[Review] The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

ABOUT

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Raven Cycle #1

Publisher: Scholastic

Get it Here: BookDepository Indigo

Source: Library

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.

Solid four snowflakes out of five.

Well. This book certainly got me out of my only-reading-contemporary rut.

This book was really strange and mysterious and the writing was beautiful. I love all the lore that went into this book and the real mystery that went into the book. The entire time I was reading it, I felt like I was in a creepy movie. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. There was also this running undertone of sinisterness.

Blue's family is interesting since they're all psychics, and good ones at that. The interesting bits of this book I felt had more to do with The Raven Boys than Blue, although Blue does have that thing where her true love will die if she kisses him. The Raven boys themselves are interesting with Ronan and his anger issues and just his general grief over his father's death. Gansey has his eccentricities and the power that comes with wealth. Adam is somewhat strange and somewhat adorable. Noah is all strange and often adorable.

I did feel that the plot started off slow at first, though it did weave a mysterious and creepy vibe to the entirety of the novel. I kind of spoiled it for myself a bit when I searched up Blue on tumblr. Not a good idea. Oh well. But anyways, it was still intriguing for me to find out some of the things that happen in the plot.

I really want to read the next one to find out what happens to the characters, especially after that last bit happens. It's not so much of a cliffhanger as more like a "what happens next in their lives?"

"'Is this thing safe?' 'Safe as life,' Gansey replied."

"Rags to riches isn't a story anyone wants to hear until after it's done."

"And everywhere, everywhere, there were books. Not the tidy stacks of an intellectual attempting to impress, but the slumping piles of a scholar obsessed."

"Watch for the devil. When there's a god, there's always a legion of devils."

"Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake."

Anyways, this was a really enjoyable read and I enjoyed the strangeness quite a bit. I need to read The Dream Thieves! Eep.