Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is a 2014 young adult fantasy novel by Maggie Stiefvater. The third book in a quartet called The Raven Cycle, it rotates between the points of view of a host of characters established in the previous installments, pivoting around the adventures of their friend, a psychic named Blue. The novel is structured not as a continuous plot, but rather a series of surprises and identity crises that reorient the characters but allow them to solve different problems.

The book begins at the top of a hill, where Persephone is teaching Adam how to access the power of the ley line, the primary magical force that animates life. Meanwhile, Calla and Blue are searching Maura’s room to uncover information about what she has been secretly participating in. They learn that her former partner Artemus has gone into the bowels of the earth, and realize that they have stumbled into a much bigger problem than they expected. The perspective shifts to Maura, who is traveling underground for an unknown reason.

Blue, Gansey, Adam, and Ronan go to the town of Cabeswater, where Ronan’s mother lives, to access a cave that stretches underground. Gansey has a near-death experience at the edge of a pit, and a flock of ravens emerges, screeching, “Make way for the Raven King.” They return to Cabeswater, and Adam goes to teach people about the ley line, while the rest go to find Malory, who possesses deep knowledge of how it works.

Blue and the remaining friends start their senior year in school. They are distracted by the college selection process, forced to hide their roles in something much more important. They juggle attending school with making progress on the mystery of Maura and the ley line. One night early in the year, Calla, Persephone, and Blue give a tarot card reading to a mysterious man who inquires about Maura’s whereabouts. He steals Calla’s Three of Swords card and vanishes; they realize that he is Colin Greenmantle, a vengeful artifact collector who might be on Maura’s trail. The next day at school, they discover that Colin is their new teacher. That evening, they meet the Gray Man, who tells them that Colin was involved in the death of their friend Niall. Ronan resolves to kill Colin but is forbidden, as he would surely die.

The Gray Man goes to Colin to find out why he is at the school. Colin threatens to destroy Maura and her friends if he does not bring him the Greywaren. Meanwhile, Piper produces further research on the ley line. Aware Maura is still underground, she plans to travel there with Colin to find her. Blue also wants to explore the underground and accesses a cave through Jesse Dittley’s yard. In exchange, he cleans the yard with Noah. As they finish their work, Noah suddenly halts in a trance and utters, “Blue Lily, Lily Blue.” Jesse appears, dispelling the curse with a mirror, and the rest of the friends rush to the house. Blue reveals that she has read the death list, which lists everyone in the community that will die in the coming year, and found Jesse’s name on it. Adam quickly realizes that one of their friends is also on it, and presses Blue, who reveals that it is Gansey.

Gansey, Blue, and Adam resolve to go deep into the cave. They meet their friend Henry Chang on the way, who accompanies them. They travel down an initial passage and reach a heavy door made out of solid rock. They bust it down and discover a trove of ancient artifacts inside. The artifacts surround a large central coffin. They lift the lid, expecting to find Glendower, but instead discover a woman bound by ropes under a sleep spell. They take her to Persephone and find that she is Glendower’s daughter, Gwennllian Glendower, and that Blue’s father had imprisoned her. They plot to get back at Colin Greenmantle for his crime.

Adam takes Blue and Noah to the ley line, where they discover that Cabeswater has a plan to get the local line altered so that it can connect to other ley lines. Persephone teaches Adam a lesson on magic, mysteriously vanishing without eyewitnesses except for Adam. Scrying into her whereabouts, Adam finds that she is in the attic of a general store. When he reaches her, she is already dead.

Blue, Ronan, Adam, and Gansey reenter the cave; a group of trees gives them a mysterious warning to not wake the third sleeper. Exploring, they discover a huge valley full of various animal skeletons, all posing in death as though killed in a moment of panic, rushing toward the valley exit. Ronan uses his magic to animate them, taking Blue atop a running skeleton and escaping the valley. Gwenllian, Adam, and Gansey are left behind. Blue and Ronan realize they have found the lake where they had observed Maura to be searching. Blue realizes it is not a lake, but a mirror, and traverses it to a new tunnel. She finds Artemus and Maura there beside an exit to the tunnel. Piper and the Gray Man arrive separately and duel; the Grey Man manages to get everyone out except Piper and her thug before the cave collapses, apparently killing them. The team of friends finally reunites with Maura and Artemus.

At the novel’s close, many loose ends remain. Piper remains alive, waking up in an underground chamber. The meaning of the trees’ warning to not wake the third sleeper is complicated when Piper casts a waking spell, and from the darkness emerges a huge, shiny bug-like creature. Though the central team of the Raven Cycle has reunited, their trials are far from over.