The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow! Add this one to my favorite books shelf! I loved it! I cannot believe this book took me so long to finally read! Can you believe that this far into my reading career I haven’t read a book by Maggie Stiefvater yet? I can’t! XD Overall, this book was super interesting! There are some books that are just ok, and you can feel it the moment you start the novel. There are other books that you know from the beginning are going to rock your world. It probably has something to do with the writing style. Anyway, this is one of those books.
Spoilers Below
That part about knowing it was going to be good, actually kind of scared me. I thought my expectations were too high and they were going to ruin the book when it didn’t live up to them, just like another novel I just read very recently (cough cough American Royals cough cough). But this book lived up to my expectations exactly. I loved it.
Even though it was amazing, I actually took a super long time to finish this beast. It’s 416 pages, which shouldn’t have take me this long, but I’ve been super busy lately. I actually got a sad feeling a few days ago because I hadn’t written a review in a while, something that made me want to finish it even faster. Also, this is a book that I think is best spread out over time. It is definitely one to read slowly instead of marathoning, so my system actually worked out well!
I think the story is a super awesome concept. Psychics are real? That’s so cool! Even better, Blue isn’t a psychic but she amplifies their powers??!! That’s awesome! A great choice in my opinion.
How did Blue, Gasey and Adam not know about Noah? I mean I did, because I was spoiled; curse you kindle who when I clicked on Czerny’s name showed him as Noah! But seriously? They never touched him and saw he was a ghost/spirit thing? Or was he solid while his body was on the ley line? That part was kind of confusing, but I still loved it. Also, on the topic on Noah: he is super cute! The way he is always patting Blue’s hair down is adorable! I’m sad he died. Seriously, I first when I found out he was a ghost, I was freaking out because Adam literally said ‘we are being haunted’. ‘Being haunted’ is usually a bad thing or at least it seemed so to me, especially because at the time that I was reading the passage, it was midnight, in a house I now believe to be haunted. Long story short, I didn’t get much sleep after that XD.
Anyway, at first I really liked Blue and Adam together. I liked Adam because he was genuine and the way he came up to her, apologizing for Gansey and basically asked her out in the diner parking lot was so cute! I really thought they were perfect for each other after that especially with Gansey to contrast Adam with. But then, Adam’s family thing happened. I don’t blame him for it, not at all, and I know he was going thru a lot, but I still feel he reacted in a dangerous way. I feel like if his reaction to losing almost everything was sacrificing himself, he wasn’t really good for Blue. He should have taken a look around him to see all the things he still had left. Plus, he killed their latin teacher without remorse and that is not something good guys do. But then again, who Blue ends up with is Maggie Stiefvater’s choice and not mine, so I’ll have to wait for the next book!
I much preferred the Blue and Gansey relationship to the Adam-Blue one. Gansey is awesome and super hilarious in his ignorance. I also think they had the perfect meet cute and the scene in the tree totally sealed the deal for me. I just cannot believe he’s going to die. It can’t be right? I’m just super happy this series has already been completely published so I don’t have to wait for an answer. I can finish it as soon as the books come in at the library.
I also really liked 300 Fox Way. I’m still a bit confused as to how Persephone and Calla are related to Blue and her mom, but I loved how it needed no explanation. That was just perfect. Blue room was amazing too, I really liked her style both interior design wise and clothing wise. I loved all her handmade outfits and how she decorated her room was so creative.
Also, Neeve; where did she go? She just disappeared and they think it was into that mirror thing Neeve had set up in her room? I was really confused about that too, but again in a good way (also because I finished the book at 10 at night so my brain wasn’t really on board). I can’t wait to figure out why she disappeared as well as hear the rest of the story, and I’d be reading the next book right now if I didn’t have a different one to finish first.
So that basically concludes my Halloween reading marathon (a month late). Yay XD! I cannot believe its December! I guess its time to start the Christmas books; hopefully I will finish them by 2020!
Back to the book though, I really wanted to figure out who Blue was going to kiss by the end of the first novel, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I assume that Glendower will be found in the last book, helpfully titled ‘The Raven King’ and if I had to predict something else, I think (and hope) Blue will kiss Gansey instead of Adam. But those are all the predictions I have for now.
There is really so much about this book I want to cover. I really loved the Cabeswater forest and how it was always changing with what the Raven Boys and Blue thought it should look like was a nice touch. I also think their latin teacher (whose name escapes me at the moment) was super awesome character and a great comparison to the Raven Boys who used their money extravagantly whereas the teacher couldn’t anymore. By the end of the book, I was seeing a lot of comparisons between him and Adam, something that made me ship Blue and Gansey even more. Also, what is up with Blue’s father? I must know who he is and what happened to him!
The only thing I could criticize in this book was that the climax was not built up enough. I needed a bit more small incidents before the Cabeswater conflict to get me exited and hyped for what was going to happen. Otherwise, I literally loved everything in this story.
Lastly, on the topic of character arcs, this book had a lot of them. Ronan’s was somewhat small, but his backstory was so interesting, it was worth it; plus I think there will be more about him in the books to come. Gansey’s was also small, but he was a super interesting person so I didn’t mind either. Adam had a pretty large one but I feel he still has a long way to go. I admire him however, for making the decision to leave his abusive family. And then there is Noah who went from a person to a ghost. In my opinion that is the biggest character arc possible :D.
In conclusion, I have found another favorite novel ever. These characters were so deep and I loved them all (especially the Raven Boys). The story was awesome and the book had just enough spookiness to make me freaked out (which is a good thing). I recommend this to everyone ever. It really is an amazing book.
P.S. I forgot to add that I found the dialogues between Gansey and Blue where he called her ‘Jane’, the most hilarious things ever. Although it was actually sort of rude and if I were Blue, I would be calling Gansey ‘Richard’ 24/7; it was still super funny though.
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