I had absolutely no idea what this book was about when I started reading it. I’d heard some very vague synopses that kind of didn’t sum the book up at all, but I’d heard nearly all positive reviews so I gave it a go.
The Raven Boys follows Blue, a sixteen year old who is the daughter of a psychic and lives in a house full of psychics. Though she does not have this ability herself, her presence makes other people’s abilities stronger. Blue has also been told her whole life that when she kisses her true love, they will die. So Blue has made it a point not to kiss anyone and to generally stay away from boys.
But this all changes when she meets Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah, all student and the nearby and incredibly expensive all-boys private school called Aglionby. Boys who attend this school are known as Raven Boys. Gansey and his friends are obsessed with finding the Welsh King Glendower and Blue finds herself right in the middle of their search.
Until reading this book, I always had it in my head that this book was high fantasy – as in, not set in this world but in its own fantasy world. But it’s actually contemporary fantasy. When I discovered this, I wasn’t so excited to read it, but I’d heard such good things about it that I continued.
Firstly, Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is beautiful. I learned so many new words, but not so many that it became difficult to understand. This is one of the reasons I love reading on my Kindle. If I don’t know a word, I can just highlight it and it gives me a dictionary definition. The only thing that got on my nerves was that throughout the book she would write the same word three times in a row, as if to emphasise the point but I felt it was overused.
At one point while reading, I was so in awe of something that I got a notebook out and scrawled down some thoughts, so I’m just going to quote what I wrote.
Okay, I truly believe Maggie Stiefvater is some sort of magical being right now. There was just this huge reveal that I totally did not see coming and yet make absolute and perfect sense and I love it.
The only real downside I found to this book was that it didn’t really have a plot of its own. It definitely feels like a setting up book for the rest of the series. I still enjoyed the plot, but there was no real end to the story, I felt that it just kind of ended.
I love all the characters so much. Blue is a strong female character without needing to be physically strong. All the Raven Boys are beautifully fleshed out characters already and I feel like Gansey could be my new book boyfriend. I even love reading about all of Blue’s relatives. Maggie Stiefvater managed so well to give them each such unique personalities.
I gave The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater 5 out of 5 stars on Good Reads, and I’m currently about half way through the next book in the series: The Dream Thieves.
Love,
Hannah x
Looped On Life 