...what she didn't realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another, analysing every conversation and gesture... spending each moment either with one another or thinking about when next they would be with one another. Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn't all-encompassing, that wasn't blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she'd had this kind, she didn't want the other.[loc. 1288]
The third novel in the Raven quartet focuses on the women: on Blue Sargent, who is coming to terms with her power as a 'mirror', amplifying others' psychic or magical powers; on her mother Maura, who left a laconic note about going underground and spends much of the book absent; on Calla and, particularly, Persephone; and on two new characters, Gwenllian (prone to mad songs and bad hair) and Piper Greenmantle (prone to narcissism and megalomania).
Piper, to be honest, is probably having (and being) more fun than anyone else here. Her husband Colin -- who employed Mr Gray for murky purposes, and has come to Henrietta to find out why Mr Gray hasn't done his job -- adores her and appreciates her talents. "It was just that she didn't normally use her powers for good, and when she did, they usually weren't pointed at him. It was just, he hadn't thought she really liked him."[loc. 2090] It rapidly becomes evident that she is far better at being an evil genius than he is. Whatever, as Piper would say. The Greenmantles are a welcome, if cynical, injection of humour into an increasingly dark and dangerous story.
Meanwhile Gansey's aged friend, Professor Malory, has turned up with his service dog to help Gansey and company locate the leyline, Glendower et cetera. Persephone has cautioned them that there are three sleepers on the line: one to wake, one to definitely not wake, one in-between. Mr Gray has picked a side and is busily bonding with Blue. Noah is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Ronan and Adam decide it's up to them to deal with Colin Greenmantle, in a way that only the pair of them can.
This is the darkest of the four books. There are deaths, some more shocking than others. There are adults with guns (though they are not the most dangerous characters). There are glimpses of the international trade in supernatural objects, a topic I find oddly fascinating. And I am very glad that I had the fourth and final novel waiting for me when I read the last words of Blue Lily, Lily Blue.
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