the raven boys

• Author: Maggie Stiefvater
• Series: Raven Cycle
• Pages: 400

Here is the source.

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.

i don't even believe myself when i say that i've never even made a resolution list, even though I actually haven't.

HI again. It is officially next year. Well, it is officially 2014. Despite what I said yesterday in 2013, it still feels like last year. Now I confused myself. Time is so weird.

In Australia, it was 3:00pm when it was midnight over here. In other words, when we were in the countdown, still in 2013, Australia had already spent a jolly night and were in 2014. Like I said before, time is so weird.

Okay. I have officially never made a set of resolutions. All of my friends have been doing it for ages, except I haven't. So in other words, I think it's high time.

  

This is my dog. We spent New Year's in the Hamptons together.

I'm calling it my scrunchy list, after my dear American Apparel scrunchy hair tie. I love that you can stretch and poke it all you want, but it's never going to stop working perfectly. 

1. Read Romeo and Juliet in its original form. I think that it is probably worth it, even though Shaplespeare was admittedly a little too fond about murdering his characters in the most tragic of ways.

2. Think before saying anything. I decided that before sayontgg anything, I'll count to two and rethink what I'm about to say. My mouth and impatience usually get me into unpleasant situations- or maybe it's just that I am way too blunt. Come to think of it, that is probably a very good explanation.

3. Clean my room. Redecorate the second floor of my room. While we're at it, I'll also redecorate the first floor of my room. (If you're confused: my room has a door with a flight of stairs in the corner, and it leads up to an extra room.) I haven't cleaned up or redesigned anything in the last.... 3 years? 4 years? (Hopefully not.)

4. Practice piano and cello more. Or flute. I still haven't really decided between cello and flute, and it is certainly time that I did. I need to also get more patient when I'm playing instruments. Not being perfect right away drives me nuts. It's not exactly a strength when you talk about music.

5. Improve my photography. I am really inspired by tumblr and all the vintage pictures that people are into these days. Alas, so far, my pictures have always turned out... Slightly... Off?

6. Travel the world and go zip lining at every destination possible. Ooh! And go white water rafting while I'm at it, too.