The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Publisher: Scholastic (2012)
Hardcover (416 pages)
Via: Library
Rating:
Also by this author: Shiver, The Scorpio Races, The Dream Thieves
Also in this series: The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue, The Raven King
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, 2015 What's In A Name?, Read 2015
Synopsis
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
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.
Find the book: Goodreads
My Review
This book was recommended to me by a few different people. So, peer-pressured reader that I am, I picked The Raven Boys up at the library.
This was a rather interesting read. It follows a group of teenagers on their search for a mythical Welsh king, Glendower.
Blue is the daughter of a psychic who has grown up in a house full of psychics. However, Blue isn’t psychic. She makes things clearer and louder for those who are psychic.
Gansey is a rich Raven Boy, a student at the all-boys Aglionby Academy. He is obsessed with the search for Glendower and quite oblivious to some other things, especially money issues. He is eccentric and smart and rich.
Ronan is a troublemaker. Another Raven Boy, Ronan likes to be rebellious. He is, in his own way, grieving for his father and at the same time butting heads with his older brother. Gansey is one of the only people who can calm him down, most of the time.
Adam is a scholarship student at Aglionby, another Raven Boy. He has a lot of issues he is dealing with throughout the book. He is the reason for Blue’s first contact with the Raven Boys. He and Blue are the poorest of the group, not having the massive trust funds of the others.
Noah is a bit of a mystery. The more we know about him the stranger it gets. He definitely knows more than he is saying. There is a whole lot more we could learn about and from him because of what he has been through.
Once Blue meets the Raven Boys she is drawn into the search for Glendower. The discoveries they make are interesting. Blue is helpful to Gansey and the crew because of her unusual ability to alter the energy around her by giving it a boost. It is something that Blue can do just by being there.
The end of this book was rather shocking and not what I was expecting. There really was quite a bit of the unexpected throughout the book. I enjoyed The Raven Boys more than I thought I would and will be picking up The Dream Thieves the next time I see it at the library.
Catholic Connections
*Spoiler Alert*
In order to analyze the text and make these connections, there may be some spoilers.
Please do not continue reading unless you have already read the book
or you don’t mind if you read some spoilers.
*Spoiler Alert*
These are a bit hard for this book. I would say that conscience plays a large role in this book. There are a lot of choices that all of the characters have to make and they do their best to stay true to who they are. For example, Adam stays true to his principles even when he has to make hard decisions. He doesn’t want anyone else to make the decision for him and he doesn’t want to compromise being Adam.
The bonds the four Raven Boys and Blue have are strong bonds of friendship. Even though Blue hasn’t known them long, she cares about each of them in her own way and they care about her. They all take care of each other and look out for one another. That is a great kind of friendship to have.
Which Reading Challenges?
- You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
- Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge (R)
- What’s In A Name? Reading Challenge (an animal)
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