Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Published by Scholastic
Published on: July 30, 2013
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 409
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

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“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.

I just finished this book last night and I’m still at a loss for words at how to explain how much I loved this book. Maggie Stiefvater is such an amazing writer, her books always pull me in and I just don’t ever want to leave!

Blue Sargent is not your average high school girl. She lives with her mother and three of her mothers close friends who are all physic  (or clairvoyant). She’s lived like this her whole life. Blue has never really had any physic abilities but a lot of the time her mother will have Blue in the room with her during a reading because she says that Blue’s energy helps make the reading stronger and clearer. Her mother has told her since she was just a little girl that she could never kiss her true love because it will kill him. Every year on St. Marks Eve, they go to an old church where the ley line crosses (a line where magic is stronger) or the corpse road, and her mother see’s the souls of all the people who are going to die in the next 12 months. This year, Blue goes with her half Aunt Neeve because her mother wasn’t feeling well. Blue of course is with her because she makes the energy stronger and for the first time ever she see’s a soul. It’s a boy about her age and she recognizes the sweater he is wearing as an Aglionby student uniform (a very expensive prep school for boys). She also calls boys who go to Aglionby Raven Boys. Her Aunt Neeve tells her that the only reason she see’s his soul is because she is either going to kill him or she is his true love. Blue tries talking to his soul to get his name and after she tries touching him she finally gets through to him and he tells her his name is Gansey.

Gansey is a very smart teenager. He’s also very rich. For a long time he’s been very interested in finding ley lines because he is looking for somebody named Glendower. The legend says that whoever finds Glendowers body gets a favor from him and it can be anything they want. He was sitting out on the road close to the church the night Blue and her Aunt were there and he was recording for his research and he heard his voice on the recording talking to a girl. He shows his best friends the recording and they all decide that he should go see a physic. Noah, Ronan, and Adam are his three closest friends. Both Noah and Ronan live with Gansey at this old manufacturing building that Gansey owns. Adam lives with his parents out in a more run down area of town. Noah is a very quiet person. Ronan is very rebellious and does what he wants to do even if its stupid. Adam is very level headed because he doesn’t have the money like the rest of them have. He works three jobs just to be able to go to Aglionby so he can get a good school record and get himself a good paying job.  All of them are so different and it just makes their friendship that much more unique. Of course the physic that they go see is Blue’s mother and after that Blue joins them on their quest to find Glendower.

There is much more that happens after that but I’d rather not spoil the story. There is a lot of surprising things that happen, people aren’t who you think they are and love blossoming between people you wouldn’t expect. I was a little confused at the beginning just because between Blue and her mother and her mothers friends and Gansey and all this friends, it was a lot of people to keep track of but it really all fell into place. I loved every bit of it, I can’t wait till my next pay day so I can get the next book 🙂 . This is the kind of book I would love to see turned into a movie. Please go read this one if you haven’t yet, I promise its worth it!!

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