The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
Source: Gift from friend
Format: Paperback
Pages: 408
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“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve. Either you're his true love...or you killed him"
Every year, Blue Sargent stands in the churchyard, next to her mother waiting for the soon-to-be dead to walk by. Usually, only her mother can see the people that will die in the next twelve months, but this year she sees a young boy in an Aglionby sweater come out of the darkness––Gansey.
I am absolutely in love with this book from head to toe. The characters in are all so unique and complex. At first, this book was very confusing to me because there were so many characters introduced all at once and the writing style was very hard to get used to. It took me about 70 pages before I fell into the story and could not stop reading.
Blue lives in a house with her mother, her aunts and a few of their friends who are all psychic. The only one who is not is Blue, but she when she is around them, she enhances their abilities. Gansey compares her to "
...the table everyone wants at Starbucks...the one next to the wall plug."
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| credit to tumblr user eitherfearorlove |
Then there is Gansey and his eccentric group of friends, Ronan, Adam and Noah, who attend Aglionby all boys private school.
Gansey comes from an extremely wealthy family, but is not your typical rich kid. He has an obsession with the supernatural. His quest is to find Welsh King Owen Glendower, who was supposedly buried under this energy line (ley line) and Gansey's hope is to find him. He tries so hard not to be the politician his family raised him to be because he does not want to be that pretentious ass hole rich kid, but you cannot help but hear the politician in him when he speaks. He speaks so beautifully and wi
th such charm and charisma. Like when he says, “My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them,” my heart stopped and wondered how a young boy can speak so exquisitely. He is the group leader than everyone adores and will never give up on. Even the way that Blue describes him, "He strode over to the ruined church. This, Blue had discovered, was how Gansey got places - striding. Walking was for ordinary people."
Ronan comes off as the bad ass of the group. I kinda pictured him as being Jackson from Teen Wolf. The one who could care less about what you think of him. You see these moments of anger and violence in him, but then you also see these moments of anguish and sorrow from him as well.
Adam is going to Aglionby on scholarship and will not accept any finical help from any of the other boys. All Adam wants to to not be the poor boy anymore. He wants to make a name for himself without anyones help and getting into Aglionby was the first step.
And finally there is
Noah who is the watcher who knows the most, but says very little. The slouchy shy one that people seem to forget. I loved the moments with Noah and Blue because he is just to sweet and comforting towards her.
You would not normally put a group of boys like this together, but when you do you get a friendship like no other. There is such a brotherly love between these boys and it makes my heart melt. They all care for each others so much even though they may not have much in common.
I have fallen in love with this series and cannot wait to read more and more. There are quite a few mysteries that will slowly unfold throughout this series and its extremely refreshing to know that yes, this quest for Glendower is the main problem, but there are other little problems to face along the way. I liked the paranormal feel the book had to it. It was very creepy and mysterious and you never knew what was going to happen next.
The one complaint I have is Blue's fashion sense is atrocious. As I read what she was going to wear I could help, but go with "Really? You're stepping out of the house in that?" It's small stupid thing, but other than that I was obsessed with this book while reading it. The sequel
The Dream Thieves came out on September 17th, 2013 and I will be posting my review of that very soon. I gave this book 5 our of 5 stars. This paranormal thriller had me on the edge of my seat and left me wanting more.
Let me know what you think!
Lee Chand
Some face claims I made
Blue:
Gansey:
Adam:
Ronan:
Noah:
The characters are all written with so much dept. There are so many shades of grey yet to unfold. Like most popular dystopians now a days, it follows a female lead who has no idea who she is and how powerful she can be. Juliette's touch is deadly, literally....like people die when they touch her. She has to be quarantined and shut off from the rest of the world in this dark prison, till she is released...under a few circumstances. Using her power for evil.
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Since Blue Lily, Lily Blue is coming out in a few weeks I decided to do a giveaway! To receive a copy of Blue Lily, Lily Blue you must complete the following:
In the Darkest Minds, one by one children of all ages being to die of Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration disease (IAAN). The government starts to put restrictions on the entire United States, but they were not scared of the children that might die. They were scared of the ones who lived. They discovered that the ones that lived had a rainbow of specific powers that ranged from being extremely smart to mind control and telepathy. When Ruby wakes up on her tenth birthday her parents ship her off to a “rehabilitation camp” named Thurmond where each child is classified by color. Ruby spends six years in that camp without speaking a word when one day she escapes. She finds Liam, Chubs and Zu who escaped from another camp nearby and together hope to find East River; a place were everything is supposed to be better for these kids with special powers.
Liam, the group's daring leader, is one of the most lovable male characters who cares for everyone as if they were his family. That boy was perfection bottled up into one cute blonde boy. And the Southern accent made my heart melt every time. Like when Zu had a nightmare and he comforted her in the middle of the night. OH LORD!
The friendship between Cady, Johnny, Mirren and Gat is just so sweet and cute. The moments they share together are some of the best parts of the book for me. There is one part where they are all talking about their mottos and they are all giving very serious answers and Johnny just goes, "Never eat anything bigger than your ass." :)
I am currently reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (I don't know about you, but whenever I hear that name Lockhart I think of that horrid professor from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.) I heard nothing but great things about it from my fellow reading buddies and when I went to Barnes and Nobel the other day I saw it and grabbed it immediately! I am about half way done and am loving it so far. I will post a full review later on when I finish with a non spoiler section for those who have not read it yet. 
