The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

 

Publication date: September 19th, 2012

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 421

Targeted Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Supernatural/Welsh Mythology/Fantasy

Blurb: Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

{For those who are reading our reviews for the first time on this blog need to know that every line in Red is by Raven and every line in Blue is by Beez.}

I had never heard about this author before or this series but when I came across this book in our school library I just had to read it. The blurb was so exciting and the cover was absolutely beautiful! (And as you know I’m a sucker for covers) And as soon as I started this book I knew I was in love.

So this is me, trying to do justice to this wonderful book.

The story takes place in a fictional town named Henrietta where a girl named Blue comes from a clairvoyant family but she herself doesn’t have any powers. She can’t see the souls of the dead unlike her mother. So when she sees the spirit of a boy named Gansey at the crossroads on St. Marks Eve, Blue is a lot more than just surprised. 

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.”  

And hence begins the journey of Blue Sargent into the lives of the four boys from the school Aglionby- Adam Parrish, Richard Gansey, Ronan Lynch and Noah Czerny.

They go on a personal quest to uncover the ancient, lost and buried, Welsh King, with the sole knowledge that he is somewhere along the Ley lines and whoever finds him will be granted a favour.

You see how interesting this is?? Because it is absolutely the most beautifully written supernatural/fantasy novel in a long long time.

Maggie Stiefvater’s style of writing will sweep you away, her way of wording the surroundings will take you on a journey you never even imagined in your wildest dreams and her characters are bigger than life itself.

I don’t want to go into excess detail about the personalities of the characters because to me they actually exist. They have flaws and such distinct voices that I can’t make myself judge them. It just doesn’t feel right.

I’ve never been in love with every character in a book but Maggie has made me fall in a deep abyss of torture because I want these characters to be real. I wish it so badly. If I ever find the buried Welsh King, you know what my wish will be.

Maggie’s writing embodies the characters of these people so well that if you omitted their names or put black ink over them I’d still be able to tell them apart. With every thought, every line, every spoken word and every action they prove that they are individuals, different and so unique and so apart yet in perfect harmony with each other.

Even a person who has never read this book reads it for the first time with blank spaces instead of names, they’d still be able to identify the people.

Also, Noah is the smudgy one.

Adam breaks my heart.

Ronan kills me, in every way.

Gansey is like a slight wind. It touches you and takes your breath away.

And Blue is what every girl aspires to be.

The first half of the book has less happening because it’s building up the characters, introducing us to them, breathing life into them. It’s setting the scenery. It’s drawing up every crease and fold and line on the faces of these beautiful characters and the world.

So when you start the book, know that it is slightly slow-paced in the beginning but the characters and the mystery will keep you going forward. The book builds this beautiful atmosphere that makes you want to be one of the people in the books.

Maggie’s writing has an adult feel to it. The characters are not silly teenagers, they have this aura of purposefulness around them. Every character that was introduced in the book felt so real. I don’t understand how she does it. It’s not just the protagonists that are amazing, it is literally every bloody character.

Maggie plays with dark magic… that is the only possible answer to how this book is so fantastic.

And the plot! It’s so unique and amazing and so refreshingly new! After all the usual vampires, werewolves, fairies and magicians, Welsh mythology is just a wonderful change of atmosphere. She has explained everything about the ley lines and the Welsh King with just the right amount of mystery. 

As a last note, the last line of this book will haunt you forever… so will the first line… basically the whole book.

Recommendations?

Anyone who loves a great story with characters that seem to come alive before your eyes and become a part of your life.

Ratings:

A fabulous unicorn for a fabulous book

Lots of love and mystery,
Raven and Beez~