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A review by girlgetsbook
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I struggled to find a rating for this book but I finally realized it was just a bit short of 5 stars. The struggle came because I'm a hard-core mood reader and I was in a reading slump after starting several books and not being able to figure out what mood I was in, so I decided that I was in a fantasy mood and picked this one up, and I love it, I love tarot reading and witchcraft and psychic themes so I loved loved this part of the story and I loved Blue and could relate to her a lot, I also am surrounded by amazing women who would do anything to protect me so I loved her family as well.
I was able to go through the book easily without even a sign of the huge reading slump I was going through for a long time, but then it kind of slowed down during some specific parts, especially the ones where the boys were concerned. I grew to like them but, at first I was a bit tired of Gansey and Ronan whilst Adam was very easy to sympathize with and Noah (despite being very whimsical) was easy to like (even before knowing anything). I felt like some parts where very teen drama-esque with Gansey's big problem being he is rich (come on now), and between him being very insensitive towards Adam's more serious issues and wanting to change Blue's name (which would be quirky if he wasn't a rich powerful person), I found super hard to like him, though, of course, I started doing it by the end. Even so, he is an incredibly traumatized character and it was really weird how the author focused on him being overtly concerned about having money and power (whilst using those two things), and not the clear intense events that happened in his childhood. But maybe Maggie has a bigger brain than I do and this is supposed to be what you feel towards him and in future books you understand him better (or maybe not). Ronan grew on me with time, and I hope I keep liking him on future books, it's really easy for me to hate overtly violent characters.
Once this drama was mostly over and the whimsical magic things started happening and the secrets were revealed I finally understood the hype and oh my god it is so well deserved, the way things played out is definitely something I would love to write someday and I ended the book wanting to hug every one of those boys which says a lot for someone who wasn't vibing much with them in the beginning, I'll definitely continue the series, it does have a 5 star series potential.
I was able to go through the book easily without even a sign of the huge reading slump I was going through for a long time, but then it kind of slowed down during some specific parts, especially the ones where the boys were concerned. I grew to like them but, at first I was a bit tired of Gansey and Ronan whilst Adam was very easy to sympathize with and Noah (despite being very whimsical) was easy to like (even before knowing anything). I felt like some parts where very teen drama-esque with Gansey's big problem being he is rich (come on now), and between him being very insensitive towards Adam's more serious issues and wanting to change Blue's name (which would be quirky if he wasn't a rich powerful person), I found super hard to like him, though, of course, I started doing it by the end. Even so, he is an incredibly traumatized character and it was really weird how the author focused on him being overtly concerned about having money and power (whilst using those two things), and not the clear intense events that happened in his childhood. But maybe Maggie has a bigger brain than I do and this is supposed to be what you feel towards him and in future books you understand him better (or maybe not). Ronan grew on me with time, and I hope I keep liking him on future books, it's really easy for me to hate overtly violent characters.
Once this drama was mostly over and the whimsical magic things started happening and the secrets were revealed I finally understood the hype and oh my god it is so well deserved, the way things played out is definitely something I would love to write someday and I ended the book wanting to hug every one of those boys which says a lot for someone who wasn't vibing much with them in the beginning, I'll definitely continue the series, it does have a 5 star series potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder