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Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater


“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.


***



I'm going to be honest for the majority of this book I really wasn't all that impressed and found myself losing interest to the point where I almost gave up. It's not because the writing wasn't beautiful because it was and not because I didn't like the characters but more because I just couldn't work out where the whole thing was going. That said I really did enjoy the final section and thought it did a lot in a relatively short time to hook me into the story and want to know.

For me the this book is all about Blue the quirky teenage girl, whose mother is a psychic, who is terrified of falling in love because she has been told she'll kill her true love. This means she avoids boys and kissing as much as possible, that is until she meets Adam and suddenly she finds she can't help herself. I loved her crazy and quirky personality and the fact that she was quite a honest soul without any airs and graces about who she might be. I loved her wit and the way she stands up for herself without coming across as hard facing. This is the kind of girl I wanted t be my best friend when I was 17.

A book by Maggie wouldn't be complete without a gorgeous boy or two thrown into the mix. Quite honestly where do you start when it comes to this book? You have the adorable Adam who I just wanted to scoop up and look after. The arrogant Gansey with his rich boy confidence and the oh so messed up Ronan for those of you who want a messed up boy to fix.

As I said I did find myself losing interest with this book until in the last third everything kicked off and it hit me. I loved the twists and turns thrown in and I enjoyed being surprised by characters who I hadn't given much thought about earlier in the book.

An god read but the end. I just wish it'd got to the bits that interested me sooner but certainly a series I'll be keen to continue with in the future.

Comments

serendipity_viv said…
I feel bad. I couldn't get past the first couple of pages. Luckily one of my reviewers was keen to read it instead.
I didn't like this one nearly as much as I have Maggie's other books either. It's pretty sad really.
It's a shame that this book is getting so many mixed feelings. I am still DYING to read it.
Annette Mills said…
Yea, I've quit on this one for just the reasons you mentioned. I feel like a failure, I mean, this is Stiefvater!! I loved her other series. But it's taking too long for anything to happen. I'm going to try to pick it up again some day.
Katja Weinert said…
Sounds really good, I've banned myself from picking it up though...until I've read more on my TBR list, including The Scorpio Races.