For three superlative novels, author Maggie Stiefvater has entranced us with the story of a group of high school students searching for the lost tomb of Owen Glendower (or Owain ap Gruffydd or Owain Glyndŵr), the Welsh “raven king” who lead an uprising against the British in the early 15th century. The Raven King concludes their search.

Glendower was a real historical figure, a capable military leader whose revolt was initially successful but ultimately doomed to fail before superior British technology and naval power. When his rebellion collapsed in 1409, Glendower when into hiding and was never found by his enemies. Likewise, his final resting spot remains unknown and from this mystery has sprung legend. Like King Arthur, Glendower’s myth promises that he can be “awakened” from death under certain conditions, and this is the starting point for Stiefvater’s books.

The teens in Steifvater’s Raven Cycle books are searching for Glendower’s bones in rural Virginia where they believe the ancient Welsh hid them from the British. Each of the characters has certain attributes which assist in this quest. Richard “Dick” Gansy is the group’s leader and a gifted historian. Ronan Lynch is a troubled classmate who can pull objects from dreams and make them manifest in the real world. Blue Sargent may not be a psychic like her mother, but she can amplify supernatural phenomenon at will. Adam Parrish is the magician who has a special relationship with the local ley line, a naturally occurring geological feature tied to the paranormal. And Noah Churney is the ghostly classmate who was murdered years earlier by a teacher who was also looking for Glendower. 

Purported to be the last book in the series, The Raven King, brings this long and complex adventure to an end by pitting Gansy and his friends against a ruthless collector of supernatural items who's systematically destroying the magical realm they seek to protect. Having been stymied from finding Glendower in all the previous books, Gansy and the others are now working against the clock. Finding Glendower may be the only way to save not only their world, but Gansy’s life as it has long been foretold that he would die before year’s end.

Stiefvater is a gifted storyteller. She’s able to effortlessly create realistic dialogue, paint stunning imagery and evoke deep emotion. But sadly, I think The Raven King is the weakest book in this series for several reasons. First, I found Stiefvater’s prose to be overly-mannered compared to the other novels, as though she abandoned her more conversational tone for repetition and hyperbole. These devices became increasingly distracting as I progressed through its pages. In respect to plot, The Raven King offered neither the intimate character study of The Dream Thieves nor the colorful personalities and interactions depicted in The Raven Boys and Blue Lily, Lily Blue. At times, it felt like loose threads were quickly tied off rather than thoughtfully resolved. This was certainly the case with how the protagonists find Glendower’s tomb and how they deal with Gansy’s forecasted death. Though I can’t say Stiefvater cheats the reader by failing to resolve these storylines, their resolutions felt rushed and insufficient.

​While The Raven King was a disappointment in many ways, the world Stiefvater’s created in these novels is a place I would love to visit again. Fortunately, the last scene in the book leaves the door to future novels noticeably ajar. I, for one, hope we see these characters again.

RELATED: Reviews of The Raven Boys (novel and graphic novel) |Review of The Dream Thieves: The Raven Cycle Book 2  |  Review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue: The Raven Cycle Book 3 | Review of The Raven King: The Raven Cycle Book 4  |  Supernatural Book Collection | Paranormal Book Collection

The third installment in Maggie Stiefvater's popular Raven Cycle books, Blue Lily, Lily Blue, continues the story of a young woman named Blue Sargent, born to a family of psychics who befriends a group of privileged prep school boys as they search for a mythical king called Glendower. As unlikely as that premise may seem, these are consistently strong and believable young adult novels and this third installment does a great job of building on an ensemble of characters which may be some of the most engaging in young adult fiction. 

After dealing mostly with the character of Ronan Lynch in the preceding book The Dream Thieves, this outing reestablishes Blue Sargent as the main protagonist of a diverse group of people bound together by both friendship and curiosity. As the novel begins, Blue is suffering acutely from the loss of her mother Maura who disappeared at the end of the previous book. Maura, a powerful psychic, has presumably decided to search for Glendower on her own — leaving behind only a cryptic note which promises she can be found “underground.” According to legend, Glendower was a Welsh king who was spirited away from his homeland and laid to rest somewhere in an elaborate cave system near the fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia. Like the legend of King Arthur, Glendower is not dead in the physiological sense, but rather in some form of suspended animation, waiting for one worthy soul to wake him. For the man or woman who manages to find and rouse the king, there is the promise of magical favors.

Joining again with her unlikely friends from the prestigious Aglionby Academy (Gansy, Ronan, Adam and Noah), Blue spearheads the subterranean search for Glendower — logically assuming that if she finds the king, Marua will be nearby. This quest eventually leads them to a rural farm of Jesse Dittley. One of Stiefvater’s strengths is creating memorable, often eccentric characters like Dittley. A great hulk of a man, he’s plain spoken and surprisingly gentle. He takes reluctant shine to Blue, nicknaming her “Ant,” a reference to things which are small yet powerful. Through their unconventional friendship, Blue convinces Dittley to allow her and her friends through the gated cave entrance on his property. This is not an easy decision, as Ditty’s convinced the cave’s cursed and has already claimed the lives of several of his relatives. 

