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the raven boysWhat: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Who: Scholastic

When: July 30th 2013

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Scholastic Australia for review.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them–until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn’t believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

5cats2

Me + books of hype = never ends well.

Except. EXCEPT. This one. I freaking love and adore and cherish and covet and all those other extremely happy words The Raven Boys.

Now I’m not the hugest fan of third person point of view, because the intimacy given by first person is so beautiful and captivating, and I just like it more. But the third person POVs written in The Raven Boys were absolutely amazing. I was still able to get a feel for the characters in a pretty intimate way through their chapters, and I’m so glad. Stiefvater obviously knows how to excel in third person writing.

And not just third person, either. The way The Raven Boys is written overall is stellar. It’s beautiful and descriptive, almost to a point of being lyrical – but it is never overdone. It’s never too flowery or unbelievable or anything. It’s just beautiful and perfect all the time, and I adored it.

I was worried that because the book focuses on one girl and several boys, that it would be one of those ‘every guy falls in love with the girl’ stories. This isn’t quite true, and for that I am glad. I hate those idolisation books because they’re incredibly unbelievable and give the main character such an ego/god complex. But this didn’t happen in The Raven Boys, so hurrah! I mean there’s some attraction between several members, but I know that will change over time because P Y N C H.

I was going to perhaps write about my favourite character, if I could narrow it down, or favourite characters, if I could expand to perhaps two. But I can’t. I seriously loved every darn character I came across in this book. Blue is feisty and unique and awesome, and I loved her. Gansey is passionate and complex and suave, and I loved him. Noah is darling and precious and bb, and I loved him (and wish there had been more of him, to be honest). Adam is confused and quiet and broken, and I loved him. Ronan is Ronan, and I freaking loved him. I loved them all, because they’re all so gorgeous and unforgettable and totally real. They’re amazing.

The storyline of Glendower is incredible, and I’m not lying when I say I enjoyed every second of it. Stiefvater has created such a complex storyline that weaves through every moment of The Raven Boys, and it’s like every tiny thing that happens means something. Which means you have to pay attention. But that isn’t hard because I found it impossible not to dedicate 100% of my attention to The Raven Boys when I was reading it.

I am so, so glad that I picked this up, because I could have missed out on a spectacular read, and a new firm favourite. If you’re hesitant about the hype, don’t be. It is well deserved.

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

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Posted on: February 24, 2015 • By: Chiara

32 Responses to Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

  1. YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!! I’m so glad you loved it!!! Actually, like I said on twitter, I’m surprised you’ve managed to review it this well!! I was like, flailing the whole time and the plot twist and NOAH BABY!!!! <3 <3 <3 I adore him. And Maggie's writing is just amazing and I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE GOING TO READ THE REST!!!!!! :D :D :D I'm just so excited that you NOW UNDERSTAND THE HYPE!!!!!!! :D Great review! It's much better than I could've done, look even this comment is me just caps locking and excessive emojis and daskjfhaldskj -ing.

    • Chiara says:

      I really loved it! :D

      Ah, thank you, Renee. It can get pretty hard to write actual reviews and not just excessive sentences of flails, haha.

      I definitely understand the hype because this book is perfection! :D

      Thank you again! And those are the best types of comments, trust me <3

  2. Britt W says:

    Oh my goodness, I loved this book and I’m so glad you did too! The characters have such amazing depth.

  3. “Ronan is Ronan, and I freaking loved him.” – YES ACCURATE. There’s really no better way to sum up Ronan Lynch. And oohhh just wait till The Dream Thieves <3 SO MUCH YES

  4. Beth says:

    I agree – I totally wasn’t expecting to enjoy The Raven Boys as much as I did. I found the series refreshing in the way that it portrays friendship as more important than romance – I think more books aimed at young people should focus on this! I will admit though, that I found The Raven Boys the best in the series (so far!).
    Beth x

    • Chiara says:

      Yes, it was absolutely gorgeous. Especially the focus on all different kinds of relationship! GAH. So much love.

      I do think I loved TRB more than the others, although BLLB stole my heart!

  5. Benish says:

    I’ve heard many great thing about this series, I’m unfortunately, quite behind on popular novels. It gets frustrating what to read next when there’s so many options out there </3 Lovely review x

  6. I am so so glad you picked up these books! They’re just so amazing and unique and wonderful and I’ve loved every second so far. Maggie’s writing is just perfection and the more of her stuff I read the more I love it. And there’s all the amazing characters that I’ve fallen in love with in this series, so many you haven’t met yet, and the plot twists that await you and aahhh! I can’t wait to see your reactions to the sequels!

