review; the raven boys

The Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater

“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.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is 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 has it all – family money, good looks, devoted friends – but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, 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 never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Review:
I got Shiver as a birthday present some years ago, and fell in love with Maggie’s writing style. However, for some reason or the other, I never picked up the sequels, or any other of her novels. Until The Raven Boys.

First and foremost is the tagline. You would think with a tagline like ‘if you kiss your true love, he will die’, the novel will be a love story with some element of the supernatural. YOU WOULD NOT BE MORE WRONG.

Boy, are you ever wrong.

[And by ‘you’, I obviously mean ‘me’.]

First you are given a female character surrounded by other female characters who are psychics and unusual and yet – the world does not mock or deride them because they are a badass family with protective instincts that are terrifying and wonderful. Female empowerment and a matriarchal family who are scary and powerful and have the ability to kick ass and take names when they want, but can also be super flirty and fun and are genuinely human despite, you know, psychics who see and sense spirits and Calla and Persephone and Maura and Blue.

Oh god, I could write odes about and to Blue.
“So she truly was sensible. This was distressing. She felt like she’d done so much work to appear as eccentric as possible, and still, when it came down to it, she was sensible.”
This entirely too sensible teenager (who acts more like an old soul to be honest) surrounded by magic but with none of her own, yet still so inherently strong and sure in her own skin. Who needs magic or to be psychic to be strong? She’s smart and resourceful and wonderful and perfectly imperfect all on her own.

Then we’ve got the idiot boys with idiot thoughts about friendship and idiots with their lives and throwing themselves in front of fucking everything for each other and – the friendships in this story are everything.

Noah, oh god, Noah, my baby. So mysterious and sad and broken, but clinging to the friendships he has with these boys, and Blue, to stay strong. He is probably the strongest of the boys, even if he doesn’t see it yet.

Adam, such an idiot, with his sense of self and thinking all he has is the desire to prove himself and not seeing that his friends do not fucking care where he comes from, only that he stays alive and well and happy, which is also why they leave him be to his goal and try and support him every step of the way. Idiot.

Ronan is an asshole but also loves it and owns it. He is an utterly loyal and protective jerk who tries too hard not to care but cares in the end probably too much.

And then Gansey. Gansey, Gansey, Gansey, gods, Gansey, who is so fixated on Glendower and taking care of his friends and his life not being given back to him for no reason. Gods, Gansey.

And then Blue, she just slips into their friendship like she belongs there. It is just – it’s perfection is what it is.

(I realise this is more gushing about characters than actual plot but the characters DRIVE the plot and it’s what makes for such an interesting read, and I’m sure The Dream Thieves will not disappoint.)