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A review by l_arand
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
okay SO i impulsively picked up this book after simply deciding “i don’t want to think about anything so i am going to throw myself into a book,” and i landed with the first book in this series. and holy shit, am i happy i did.
this books follows blue sargent, a teenager from a clairvoyant family. while she doesn’t have any “gifts,” herself, she acts as an amplifier for those in her family (ex. if a member of her family can pick up on energy, having blue around them can make the energy’s presence more known).
the story begins on st. mark’s eve, where the soon-to-be-dead appear. there, she sees a boy who speaks to her directly. he introduced himself as “gansey” and when blue asks for more elaboration, the only response she gets is “that’s all there is.”
this prompts her into discovering what is going on with gansey, and sends her on a hunt to try to delay his death (since those who appear in st. mark’s eve are to die within the next year). and on top of this, she’s been told since her birth that she will kill her true love if she chooses to kiss him by all of her family, who keep in mind, are all gifted with magic.
at a night shift at her service job, she sees the boy from st. mark’s eve, and this heightens her curiousity, and before she knows it she’s been indoctrinated into his group of friends who all attend algionby, an elite private college prep school for boys who have more money than they know what to do with.
so, there’s the synopsis. the characters in this book are lovely, and we do learn more about them throughout the book. however, stiefvater leaves out enough information on them (and the quest they’re on) to keep the reader wanting more, which is sensible because it’s the first book of a series (the raven cycle). i found this book to be so immersive, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t typically gravitate towards fantasy/magic. also, there are some beautiful quotes in this work that i still think about;
“he’d chosen his weapon well: only the truth, untempered by kindness.”
“it was the stop that happened when you made up your mind to confess, but your mouth betrayed you in the end.”
“a soul is vulnerable when it is outside the mind.”
this books follows blue sargent, a teenager from a clairvoyant family. while she doesn’t have any “gifts,” herself, she acts as an amplifier for those in her family (ex. if a member of her family can pick up on energy, having blue around them can make the energy’s presence more known).
the story begins on st. mark’s eve, where the soon-to-be-dead appear. there, she sees a boy who speaks to her directly. he introduced himself as “gansey” and when blue asks for more elaboration, the only response she gets is “that’s all there is.”
this prompts her into discovering what is going on with gansey, and sends her on a hunt to try to delay his death (since those who appear in st. mark’s eve are to die within the next year). and on top of this, she’s been told since her birth that she will kill her true love if she chooses to kiss him by all of her family, who keep in mind, are all gifted with magic.
at a night shift at her service job, she sees the boy from st. mark’s eve, and this heightens her curiousity, and before she knows it she’s been indoctrinated into his group of friends who all attend algionby, an elite private college prep school for boys who have more money than they know what to do with.
so, there’s the synopsis. the characters in this book are lovely, and we do learn more about them throughout the book. however, stiefvater leaves out enough information on them (and the quest they’re on) to keep the reader wanting more, which is sensible because it’s the first book of a series (the raven cycle). i found this book to be so immersive, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t typically gravitate towards fantasy/magic. also, there are some beautiful quotes in this work that i still think about;
“he’d chosen his weapon well: only the truth, untempered by kindness.”
“it was the stop that happened when you made up your mind to confess, but your mouth betrayed you in the end.”
“a soul is vulnerable when it is outside the mind.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Classism