The Raven Boys - Book Review

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

What is it about:
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.

What did I think of it:
I bought this book because of the gorgeous cover and because I loved Stiefvater's The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.

And this is certainly a great read, but also a confusing one.

There's the four boys, and their relationship with each other. Then there's Blue, who according to the cover story should be attracted to Gansey, but according to me was attracted to one of the other boys. And lastly there's the mystery the boys are trying to unravel.

All in all there's a lot going on and I did have trouble at times to keep track of events.

I didn't always understand Blue, but she was likable enough. I really liked Gansey and Noah. Both are intriguing characters and it was fun to discover more about them as the story unfolded. I disliked Ronan from the start and felt like slapping him lots of times. The one character I didn't feel warm or cold about was Adam, who was very bland in my opinion.

I loved Stiefvater's writing, which as always is beautiful and a treat in itself. The story felt confusing at first, but farther along when some things got together it became clearer and all those things that confused me at first fell into place.

In the end I very much enjoyed this book and I will pick up the next book in this series once it releases. In the meantime I might pick up one of the other books of Stiefvater I haven't read yet.

Why should you read it:
It's a beautifully written Paranormal Young adult read.