The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater Review

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“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.

I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. I didn’t just liked it I loved it. The thing is that when I started reading it I went with low expectations. I heard from lots of bloggers how much they liked it, and I decided to give it a try. I don’t regret it. Not one bit. I was hesitant about this one because I didn’t have a great experience reading Maggie’s last two books (The Scorpio Races and Forever), but The Raven Boys was amazing!

At the beginning,  I was a little lost. I was confused with the boys and what they were looking for. I actually didn’t feel anything for any of them for the first half of the book. But then I started liking the boys and their bond. Gansey was the papa bear of the group; he was very protective of the other boys. Ronan was complicated mysterious, and I think I have a crush on him. Noah was the sweet one and very weird. The only boy I didn’t feel anything for was Adam. To me he was very whiny and sensitive. I get it to a point. He was the only boy in the group who didn’t have a rich family. I get why he would get offended when Gansey would offer to pay for anything, but I hated when he would think that Gansey was doing it out of pity. I wanted to punch him a little bit. He’s back-story is sad but not even that made me like him.

My favorite part of the book was Blue and her psychic family. They were so fascinating and odd! I loved them. I would find myself captivated in their conversations and wishing the book had more of them in it. I also like the essence of the book. I say the essence because I didn’t get the whole plot, but I could feel what was behind it. Does that make any sense? Some of the details I didn’t get, but I knew what everything led to. I hope I’m making sense here. That didn’t bother me like it would bother me with other books. I think it all comes down to me not expecting to like The Raven Boys. I know this sounds bad, but I think that’s the key to going into a new book. Sometimes I just need to grab a book and read it without reading reviews or the summary. Of course, this doesn’t work with every book, but it worked with The Raven Boys.

I gave this book a 4 stars rating because of 2 things: Adam and some unsolved plot points. Other than that I enjoyed The Raven Boys very much. That final sentence left me with my mouth hanging open!