#i really became the henry cheng stan and ronan/gansey shipper nobody wanted

[henqiguai]

thoughts on the raven king

if you’re wondering what I’ve been doing this past week (no one was wondering), I’ve been marathoning the Raven Cycle series. I finally finished reading The Raven King last night, so I wanted to write down some of my Thoughts. Warning for spoilers.

Things I Liked:

- WHERE HAS HENRY CHENG BEEN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Answer: pining for Gansey from afar, apparently. (“I’ve been trying to get your number for a year”, “It’s in the student directory” l m a o Oh No.)

-FAMILY RECONCILIATION. i can’t tell you how happy i was to see Declan and Ronan finally working things out. I mean, I just: ”Declan stopped speaking and closed his eyes; when he did, Ronan could see the brother he’d grown up with instead of the brother he’d grown away from.” please.....

-Adam and Ronan becoming Adam&Ronan. GOD BLESS. bonus for Gansey giving the most tear-jerking shovel talk (”He imagined Adam, the scientist. Ronan, ferocious and loyal and fragile. ‘Don’t break him, Adam.’”).

-Blue, Gansey, and their new boyfriend Henry. Can you believe the three of them are going on a poly road trip in a car gifted to them by Ronan? Amazing.

-Gansey and Ronan. romantic, platonic, however you want to see it, their interactions have always been my favorite throughout the series. Scenes that broke me: Gansey with Ronan after Ronan’s mother died (”Ronan,” he said. The gentle way he said it nearly made Blue cry.”) and Ronan, after coming back from being unmade and seeing his best friend dead (”His dreamt firefly rested on Gansey’s heart. “Wake up, you bastard,” he said. “You fucker. I can’t believe that you would...” And he began to cry.). 

-Ronan and Blue. there really weren’t enough interactions between these two and it’s a damn shame because every moment was priceless. (”Jesus God, Sargent. Do you have stitches on your face? Bad. Ass. Put it here, you asshole.”)

-Blue Sargent in general. Honestly where would any of them be without my sensible daughter...

-This dialogue:

“Something that won’t hurt me,” he said out loud...

“Leaves,” Ronan Lynch’s voice said, full of intention.

“Dust,” Adam Parrish said.

“Wind,” Blue Sargent said.

“Shit,” Henry Cheng added.

Gansey’s savior complex is the reason his friends (and i) have high blood pressure.

Things I Disliked:

-I found some of the dialogue offensive. Especially the “child bride” comments. Especially since Henry didn’t understand the context and saw a little girl in the trunk, possibly getting kidnapped, and still made that comment. There was also a "joke” about Henry being half Chinese which was unnecessary. Can white authors just. not.

-I loved the mysterious, atmospheric vibe surrounding the first book, but by the fourth book, i wanted some more explicit clarification on the magic system (e.g., i still don’t understand how Ronan could have manifested Cabeswater like doesn’t he have to explicitly visualize what he wants to pull it from his dreams and even then wouldn’t a task that big (it’s an entire forest??) paradoxically drain the ley line itself like when Kavinsky was straining the power like.... hmm...)

-#WASTEHISTIME2K13. Finding Glendower was the anti-climax of the century lmao like?? that’s it???

-Sausage Fest. i know this centers around Blue and her Raven Boys and all of Blue’s family are badass psychic women, but couldn’t there have been just one (1) female character Blue’s age for her to be (girl)friends with?

Overall, the series was very enjoyable. It has been a wild week. 4/5, please read.

(this rambling review is also posted on my goodreads)