Well this series just gets better with each book. As it goes on, so many of the hesitations I had to start are written away. The characters are all getting deeper, adding dimensions (both for us as readers and among each other). I am loving the way the relationship between Blue and Gansey is playing out - how slow and and meticulous it has to be. Opposite to that, the quick fall for Maura and the Gray Man was special and real in it's own way. Piper and Colin Greenmantle were a good addition - I'm not always a fan of mid-series character additions for the sake of added intrigue and problem raising, but I think they play their role well. They were creepy and weird in a way that fit the story. And Jessie Dittley was wonderful - and also the fact that his portended death came true due to meddling from Blue and Co. really adds some intensity to the Gansey death portent situation. And Gwenllian!!! Yes. The loss of Persephone was a hit though - she was my favorite Fox Way lady... Each of the young characters are really growing into their weirdness is a great way - Adam (and thank God he got over his angst - I get it but was ready for it to not be a constant thorn in the story anymore), Ronan (not such a shithead after all)...and boy am I invested in the relationship between those two...Gansey (and his confrontation with the possibility of actually waking Glendower, or being Glendower??), and of course Blue (accepting and learning to use her mirror/enhancement thing). All in all, I think the issue I had with not getting really into these characters, still feeling distant at the end of the first book, has really evaporated. They are all just far enough past "normal" and but not quite enough into "special" that the odd in between they inhabit is just not a place most characters live in, but now that I'm used to it, I'm loving it! Can't wait for the finale!