but I know I'll have many, many more re-reads in my future. 
 I was actually kind of worried about how the book would end. Not like I didn't have faith in Maggie but you know, when one of your favorite series is coming to a close and you have no idea what's in store, it's a nerve-wracking situation. Especially when the author promises a beloved main character is going to die. I honestly started crying long before anything even happened because I was just so emotionally involved. I also cried during an especially freaky part because A) I was home alone and B) I'm a super chicken. This is why I don't do horror but I had the gang with me as I was listening (LISTENING makes it infinitely creepier, by the way) so as always, I felt comforted. 
 THE AUDIO! I did my re-reads of the first three books on audio to prepare for my RAVEN KING read and as I started reading my print copies (yes copies with an S. I bought Kindle so I could start on release day and then added audio and THANK GOODNESS because as I started reading my print copies) I just heard Will Patton's voice in my head and HAD to listen to the audio. I listened in the car, I listened at home, I listened for the last three, four, or five hours because I was going to switch to my hardcover but just couldn't stop listening. You'd think it odd to have a middle-aged/older man narrating a young adult novel but I just loved his voicing. Aside from voices, he really just lends an overall FEEL to the book, emphasizing words, singing Gwenllian's songs, spitting malice in Lynches and demons, and adding character to the book itself. I couldn't not listen to this audio and maybe I'll go back and read in print in one of my re-reads but I HAD to have that characterization and bring this book to life even more. 
 My heart is so full of love for these books and you'd think I was insane if you weren't a book person (you might anyway) but I just have a very special place in my heart for these books and this crew. I wish their stories could go on forever and I'm sad that they can't but also happy that I know it won't get dragged out longer than it should. Maybe someday we can convince Maggie to write an adult Raven Cycle series and we can have hearts full of new Henrietta magic once again. Or maybe I do as the magic of the series does and just relive these moments again and again. 
 (Unconventional) Review as originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 6/13/16: 10 THINGS I FELT ABOUT THE RAVEN KING 
 TERRIFIED. Oh boy, I was just plain terrified to read this. The end of BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE left me with so much anticipation AND I hyped myself up for it so I was nervous that somehow it wouldn't live up to my expectations. 
 IN LOVE. I am so head over heels for this gang. I've never read a friendship that was so amazing and so all-encompassing like it is for Blue and her Raven Boys. Too many times, someone starts to get jealous and it ends up fracturing a friendship and while that was still present in this series (naturally. It happens to the best of us), it was taken to a level where the characters didn't want it to affect the friendship and they did everything they could to keep the group together instead of letting jealousy take over. I love how much these characters wanted to be together and how important they were to one another. 
 IN DENIAL. THE RAVEN BOYS starts off with the prediction of Gansey's death so it's no spoiler that it's heavy in everyone's minds during THE RAVEN KING. I was in total denial that it would even happen so I pretty much spend the entire book convincing myself otherwise even though Maggie said it was definitely happening. 
 ACTUALLY FEARFUL. There were some ACTUAL scary moments in this book! I don't read books about ghosts when it's taken at a horror angle. I'm way too much of a chicken. There were some very, very creepy things that happened in this book and I will not lie to you -- I cried actual tears of fear. I mean briefly, but yeah, it was scary! 
 IMPRESSED. I know Maggie Stiefvater had this all sorted out before she even started but I'm always so impressed to see an author bring a series together for a great conclusion. It was really neat to see how all of the pieces fit together and see so many things from all of the previous book find an explanation in THE RAVEN KING. 
 UNPREPARED. I just really, really, REALLY was not ready for this series to end. Confession? I actually felt SUPER weird once it was over. The cliffhangers from the previous books were so intense and interesting that it was really weird to leave this book with a note of finality. I mean, obviously we needed to but it didn't leave me with that series hangover feeling because I wasn't ready for it to end like that. 
 SHIPPY. I won't spoil anything but obviously in a big conclusion, we get some big ship answers and conclusions as well. I was totally feeling them. 
 ANXIOUS. The hardest thing about reading a huge series finale is that A) everyone is so in love and B) there is no ARC so everyone reads the finished copy all at the same time. In a series like this, I was especially afraid of spoilers and they were so hard to avoid! 
 HOPEFUL. The way the book ended, there was a whisper of hope that maybe, just maybe, we might get more words about this gang in the future. I'm hoping for an adult Raven Cycle book,. 
 SATISFIED. This was such a satisfying conclusion. I actually was a bit -- disappointed is too strong of a word but the best I can think of at the moment -- at a big moment at the end because it felt too... happy? I mean happy things happen in this book but I think I was expecting a devastating moment and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I actually somehow hoped for it a little bit but I guess things really did work out quite well and it just wouldn't have been the ending that it was had the book not played out like it did. Cryptic, I know, but how do you talk about the ending of a book without spoiling it?? 
 Re-read completed 10/7/17: