Book Review: The Raven Boys by: Maggie Stiefvater

My Rating: ★★★
Date Published: September 18th, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 409
Do I own it?: Yes

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.

Review:

** spoiler alert **


I received this finished signed hardback copy of The Raven Boys by: Maggie Steifvater from my local library's ARC program.

Well. I have a lot to say about The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I remember reading her book Shiver, and I could not finish it because it was terrible. I almost gave up on this book at one point. I really did not like her writing style. It was confusing, and strange. In the beginning, the characters kept talking about a "ley line" and I had NO clue what was going on. The author should've explained what a Ley Line is earlier on.

Blue bothered me throughout the entire book. I thought that she was supposed to fall in love with Gansey??! I wanted her to fall in love with Gansey! Why is Adam in the picture? Blue would not make up her mind which really pissed me off. There were also just too many point of views. There was Adam, Blue, Whelk, AND Gansey. That was just too many point of views for me!

The story was a bit lacking. Gansey would not tell Blue why he was looking for Glendower, and I thought that that was a bit stupid, and the whole "kiss/kill" think was also stupid because it wasn't clear that she was making any kind of relationship with Gansey. Almost the entire book bothered me, but there were some things that I did enjoy, like the fact that Noah was a ghost. That was a really surprising plot twist, and I enjoyed that.

I liked the book, so I think that when the second one comes out, I will in fact read it. The end of the book made up for the fact that the beginning and middle wasn't so great.