Upon entering the caverns, they find not the mythical king but his daughter, Gwenllian. Entombed alive for reasons unknown (yes, these things happen in The Raven Boys series), the woman is now utterly mad from centuries of isolation. Still, Blue and Gansy recognize that she’s a valuable source of information if they can ever sense of her constant riddles and taunts.

To complicate matters further, the maniacal and sinister Colin Greenmantle continues his own search for Glendower. Introduced in the previous book, Greenmantle is a professional collector of unusual things, a sociopath and a murderer. In The Dream Thieves, he dispatched a hired assassin (the enigmatic “Gray Man”) to locate a magical object called the Greywaren which could manifest items out of the dream world and into the real one. When the “Gray Man” discovered that this “object” was actually Ronan, he couldn’t bring himself to turn the boy over to his employer. Fuming from this betrayal, Greenmantle has come to Henrietta to finish the job himself. What follows is an increasingly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse as Blue, Gansy and the others try to outwit or at least out-race Greenmantle to the king’s final resting place. The story culminates with the opposing teams of supernatural treasure hunters entering the caverns for a deadly showdown.

​Like the other books in this series, I continue to be impressed with both Stiefvater’s world building, authentic characters and intriguing subplots. If I have one major criticism of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, it’s that it doesn’t do enough to advance the overall mythology of the series. The one major resolution of the novel is that Blue does find her mother. But after three books, the protagonists still aren’t that much closer to solving the mystery of Glendower. With lesser authors, this lack of resolution would have me annoyed or worried. But I trust Stiefvater will get us there in the end and, honestly, I’d be okay if these books went on forever. While I wished for more a little more in this one, Blue Lily, Lily Blue is another enjoyable installment to The Raven Cycle and well worth your time!

RELATED: Reviews of The Raven Boys (novel and graphic novel) |Review of The Dream Thieves: The Raven Cycle Book 2  |  Review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue: The Raven Cycle Book 3 | Review of The Raven King: The Raven Cycle Book 4  |  Supernatural Book Collection | Paranormal Book Collection

The Dream Thieves is the second book in the Raven Boys Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. It’s rare for me to launch into reading all the books in a series back-to-back, but I was so taken with the first, The Raven Boys, that I knew I had to continue on immediately. (See my review of The Raven Boys.)

​Done correctly, the second part of anything — a movie, a play, a book — can be the best part. The introduction’s over, the conclusion awaits, and everything in between is where the heart of the story resides and some of the best drama unfolds. This was certainly true of The Dream Thieves which builds on the compelling but largely secondary character of Ronan Lynch. We learned some important things about Ronan in the first book, particularly how his promising future was upended when he found his father’s mangled body in the barns near the family home. Following this unsolved murder, Ronan’s mother lapsed into an inexplicable coma and the bizarre provisions of his father’s will have kept Ronan and his brothers away from both her and their home. This means poor Ronan has become the proverbial man without a country, receiving a monthly stipend from the vast family fortune so he can continue to attend the Aglionby prep school yet denying him what he wants most — answers.

As if Ronan's life wasn’t difficult enough, a corrupt and dislikable classmate named Joseph Kavinsky has taken a sudden interest in him, presenting him with a series of gifts which are both weirdly personal and slightly threatening. But Kavinsky also has the answers to many of Ronan’s questions, including how to extract items from one’s dream life and manifest them in the waking world. This ability, which Ronan shared his late father, allowed the elder Lynch to build their immense wealth and ultimately lead to his assassination by a mysterious individual known as “The Gray Man.” While Ronan approaches “dream theft” warily, Kavinsky is an unapologetic burglar, caring little for the long-term consequences of his actions if they fulfill his immediate needs and desires. The more Kavinsky and Ronan pull from the supernatural world, the more they deplete the ley line which powers Cabeswater, Ronan’s ghostly friend Noah, and may lead to the mythical king, Glendower.

It was risky for Stiefvater to dedicate so much of The Dream Thieves to Kavinsky and Ronan, especially since it meant less attention for the cycle’s presumptive protagonists, Gansey and Blue. Yet it worked for the most part. We never doubt that the boys’ strange teacher-student relationship is built on a foundation of mutual antagonism and selfish need, yet we revel to discover that Ronan, for all his faults, simply isn’t the hedonistic scoundrel Kavinsky and many others expect him to be. Their differences become irreconcilable when Kavinsky reveals a sexual price for his mentorship, reducing Ronan to just another possession to be toyed with and then discarded. The topic of Ronan’s sexuality and his reaction to Kavinsky’s demands are skillfully handled and also let Stiefvater address his equally complicated relationship with Gansey, a boy he describes as a brother but who clearly fulfills multiple roles. 

While I didn’t enjoy The Dream Thieves quite as much as the first book, finding the conclusion too melodramatic for my taste, I was impressed by the author’s world building and her willingness to take her characters down uncharted paths. There’s a lot of new material and characters introduced in this book, but Stiefvater doesn’t cheat us (or Ronan) by withholding answers while simultaneously laying the foundation for greater things to come. 

