January 3, 2014

the raven boys

  • Author: Maggie Stiefvater
  • Series: Raven Cycle
  • Pages: 400
The Raven Boys is (so far) a two book series that simply gets more and more astonishing.
Here is my summary: 

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Blue Sargent goes to the graveyard every year to meet and welcome the newly dead. Then she meets a boy who says his name is Gansey. He goes to Aglionby, the school for the rich boys. Also known as the Raven Boys, they're only trouble- to Blue.
         
Blue, however, is attracted to Gansey in a way that she can't explain on her own. She's always been     warned that she would cause her true love to die. Being in love is a dangerous thing.

In enter the other boys that are part of Gansey's life: Adam, the uptight, always-polished, and high-grade scholarship-fund guy, Ronan, who keeps all his emotions quenched inside, and their siblings. Along with Blue, they're in for an adventure.
 I apologize. It is not a very good summary- but I'll get better at them, I promise.
I am totally, completely, entirely in love with Maggie Stiefvater, but The Raven Boys made sure of it that she is now my favorite author. The book has a bit of a magical touch to it: Blue Sargent's mother is a psychic, Blue knows that Gansey is about to die but befriends him anyway, and most of all, Gansey (who is rich and popular and seems to have every sort of good quality imaginable) is looking for a Welsh king who existed in the 1500's. You'd think that a boy like Gansey would rather not do the work himself, especially considering that Blue's first encounter with the living Gansey results in her calling him the "Cell-Phone President".

Maggie mixes real magic with the seemingly-impossible reality, too. Ronan can bring back things from dreams. Maura, Blue's mother, can see people's secrets. Most of all, the group's adventures rely mostly on finding the depths and hidden parts of the magical ley lines (even though as of now, their purpose is admittedly not entirely clear; but we have yet to wait for the next book).

I also find the characters to be fantastically developed. Blue remains to be a sort of mystery- we get some of her personality, but when we think we're about to find something else about her, the story veers off. Gansey has a mouth that often gets him into trouble, almost the way Blue has a mouth that can easily be angered. Gansey always hides his emotions, is great at persuading people, and is quick to give up money to help his friends. Adam is proud, and refuses to get anyone's help against his abusive father, financial troubles, and worries. Ronan, on the other hand, is also darkly proud. However, he prefers to use physical strength over words and emotions. I often feel like Ronan is the hardest character to truly understand, mostly because of how he acts- but once you get farther into the story, Ronan seems like he has the best heart of all at times.

Finally, I can't stop expressing my wonderment for the plot. Ghosts, but then a normal world? A normal world, but then a world from a dream? I never stopped getting surprised- but in a good way. The story unfolds deliciously, and I felt like it was the end of the world when I finished both of the currently-published books. It's agonizing to think that there is no release date yet for the upcoming third book.

That's how in love I am.

I also hope you enjoyed my first-ever proper book review! I really enjoyed writing it, so there are certainly going to be many to come.

1 comment:

Marta said...

Great post and photos!


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