Pages: 408
Intended Audience: Teens
Genre: Supernatural adventure
Notes for parents: Some mature scenes
The Inside Cover
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them – until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.
His name is Gansey, and he’s a rich student at Algionby, 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 is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher 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 doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
What the Inside Cover doesn’t tell you:
This is the first book in a series.
What’s good?
Outstanding characterization drives this intricate mystery about psychic ability, Welsh legend, and tragic prophecies. The multifarious narrative, full of wide twists and turns, unfolds slowly around a large group of highly developed characters. The women – Blue, Maura (Blue’s mom), Neeve (Maura’s half-sister), Orla (Blue’s cousin), Persephone and Calla (Maura’s best friends) – have a tenuous relationship, a mix of familial bonds, eccentricity, and a link to the world of psychic energy. The boys, however – Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah – are a complex but strong fraternity of intensely loyal friends with a rock solid goal that they would risk life and limb for.
Subplots abound as we see Adam’s home life, learn about Blue’s father, wonder about Gansey’s fate, witness a blooming romance, fear Declan wrath, question Neeve’s intentions, and so much more…this is not a simple story!
Best part: The best part was the part I didn’t see coming. Some reviewers claimed it was obvious, but it took me completely by surprise. I love when a book does that.
What’s not so good?
I was lost at the beginning and considered quitting this book a couple of times before I finally caught on to the rhythm of the story. I was relieved to read in other reviews that many people felt the same way. However, no one could really come up with a clear reason why the first several chapters were so muddy. I suppose, with its plethora of characters and back stories and subplots and mysteries, it just took a while for all of these loose yarns to knit together. When they finally did, I was hooked.
Worst part: I didn’t buy how easily they accepted the identity of the bones.
Recommendations þþþþo
While I felt overwhelmed by the story itself, I was easily hooked by the characters and am excitedly awaiting the next installment. This will not be a book for everyone – it is not a quick and easy read – but it’s got a haunting charm and a deluge of mystery that draws in the inquisitive reader. The bottom line is: I recommend this book.
Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. New York: Scholastic, 2012. (Hardcover)
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