The Raven Boys

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publication date: September 18, 2012

Series: The Raven Cycle #1

There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

Neeve

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

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. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

I thought Stiefvater’s writing was spectacular. The story was hypnotic and entertaining. I admit to laughing out loud many times throughout it. She makes great use of similes and metaphors without overdoing it. I really liked the different POV’s, even the ones from the bad guy’s perspective, it really brought the whole story together.

She wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”

Blue

Blue was unique, from her name to her clothes to the way she decorated her room. I don’t blame her since she had a very strange upbringing, and grew up surrounded by fortune tellers. But this story was mainly about the boys. I really liked that they all had their own unique voices and distinct personalities. I still can’t decide which one was my favorite Aglionby boy, maybe Ronan, and I hope she wrote a book where we get to find out more about him. I still don’t know about Gansey, I can’t get past his obsession with this quest of his, and it seems like neither can he.

Gansey had once told Adam that he was afraid most people didn’t know how to handle Ronan. What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves”

adam

There was a great sense of adventure to this story, and the quests and discoveries were unique. I expected some of the twista, and there were some that caught me by surprise. Even though I understand this was part of a series, I still docked a few stars because I felt like the whole story was building up to something and then it fell flat at the end. Sometimes when authors do this, it makes me feel like they cut the story short just so they could write a second book, and it leaves me wanting.

When I was done with this book, I didn’t immediately feel like reading the next in the series. I did really like her writing style, and I am curious to learn more about all these characters, so I will definitely pick it up in the future. Hopefully, in the next book the ending is a bit better and I am left feeling more satisfied and less empty.

Have you guys read this? What did you think? Does the series get better plot-wise?