The Raven Boys
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.
From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
Many of my readers already know that I adore Maggie Steifvater’s books. Her stories are unique and her writing is witty yet poetic. The Raven Boys is no exception. I loved it and I think this is one Steifvater’s best books. It’s slow at the beginning but I wouldn’t necessarily change that. It lays some important ground work for the intense ending and the books to come. What I liked most about The Raven Boys was the originality of the story. I’ve never read/listened to anything like this before and that is one of the main reasons I highly recommend it.
I truly do not know how to summarize this story. Any attempt to describe this story does not do it justice. I will do my best with one sentence. There are some psychics, some ghosts, a murderer, a creepy mystical place, and teenagers on a supernatural quest. That’s all I can say.
The Characters
The characters in The Raven Boys are deep and complex. These are not your teenage angsty, love triangle entangled, young adult fiction characters. These guys are different. Blue Sargent is the daughter of a psychic and lives with 3 other psychic women. Blue is not psychic but she has the way of amplifying energy. Gansey is a wealthy teenage boy on a mission to find something supernatural. Joining him on his quest are his 3 friends, Ronan, Adam, and Noah. Ronan is a wealthy boy gone bad. He’s reckless, edgy, and unpredictable. Adam is the poor, nice boy who’s under a lot of pressure. He’s on a scholarship at Anglionby Academy and under extreme pressure from his parents.
Each character feels real and as the reader, you feel for them. Like I said earlier, I’ve never encountered characters like these. I can’t say I loved them or related to them but I was definitely intrigued by them and I want to learn more about them.
The Story
As I said earlier, the story takes a little while to really get going. However, it lays important groundwork for the plot and develops all of the characters. Hang in there, things get really interesting about half way through and you want to stop after that. What pulled me in was the mysterious quest the group embarks on. I had never heard of lay lines or a sleeping ancient king named Glwendower and I was eager to find out more. I also felt Steifvater wrote wonderful side stories involving each of the characters. They added layers to the main plot and overall, made the story so much more substantial.
Conclusion
I loved it. I wish I could say more about The Raven Boys but I fear I would give away too much. The writing is beautiful. he characters are strong and well developed. The story is unlike anything else out there. The only downside to the story is it’s left very open. Something is resolved in this book but many things are not. Obviously they we will learn more in the next book but I really wanted to know more in this book. You can probably guess I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.