Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
When I bought The Raven Boys I honestly hadn't a clue what the hell this book was about. Four "rich" "preppy" boys and one psychic's daughter, who will end up killing her true love with a kiss. That's about it. That and that there's a huge raven on the cover and some weird symbol. Actually, I thought it sounded sort of stupid (but Maggie Stiefvater!) The reviews coming in were pretty good--even the more average ones still praised the book, and since reading outside of school literature has been tedious for me, I didn't want to pick a book that was more struggle then leisure.
Thank God I picked The Raven Boys.
I loved this book. Yes, loved. Not, liked. Not enjoyed. Not "it was good."Loved. The blurb on the back is vague and, in my opinion, deceiving. You're expecting some sort of blooming romance, involving magic and discovery, etc, etc. Instead we get magic, discovery, and a great test of bond between a group of boys, squeezing your heart, making you want to jump in Stiefvater's fictional world and save these guys from their own demise.
Yea, I became attached to these characters.
And that's the thing, this book is about its characters. Everyone, even the more malicious onces, were fun to read. Stiefvater's third person narrative is brilliant and wonderful and adds so much spunk. I couldn't get enough of Blue and her family, Gansey and his frightening obsessive self, Adam and his ambitions, Ronan and his snark and Noah and his... Noahness. Seriously, these people, who I was expecting to be a bit stiff and "WE'RE A PACK OF HOT GUYS" ended up feeling completely real. Everyone one of them I adore (more so Gansey because all he wants his for his friends to be happy and OKAY) and you can feel how they all depend and need one another. You can see how deep their friendships run, where the fragments are, where it needs fixing--it's impressive.
But here's the thing, if you find yourself not as attached to these characters, then this book may feel a bit slow for you. The highlight of this book are the people. Sure the plot moves along, but at a slower pace then expected. It's not until half way things really are put into motion. The first half of the book is mainly character focuses--who this is. What they want. Who they're butting heads with. Even I started to grow impatient at times. Gansey wanted to find his king so bad, it started to rub off on me.
The final "issue" with this book has to do with the ley lines. I still am not quite sure what the hell is going on there. The term is thrown around so much, so often without much explanation that it starts to just mold in with the text. Eventually, I formed my own definition (ley line has tons of energy. you can use it. i don't know how, but you can use it because that is what everyone keeps saying). Even now I'm still a bit muddled.
Besides that, this book is wonderful. Stiefvater's prose is just as amazing and fluid as before. There are still unanswered questions but only one that is a cliff hanger. The others are touched but never dragged out. You know eventually it will be back, but not sure when or how. But it's exciting to think of what the future holds.
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