The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
Summary:
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. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
I found this book extremely disjointed and really struggled to get into it. The only reason I persisted was because I enjoyed “Shiver” and had read so many positive reviews. The main problem with the story is that Stiefvater is trying to pack in too much setup for other books in the series the first read. This meant there were a lot of extraneous details that went nowhere and left the reader a bit confused as to why it was included. This could be forgivable (and even make the series more intriguing) if it was limited to just a few aspects, but instead it felt the whole book was a bundle of random anecdotes.
“The Raven Boys” picked up a lot in the last 20%, which kept me from a 2-star rating. I will say, that it was refreshing to have some original and complex characters that kept things from being predictable. It was a relatively fun book if you enjoy exploring the arena of psychics, rituals and paranormal activities, but if you’re looking for a standalone enjoyable read, I’d leave this one unread. At the moment, I don’t feel particularly motivated to pick up the other books in the series, but we’ll see where it goes.
Warning: Contains some violence.
Rating: 3 stars!
Who should read it? Folks who are willing to forgive a bit of an ambiguous storyline and ready to sign up for the full series.
Want to read the whole series?
A Very Declan Christmas (The Raven Cycle #0.2)
300 Fox Way Holiday Piece (The Raven Cycle #0.3)
A Minor Raven Boys Holiday Drabble ((The Raven Cycle #0.4)
The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3)
The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4)
Opal (The Raven Cycle #4.5)