The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

4/5 Stars

“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.”

Why did it take me so long to pick this book up?! D: I've had it on my shelf for so long, but I've always just kept delaying it and delaying it... I think in part, this is because the whole Raven Cycle just sounds so perfect to me and I was scared to be disappointed by it all... I can tell you now that I'm not disappointed!

I absolutely love how unconventional and original this plot was and how every scene had a purpose! Psychics, fortune tellers and the whole spiritual energy thing are some of my favourite things to read about and I love how Maggie Stiefvater used this to form different prophesies, which really helped to mold the plot. I love how Blue was an 'amplifier' to this energy, which I thought was super cool and I adored the dynamic between her and her creepy little family! Basically, my goal in life is to become a creepy fortune teller xD

There was also a lot less romance than I expected (given the synopsis) and I really appreciated this, as it really helped the main plot lines to develop faster, which were a lot more interesting to me. I assume that the romance part of this book will progress in future books, but I just hope it doesn't ruin the series for me! *Firmly crosses fingers and toes*

The Ley lines were fascinating to read about and actually reminded me a lot of The King's Road in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (one of my all time favourite books). They are by no means the same thing, but they are similar in a way that they are both confusing as heck xD But I actually really love this aspect of it, because it just means that no one is really sure what the limitations are and therefore the consequences of using the them are unknown. This uncertainty is so interesting to me and makes this aspect of the plot completely unpredictable. Coming to think of it, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell also uses the whole Raven King thing... These books are completely different, but it's actually pretty interesting to compare them. :D

I do have a few minor problems with this book, but nothing major:

I felt like some scenes could have done with a bit more description and explanation and just expanded on a little bit more. The scene with that carved raven comes to mind.... Still not 100% sure what that was all about, as it was just quite hard to imagine what was happening. I think if some scenes had a little bit more description, it would have really helped with my imagery and understanding.  I will say that overall I really liked Maggie Stiefvater's writing though and found her prose to be very enjoyable and even beautiful at times.

I also didn't really connect with any of the characters. A few of them started to grow on me by the end, particularly Adam and Ronan, but for the most part I was more interested in the plot, which is rare for me! I didn't hate them or anything, but I just didn't love them either. This is the first book in the series though, so hopefully I'll grow more attached as it goes on! If I had to pick a favourite, I'd go for Whelk for some reason, despite his name sounding like a type of tree... A Whelk tree...is that a thing? It sounds like a thing...

Overall I'm so happy I finally got to this and no longer have to feel guilty every time I see it sat on my shelf! This was a solid start to the series and I'll be getting to sequel soon! I'm actually really looking forward to it, especially as the series is complete now :D

My Goodreads Review