Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

 Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: YA Fantasy - Paranormal

“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." ~See it on Goodreads

---------------------------------

I’d really been looking forward to reading The Raven Boys. I absolutely adore Stiefvater’s writing style; it’s very lyrical and has a magical feel to it. I LOVED The Scorpio Races and Lament, but I wasn’t a fan of Shiver (just couldn’t really get into the storyline). So I was really interested to see where this one would fall in the line-up for me. I think this one was in between for me, not quite as good as The Scorpio Races or Lament, but I liked it better than Shiver.

This book gets right into the storyline from the start, and you’re instantly pulled in. I could stop reading it because I was so immersed. The characters were great, and I loved Blue! She was very intelligent, confident, and witty. I’m so glad she wasn’t a typical “plain jane”, she took things as they were and did what she needed to do, and didn’t have time for being shy or dealing with any nonsense. And I loved how quirky and delightfully odd the little family of psychics were! The writing was gorgeous as usual. It had the lyrical and magical quality that is always present in Stiefvater’s writing, it didn’t feel choppy or forced. And the visuals were beautifully crafted and wonderfully vivid.

The main thing I had some issues with in this book was how at times, it seemed like things moved on really fast and there was so much going on that it became a bit confusing. The other issue was with the characters, I thought they were all developed very well but they came off as older than high school age (and that kind of pulled me out of the story slightly when I’d remember it). Now I know teens can be really mature and can be seen as adults, but I think if they had show something that made their age more apparent it would have made it a bit more realistic.

Overall the story was unique, interesting, and full of fascinating characters. I’ll definitely be continuing on with the rest of the series to see where it goes. If you like mystery, paranormal, and a bit of romance; I would recommend giving this one a try :)

4 Stars!