Kait ✨
Written on Jun 8, 2020
The fourth spellbinding book in Maggie Stiefvater's The
Raven Cycle quartet.
All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true
love's death. 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
any more.
Absolutely addictive writing for teen girls... and grown-up girls...
Magic, mystery and adventure at every turn
From the bestselling author of Shiver, Linger
and Forever which all debuted at #1 on the UK book bestseller
charts
Film rights to The Raven Cycle have been acquired
"Expect this truly one-of-a-kind series to come to a thundering
close." Kirkus Reviews
- ISBN13 9781407136646
- Publish Date 26 April 2016 (first published 1 April 2016)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 15 June 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Scholastic
- Format Paperback
- Pages 448
- Language English
Reviews
dandyserendipity
Written on Apr 15, 2020
thepunktheory
Written on Sep 30, 2019
Okay. This was not exactly what I had expected. To be honest, I don't even know what it was that I had expected. Maybe something grander?
I felt like I was running out of pages but there was still so much stuff that needed to be dealt with. The book isn't any longer than the ones before and - let me warn you - stuff really goes down in the last few pages.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that the other parts of the book were too long, dragging on or anything like that. That's not the case at all. I enjoyed The Raven King tremendously. I just wish the ending wouldn't have been so rushed and we would have gotten some more explanation. The way it is I'm not even sure it makes 100% sense.
Let's talk about some of the stuff I loved: the character development. I feel like all of them have come a long way and they are not the same people they were at the beginning. This development feels natural and super credible, especially when I think about Blue and her former attitude she's now reconsidering.
Adam is also one of the major highlights in The Raven Boys. Especially in combination with Ronan. I swear, I shipped them the first time Ronan looked at him and I am super psyched that this thing is now canon. Ronan became so much more dimensional in this novel, it's almost insane.
That's one of the reasons I was so sad the end was so rushed. We didn't really have time to explore who they are post Glendower and that's a shame.
While we at least got a tiny glimpse at Blue and the boys in the epilogue, the women of Fox Way weren't granted that privilege. Whatever happened to them? What about Mr. Gray? Artemus? Gwenllian? I have so many questions!
littleread1
Written on Aug 3, 2018
I have a question for anyone who read this ... I will be vague as possible. Ronan says something to Adam in Latin, and he replies "I hate you". It is never translated what is said. I listened to the audio so I can't just Google translate it. Help?
empressbrooke
Written on Apr 18, 2018
Ultimately, I do think that this ended up being about the characters more than the plot - the end point in their search for Glendower became less important for Gansey and Adam as they became more comfortable with themselves, and in the end they needed Glendower's favor to restore problems they set in motion through their search, rather than to fix problems within themselves. The repetition of "Depending on where you began the story" highlighting each character's journey reminded me of another excellent YA book, Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel, which emphasized the theme from his adult books about how each person, no matter how minor a character in the story at hand, is the main character in another story. But after the series emphasized the Glendower/Sleepers plot so heavily, I still would have liked the conclusion to be less fuzzy.
alindstadtcorbeax
Written on Apr 5, 2018
Hmm.
wyvernfriend
Written on Mar 16, 2018
Still an interesting read and a good end to the series.
leahrosereads
Written on Mar 3, 2018
THE RAVEN KING had every element that I think a book could have to make me love it, but one. It was unnecessarily wordy in certain places, and in those parts of the book, it messed up pacing and even the plot a little bit.
It was weird. Now, that's not to say that I didn't love this book, because I did. But, I can't say that I'd recommend it to everyone all the time, for that reason alone. During those parts, sometimes the plot became a little convoluted, or even ignored for a moment, only to have me tossed back into the main story abruptly. I understand it was to continue developing certain relationships, but I honestly think the story would have been stronger without those left turns.
The characters were still really fleshed out, but (and while I get the point of the character, and the whole special-ness of THREE), I didn't care for Henry. Maybe if he came around sooner, maybe if he was more developed, maybe maybe maybe.
Also, did my book miss the page as to where Orphan Girl's name was changed to Opal?!
