skip to Main Content

Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater @mstiefvater

The Raven Boys is the first of four YA paranormal books in The Raven Cycle. The last book, The Raven King, will be released next year on Februrary 23rd.

If you want a fun way to stay informed of the release or just want a happy spot in your day, follow Stiefvater on Twitter. I always gut-ache-laugh when reading her tweets. Plus, she’s an artist and a musician and posts links all the time to her creations.
The_Raven_BoysIt 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.

The real main character of The Raven Boys isn’t Blue but Gansey. Think The Great Gatsby—how the real main character isn’t the narrator Nick but Gatsby. Gansey is the driving force in this book, and he’s the glue keeping Blue and his groupies together. Without him, there would be no Raven Boys.

The synopsis doesn’t quite cover what The Raven Boys is really about—Pull out your compass and knapsacks guys, because it’s a treasure hunt! Gansey isn’t just on a quest. He’s on an epic search to find the missing buried king Glendower. And he needs Blue’s help to find the Ley lines, psychic energy lines, that help point to Glendower’s burial spot.

Read more
Back To Top