    • Chiara says:

      So am I! I can’t believe I waited so long to read it, but at the same time I’m glad that the hype wasn’t super active when I read it! It meant that I wasn’t scared or pressured, as I can sometimes feel about hyped books >.< I love EVERYTHING ABOUT IT OMG BEC

  7. YAY I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THIS. We had similar thoughts about Throne of Glass, in not loving it, so hopefully despite the hype I’ll love this too :)

    • Chiara says:

      ME, TOO! I was so scared, because I desperately wanted to like it, so the fact hat I ended up loving it made me SO HAPPY. I hope you love it, Emily!

  8. Yes yes yes yes to your review! “Ronan is Ronan and I loved him” Yesssss.
    Ronan and Noah are my babies. My Heart contracts for them. I wish bad things would stop happening to Adam though… And GAH GANSEY

  9. I really, really liked Raven Boys. I think Ms. Maggie’s writing is really beautiful; it is one of the things I loved about it. Plus, the characters were so endearing. Ugh, this review reminds me that I need to read the third book. EEEP! *runs*

    • Chiara says:

      Me, too! :D Her writing and the characters are so perfect. I am terribly in love with both of them.

      Yes, read it, Mitchii! It is SO GOOD and I’m only halfway through!

  10. Missie says:

    I loved this book so much. The second book wasn’t my fave but that was because Ronan wasn’t my fave – but so many (like yourself) love him. LOL. I got the third book for my roadtrip next week!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

    • Chiara says:

      I didn’t love THE DREAM THIEVES quite as much as this one, but it was still amazing.

      I am currently reading BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE and I am really liking it! I hope you do too, Missie :D

  11. I am so glad that the book is worthy of the hype! Wee! I read Stiefvater’s book ‘Shiver’ a looooooooong time ago and remembered liking it so much! After seeing both you and Georgie review this book recently, I really want to pick it up, like now! ^^

    • Chiara says:

      IT SO IS! And I remember really liking SHIVER, as well :D I actually really want to re-read it, now that I loved this one so much.

      I hope you pick it up, Rosie. It is 10000% worth it!

  12. YAYYYY It makes me SO HAPPY that you enjoyed this Chiara! I was definitely a bit worried because of the hype too but no, the cast of characters is fantastic. Can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

  13. Quite a coincidence that I stumbled upon your review just an hour after I finished the book.(See what I did there?;))
    I was blown away by the book,and the characters are amazing!
    I can’t wait to read the sequel.

  14. Larissa says:

    Still haven’t read this one ooops. Not going to lie the hype can be quite overwhelming and can have the opposite intended effect on me as it makes me so scared to read a hyped book and feel disappointed.

    But honestly, I haven’t heard a bad thing about this novel and your review just makes me want to get a copy of this book right away.

    It’s good that the writing was done in such a beautiful way, yet it never detracted from the story nor brought it down to a slow pace. Unfortunately I’ve read many books where that was the case. I also think Maggie must have some talent to make an third person POV be just as connective as first. The storyline also sounds super intriguing to me.

    It’s good to hear that all of the boys aren’t head over heels in love with the single girl character haha. Oh god, I’ve read stories like those and they don’t end up well. It takes love triangle to like love octagon levels and is just soooo messy and unrealistic.

    I also like the sound of all of the male characters. I love to read a story that has strong and authentic male voices. So often I feel like male characters don’t have a realistic voice or are reduced to mere cardboard cutout love interests.

    Loved your review <33

    • Chiara says:

      I can agree with you about hyped books! I usually don’t end up loving them, but THE RAVEN BOYS was different. I loved everything about it. My five stars are very special, so you should know this book most definitely deserved it ^.^

      I’m so glad my review makes you want to read it! I really hope you do, and that you love it as much as me. I haven’t fallen in love with a series from the get go like this in SO LONG.

      Maggie’s writing style is absolutely beautiful, and I’m pretty much in awe of it all the time. It also definitely doesn’t slow it down or get in the way of anything. It’s suited so perfectly.

      UGH YES. I loathe stories where multiple guys fall in love with the one girl. Not only is it unrealistic, it gets on my nerves, too!

      The raven boys are EXTREMELY authentic :D EEK.

      As you can tell, I’m still raving about this book even in this comment, haha XD And thank you so much for yours! <3

  15. I’ve read Shiver and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I wasn’t a huge fan of Shiver, but I adored The Scorpio Races. The Scorpio Races was my favorite book I read last year. I’ve heard nothing but glowing things about The Raven Boys, and ever since Blue Lily, Lily Blue came out, everyone’s been raving about the series as a whole. I feel like I’ve missed the bandwagon — but I certainly will try to catch up. I seriously need to read this series ASAP.

    • Chiara says:

      I haven’t read THE SCORPIO RACES yet, but I have heard nothing but good things! I know I will read it ASAP, because I need more Maggie Stiefvater in my life, haha. I own the whole Shiver trilogy, so I will likely end up reading that, too!

      I hope you read it soon, Mallory! It is definitely worth it.

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