Review - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Every St. Mark's Eve, 16 year old Blue Sargent and her psychic mother Maura wait in an old graveyard for the spirits of the dead to arrive. On this night, spirits tell Maura and Blue who is expected to die over the next 12 months. Blue is considered to be the fluke of the family in that she has no psychic abilities. However, with her very presence, it seems her energy calls to spirits and makes it easier to speak to them. Unexpectedly, Blue sees the spirit of a boy named Gansey and realizes that he is either her prophesied true love, or he will be killed by Blue’s kiss. Ever since Blue was young, her mother, as well as her aunts Orla and Persephone have told her that if she kisses her one true love, he will die.

“Blue had two rules: Stay away from boys, because they’re trouble, and stay away from raven boys, because they were bastards.”

Gansey is what’s known as a Raven Boy. He goes to a private school for the uber rich called Aglionby along with Noah, Ronan Lynch and Adam Parrish his so called posse. Gansey is on a quest to find the Welsh King called Owain Glyndwr and has been all over the world looking for clues. He searches ley lines for signs of where he may have been buried after being spirited away from Wales. Legend has it that Glendower is still alive, but sleeping for centuries and whoever finds and awakens him would be granted a favor.

For Blue, who claims not to care for the so called Raven Boys, she soon herself a part of the team searching ley lines for any sign of Glendowers remains. She finds friendship in the unluckiest places with boys she has absolutely nothing in common with except maybe Adam. The only question remains who is Blue’s one true love, and will the boy actually die if she kisses him? Blue is an interesting character, but seemingly throws her hatred for the Raven Boys away at the drop of a hat. It was too easy for Blue to join Gansey and crew after one meeting.
 
I have to say I was a little nervous about reading this book after seeing the previous reviews from friends and others. Sometimes, hyped up books fall flat on their face, and I end up being the one who rates the book lower than friends and colleagues.

The one thing I liked about this book was that it didn’t end on a cliffhanger like her previous installments. There are some unanswered questions yes, but, it wasn’t like the characters were in jeopardy and the story just ended. Of all the characters introduced, I believe I liked Adam the most because I could relate to his situation and his constant struggles with his way of living and his parental units.

This book took a while to get going, and I’m not surprised that anyone would have abandoned it after 50-100 pages. It’s a good thing I continued reading the story because there was more than one mystery to solve. One included one of the characters which turned out to be a doozy of a revelation.

In the end, I obviously find myself wanting to read the next installment to see what happens to Blue and Crew.

Author - Maggie Stiefvater
Title - The Raven Boys
Publisher - Scholastic Press
Released - September 18, 2012