Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholasitc
Series: Raven Cycle #1

Pages: 416

Source: Was given an extra copy from Christa at Hooked on Books

Release Date: September 18, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

“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.”

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.

My Review:

I have not read a Maggie Stiefvater book before THE RAVEN BOYS so I did not really know what I was getting into with her writing style. From what I have heard she is amazing so I was naturally excited to dive into this book. What I got was not what I expected at all, but it was amazing and beautifully written.

Stiefvater's characters are all so unique and I found I couldn't help but fall in love with all of them for different reasons. The group of boys was interesting, each of them was so different from one another but they were like brothers. They seemed stronger and better as a group than on their own. I really loved Adam, he was a strong character that really asserted his independence.

Blue was also a really interesting character, there is still so much to learn about her. She is an outcast in her family yet in a way is the strongest of them and is there to help. I can't wait to see what Stiefvater has planned for her character in the future. The best thing of this book for me was that there was a romantic storyline, but it felt real. There is no insta-love between the two characters, the romance is a slow budding thing where they feel shy around each other and are not sure how to handle things.

Though there was not a lot of action in the book, I enjoyed it more than I have many books that are full of action. I felt like everything was a puzzle and I was trying to figure it out. The characters a re on a journey to find something and what they happen on along that journey is interesting. Stiefvater really makes the magic side of things interesting (I started researching ley lines myself after reading this, just to find out more about them).

This book was so much fun, it was an adventure that I will gladly take again. This book is one of the reasons I love reading, Stiefvater takes you into a new world and I didn't want to come back to reality while reading this book.