The Raven Boys- Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Synopsis:

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them–until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, 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 is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher 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 doesn’t believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

My Thoughts:

The Raven Boys is my first YA fantasy book in what seems like forever but in reality it’s only been a few months, as you will know with the release of The Raven King this series has received a-lot of hype lately and I was excited to finally start it myself.

I gave The Raven Boys a rating of 3.5 stars… for the lovers of it please don’t shoot me, I’ll explain I swear! I gave it this rating because I actually found it rather hard to get into and at times confusing, now I don’t know if I just was the only one who found it confusing because that’s just me or if its linked to not having read any books similar to this in the past which are explicitly about Psychics, Ghosts, Energies etc (I mean I have read Harry Potter, but does Madame Trelawney count as having experience with this subject nature?)

It wasn’t until I was about 60% into the book that I found it picking up and getting more interesting, I was beginning to understand the plot more and feel a better connection for the characters. Prior to this, I think an accurate picture of me would be that I was sat on my bed with a puzzled expression asking ‘what the heck is going on?’.  However despite my confusion through the beginning of the book, I did find particular moments rather funny such as when Penelope says ‘if you are going to punch someone, don’t put your thumb inside your fist. It would be a shame to break it’ – LIFE TIPS PEOPLE. I really liked these quirky bits that added humour, it made me feel a little less lost.

I will be continuing with this series because I am interested in finding out what happens next, I think now the plot has developed and it’s becoming more intense and action filled I will begin to enjoy it more. I am also a fan of Gansey and Blue so I hope that develops into something more than a friendship, I feel like they would be a really good match.

Overall despite finding myself very confused, I think this book is rather mysterious and it certainly had me questioning characters on numerous occasions. I liked the ending because I had been wondering about Ronan and the Raven for so long in the book, it was good to have some resolution as to where he really found it or why he feels that strong protective nature towards it. It also created a million other questions though!

Let me know in the comments if you have read the series or if you haven’t yet (then I won’t be the only one XD) and also let me know what you thought!

 

Useful Links:

Goodreads – Book Page | Goodreads – Maggie Stiefvater