RELATED: Reviews of The Raven Boys (novel and graphic novel) |Review of The Dream Thieves: The Raven Cycle Book 2  |  Review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue: The Raven Cycle Book 3 | Review of The Raven King: The Raven Cycle Book 4  |  Supernatural Book Collection | Paranormal Book Collection

Cozy novels (or “cozies” as they are often referred) generally feature a small cast of characters and are centered on familiar and comforting places — like a small town, a suburb, a book store, a pub or a library. You won’t necessarily find complex plots, intricate character development or lofty themes in a cozy novel. Take them as advertised — they are the book equivalent to a cardamom latte served with a freshly baked scone or the perfect cup of chamomile tea on a rainy day. They are intended to sooth and delight rather than challenge and provoke. 

​Mysteries were the first genre to popularize the “cozy,” but this has expanded in recent years to include romance, fantasy and history. (But essentially any genre can become a “cozy” if it includes some of the aforementioned elements.) 

For my purposes, I’m featuring cozy fantasies which combine slice-of-life ambiance with stories that are healing, comforting and uplifting. But because they’re also fantasy novels, they include elements like magic and magical beings, creatures drawn from myth and legend and exotic realms. 

Since, a lot of cozy fantasies feature food and drink in some way, I’m pairing my book recs with a few drink recipes that compliment the fantasy themes.

​Tuck in and enjoy. 

The animated shows of the 1980s were memorable... but not always for the best reasons. Whether they were part of early morning Saturday television — a veritable "prime time" for viewing for millions of American children — or syndicated shows that aired after school, animated television was a pop culture staple throughout the decade.  

The animation was hand-produced, making it appear primitive by today’s standards, but also giving it a charmingly crude aesthetic. Often shows served as marketing tie-ins to toy lines, with Transformers and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe being prime examples. As such, storylines were as much about selling action figures as they were about entertaining young audiences and unfolded with simple, formulaic plots that were both familiar and comforting. And perhaps their simplicity was part of their appeal? After all, it didn't take much effort to follow your favorite shows each week — and there was never any ambiguity as to who was going to come out on top. No matter what dastardly scheme Mumm-ra came up with, we always knew Lion-O and the other ThunderCats were going to save the day. 

Invariably, the heroes of 80s animation were children, teenagers or very young adults and were usually pitted against adult villains. With a heavy emphasis on action, adventure, and fantasy, these shows left an indelible mark on an entire generation, shaping childhoods with their imaginative worlds and ultimately influencing movies, television, comics and books up to the present day. 

In fact, of all the ridiculousness that came out of the 80s, these franchises had remarkable staying power. (Consider the live-action Masters of the Universe movie currently under production and starring Nicholas Galitzine!) This is even more remarkable if you consider that most of these shows were only on the air for a few years! Yet today, I can't walk into a bookstore or comic book store without easily finding some rehash of a show I first watched 40+ years ago. As such, I thought it would be fun to collect some of the more current book and graphic novel titles together. 

RELATED FEATURES: Pop Culture Contributions of the 1990s  |  The Golden Age of Movie Novelizations  |  Writing the 1980s Arcade Experience  |  The Timelessness of Serial Storytelling | Gatchaman Returns... Again

The "Great Invasion" originated from the sea. It moved north across the mainland. Many fled, while some took refuge on a small concrete island called Celestia, built over a thousand years ago.

Now cut off from the mainland, Celestia has become an outpost for criminals and other misfits, as well as a refuge for a group of young telepaths. Events push two of them, Dora and Pierrot, to flee the island and set sail to the mainland. There, they discover a world on the precipice of a metamorphosis, though also a world where adults are literally prisoners of their own fortresses, unintentionally preserving the "old world" at a time when a new generation could guide society towards a better humanity. 

​Celestia is the most ambitious and successful graphic novel to date by one of the world's most exciting storytellers, Manuele Fior (Red Ultramarine and Blackbird Days). The novel showcases his singular talents as a once-in-a-generation visual artist and a deeply empathetic writer who uses science fiction to look to the future of humanity.

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It's been ten years since the nine lives of Burma the cat captivated audiences — return to the world of the Eisner-nominated I Was the Cat with this special anniversary edition!

Allison Breaking is a talented journalist, but even talented journalists have bills to pay. Allison can't say no when the offer of a lifetime comes across her desk to interview a mysterious stranger named Burma and write his memoirs. But what's she to do when she discovers that Burma isn't a man at all . . . but a cat! A cat with stories about how he used his nine lives to shape the world — from movie sets to the filthy streets of seventeenth-century London and all manner of mischief in between.

But beneath the feline grace and glamor, Allison might begin to uncover another, darker story. Will she risk it all to uncover the truth of Burma's last — and maybe most important — life? The Eisner Award-nominated team of writer Paul Tobin and artist Benjamin Dewey invites you back to the strange and wonderful world of I Was the Cat to find out!
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RELATED: Fantasy YA  |  Historical YA

The graphic novel adaptation of the exciting final adventure of the New York Times best-selling Kane Chronicles trilogy!

He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now, Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of destroying him once and for all.

Unfortunately, the House of Life magicians are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for millennia.
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