Having grown up with a psychic mother, Blue’s always known that once she kisses the one she loves, he’ll die. That’s never seemed like a problem, since Blue doesn’t plan on falling in love…that is until she meets Gansey in the graveyard one night.
Blue doesn’t actually have any psychic powers herself; she just makes others’ powers ‘louder’. So when she comes along to the graveyard one night with her aunt, to help her see the ghosts of those who will die that year, she doesn’t expect to see anyone.
But Gansey materialises before her eyes, and before she knows it, Blue becomes tangled up in Gansey’s quest, with three other Raven Boys, as they try to uncover a centuries-old myth and reawaken the magical ley lines.
Others are on the same quest, and the only question that remains is whether Blue and the Boys will find the ley lines before the secret is lost forever.
I didn’t actually know exactly what I was getting into when I first heard of this book, way back last year, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! The book was filled with unique and interesting characters, magic and myths, and of course romance!
My absolute favourite part of the book were the characters. Blue herself wasn’t my favourite of the bunch, and so I found myself falling fast and hard for the Raven Boys. They were all so unique and interesting, I loved getting to know about them little by little and finding out why exactly they were on this quest to find Glendower, the sleeping king.
Gansey, who you think is going to be the typical rich love interest, is everything but. The journey to find Glendower is mostly his idea, and he’s obsessed by it, researching and studying everything and anything he can about the mythical king. Even though he attends the super elite Aglionby school, Adam often feels like he doesn’t fit in with his rich, privileged friends and does everything he can to not call attention to his complicated home life. Ronan, at first, comes across as the typical bad boy, who drinks, drives fast, and does horrible in school. But he’s loyal and brave, and would do anything for Gansey. And this was my absolute favourite part of the story: the interactions between the Raven boys, and the layers of meaning and secrets in their relationships. They were so well fleshed out, I felt like I knew them!
I enjoyed the fact that the romance wasn’t so heavy handed or obvious. Blue does date someone, but it isn’t who you expect after reading the cover copy (maybe it will be later), and so that was a pleasant surprise. And despite the ominous prediction that whoever Blue kisses will die, the romance isn’t tinged with melodrama. The mythology and magic drive the action of the story.
The only thing that I didn’t love about the story was probably the ending. It seems as if one character sacrifices themselves and is gone…only to reappear in the next chapter, so I was a tad bit confused about how that happened. The last sentence as well seemed a bit random, in the context of the conversation taking place, and it’s obvious that it’s a set up for the next book.
All in all, I highly enjoyed The Raven Boys. Having never read Maggie Stievater before, I really enjoyed her descriptive writing, her inclusion of magic and myth, and her portrayal of four teenage boys who all stole my heart.
So for that: 4/5.
Thanks for reading,
Ikhlas