I finished The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater last Thursday, right before I left for my trip to Colorado for an
Around the World ARC Tour.
From Goodreads:
“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've read a couple of books by Maggie Stiefvater and they've been either hit or miss for me. I enjoyed the first two books in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series (and really need to read the third) but I didn't enjoy The Scorpio Races. This book fell in the middle for me.
While I enjoyed the plot, the characters were just okay for me. I never felt like I really got close to or cared about Blue. She was just distant. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Adam but there was something I found weak about him. And I wanted to like Gansey. Sometimes when he acted vulnerable, I did. And Ronan and Noah I just didn't care about.
But I enjoyed the plot. I thought the story of the ley lines and Glendower and Cabeswater were interesting. And there was definitely a big twist in the story that I didn't see coming. But the twist worked and I always like when that happens.
I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next book in the series or not. I'll have to read more about it first.
I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 69
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 57
What's in a Name? 5 Challenge:
See in the Sky
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge:
60
*FTC Disclosure: I was given
this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World
Tours.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
