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

“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.

My Thoughts/Review:

When I started this book, I was already basing my opinions on the cover and the blurb: I thought that it would be amazing, based on those two elements. Just those two things. Shallow? Yes. Yes it was--but it was true. I can honestly say that this book can mess with your mind something fierce, and that it was completely different than what I expected.

I expected a dark paranormal romance, probably set around the sixteen hundreds, and maybe including a witch hunt or some other thing like that. I was wrong, and I honestly don't know where I got that picture--the blurb says nothing like that. I can only imagine weird things, I guess. I will admit that I'm a little dissapointed, though.

In my weird imaginings, I also imagined the "Raven Boys" being literal. Like them being part raven, which would've been crazy cool, but alas, was not true. I don't know where I got this weird storyline though! It's crazy. It's probably something that I've made up in my head and totally forgotten about.

In the beginning, I can honestly say that I had no idea where this story was going. Things that became key plot elements in the book later were just being thrown out there for no apparent reason, and I wasn't that sure about my confusion level--it was high, and it didn't go down until I'd gotten about halfway through, and suddenly all the plot elements just kind of clicked. It all made perfect sense. Click.

Gansey and Blue--I'm really not sure that I can explain them enough to make them the way I saw them--real. Each of the characters had their own quirks, their own little thing that they did, that made them who they were. Gansey's was that crazy notebook, and the fact that he was so fully obsessed with a dead Celtic king. Blue's was her "energy". She could take anyone and make them stronger, faster, louder. Adam, Ronan, and Noah need less explaining, but only because they're secondary characters.

The secondary characters could've been better--I'll freely admit that. But I enjoyed reading about them. I never saw Noah coming, nor did I ever really understand Adam's whole "I'm poor, everyone hates me and I'm white trash" brigade. I do have one of the biggest crushes ever on Ronan, though, so there is that. Oh, and this book is the proud winner of the most epic last sentence ever award. ^.^

 
Favorite Quote: The way Gansey saw it was this: If you had a special knack for finding things, it meant you owed it to the world to look.