Archives: 'The Raven Boys'

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Date: August 10, 2014

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The Raven Boys

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.

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.

City Calendar:

This is what happened during the week.

The plot is interesting. It’s full of mystery. You want to keep reading. You’re kept on your toes. You lean in to see how it is, and you wonder so many things. You want to know.

The beginning is pretty good. It’s interesting. It introduces the characters in an interesting way. But. My problem is with the split perspective. It gets annoying and hard to keep track of sometimes.

There are clues. This is a mystery. You, the reader, learn the clues. There are magical happenings. And there are the things going on in the psychic household. There are secrets and hidden things. You want to know. You might not question it, but you might not even have a hint.

There is the introduction of Blue to the raven boys. It is…hilarious. Blue, you are just so funny sometimes! These characters then are all shoved together into this race against the LATIN TEACHER to find the sleeping king. You feel as if the mystery is lurking everywhere. While the beginning doesn’t mention the hunt really except Gansey’s point-of-view, you are fed this spoon-by-spoon.

I know this is vague. I don’t exactly want to give anything anyway. While I do give away endings, I don’t want to give away endings for this book.

And that's what happened this week.

Personal Ads:

Blue. Blue is one of those girl characters you don’t really care for. She has powers, but you don’t want to really know her. She doesn’t have secrets. She is one of those characters who are useless except for one thing, in her case her amplification. She is only that. She is a romantic interest, but that isn’t important. No romance really happens. It happens between Adam and Blue not Gansey and Blue who are ‘destined’ to be together. The Gansey-Blue relationship is fed to you in pieces, making you want more. Blue is originally a child. She wants to fade. She thinks she is useless. While I won’t deny she is useless, she does grow. She has a purpose within the raven boys. She is the secret ‘raven boy’ member. If that makes sense.

Gansey. Gansey has so many sides of him. He’s kind. He’s President Cell Phone. He’s a dreamer. He’s a scientist. He is so many people. And he has his own secrets. I do enjoy his character. He seems more real than Blue actually. This book seems more of his book than Blue’s. And I don’t necessarily think it is Blue’s to begin with! Gansey grows and changes. He learns and dives into his research. He has passion and drive. Gosh…Gansey is an amazing character.

Adam. Adam is a secretive boy. He is one of those characters I liked best. I want more information about him. He is abused. He is hurt. He hates being the ‘poor boy’ compared to the rich ones. He is the character I want to learn about. Adam never acts on his own. He considers everything. He tries to survive. He tries to live. He has to make his own choices.

Ronan. Ronan. Crazy. Impulsive. He is one of those people who act without thinking. Which makes him dangerous. He fights and punches. He kicks and scratches. He will rebel. He rebels against everyone. But he doesn’t necessarily change. But. It looks like he will in the second book.

Opinions:

The plot is amazing. It keeps you on your toes. You are clutching your armrests. You need to see what happens next. Who dies? Who survives? Who wins? Who loses? You want to know. It’s well-paced with clues stealthily hidden in. You get pieces and bits of it.

The characters are interesting. Except Blue. She’s pretty boring. I like all the guys. And not just because they are guys. They have interesting personalities and  interesting pasts. You yearn to know more. You yearn to know things.

Plus, I got a lot of new words to learn.

Problems… It seems like there aren’t many. I say that the romance is a bit…odd. With a premise in romance, you wonder where the romance is. There is no romance. Only hints and pieces of it. You don’t feel the romance. Only the…outline of what there could be. You don’t know all of the romance. You feel the chemistry between Gansey and Blue, but that is. It is simply chemistry. Gansey is blindsided by his search. He doesn’t realize Blue is really there sometimes.

I can only say I dropped this book once, and I regret that now. (I also dropped Michael Grant’s ‘Gone’ series. And I don’t have regrets of that.)

Weather:

Sunny with a 20% chance of rain

4/5