It felt super sudden in the Epilogue, and I'm still confused as to where I missed the name change.
That was really awkward to me.
Anyway, at the end of the day, I really did enjoy this book. I know that this review feels a little negative, but I think it's because I was hoping for so much more. I'm pretty happy with the ending, and I'm definitely going to read the OPAL story that came out the other day. Hoping for more Ronan shenanigans!
bookperson
Written on Jan 26, 2018
Kate (Blogging with Dragons)
Written on Feb 23, 2017
This review does contain spoilers.
Meet the series that completely wrecked my desire to read other books. I started reading the first book in the series “The Raven Boys,” as my nighttime reading on my kindle, so the light wouldn’t bother my sleeping boyfriend. Before I knew it, I had put down my main book, “Elantris” by one of my favorite authors ever, Brandon Sanderson, and just let myself become immersed in the magical world of Blue, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah.
I started reading and I thought to myself, “wow, this book is really weird.” Then, a few hours later, I thought “man, I should write a review about this amazing book.” And then I found myself buying the second book, and the third book, and the fourth book, without stopping. I really couldn’t. So now, I’m writing a review for the entire series, which you should go out and buy immediately.
This series is anything but generic. Character development, which is a magic enough in its own, but also has a different and unique brand of its own magic, which includes mystical forests, psychics, and dreams. The magic of the world of small town Henrietta sucks the reader into it in much the same way that Harry Potter sucked me in years ago when I was a child. Like J.K .Rowling’s famous series, the exploits of Blue Sargent and her Raven boys of Algionby Academy, Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah, pull you along and make you feel like a member every bit as much as Harry, Ron, and Hermione of Hogwarts. But unlike Rowling’s poorly written romances and iffy character development, author Maggie Stiefvater writes entirely new and authentic feelings for her characters, including mistaken romances that fizzle out before they even light, forbidden flirtationships that not only threaten friendships, but lives, and sympathetic kisses with a ghost, and a gay romance between two very surprised boys. But trumping all of these is that Blue Sargent grows up with the alarming foretold knowledge that her first kiss will be her true love’s last.
And if that’s not enough to interest you, Blue, the only non-psychic member of an eccentric family of scrying, card-reading psychics, seeing her first spirit ever on her hometown’s Corpse Road might do the trick. When this Algionby sweater-wearing spirit introduces himself to Blue as Gansey, she determines to throw aside her rules of, “One, stay away from boys, because they were trouble. And two, stay away from Algionby boys, because they were bastards,” to save this mysterious boy in the Algionby Sweater from his impending fate (The Raven Boys, The Raven Cycle, Book 1).
When this very much still alive boy and his friends from the prestigious, rich kid school show up on her doorstep asking for psychic advice in their hunt for the legendary sleeping King Glendower on a slumbering ley line, Blue is hurtled into their world. But what I love about her quirky character is that she always remains true to her crocheted outfit, clipped hair, short-tempered, authentic self despite being thrown into the world of privilege and magic of the Raven boys. And what’s even better is that “her” boys—Richard Gansey the III, the popular, go-getter, son of a senator, that leads their group of misfits on their paranormal quest; Ronan the angry delinquent with a dead father and a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas; Adam the scholarship student with an abusive dad and trailer park backgrounds; Noah the quiet loner—love her for her uniqueness and she soon feels more at home with them than she ever did as the odd one out in her hodge-podged family of psychics. And when Blue reaches her realization that, “…[she was a ] little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys” (The Dream Thieves, The Raven Cycle, Book 2), you’ll realize that you too have fallen in love with all of them and their quest right along with her.
If the beautiful and painfully real feeling character development weren’t enough to make this series magical, then the mystical forest of Cabeswater, speaking Latin, the threat of demons unmaking their world, a magical taking dreams and making them real, future telling, restless ghosts, robo Bees, a slumbering King who grants wishes, and dream creatures definitely do it. Plus, Maggie writes it all with a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor that literally made me laugh out loud and feel like a teenager, with that sense that anything could happen, all over again. And that too, adds to this odd brand of magic that make this series unforgettable.