The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)

by Maggie Stiefvater

Will Patton (Narrator)

"There are only two reasons a nonseer 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 best-selling 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.

• ASIN: B009CLMMZY
• Publish Date: 18 September 2012 (first published 1 September 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic Audio
• Edition: Audible
• Format: Audiobook
• Duration: 11 hours and 8 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[e_rodz_leb]

Once upon a time I went to BEA for the first time, actually it was last year, but never mind that part. Anyway, I stood in line waiting for a signed ARC of The Raven Boys for about an hour and a half. This was, by far, the longest line I waiting on and I was ever so happy with my new shiny book. And then… it sat on the shelf for over a year (not an uncommon happening around here.)

At this juncture you might be thinking one of two things: Is this a review or what? OR/AND, Why stand in line for such a long time for a book. Well, I promise to get on with the review in the next paragraph; as soon as I explain the why. I adore Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. I have now read everything she’s ever published. I adore the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and just a few months ago I “read” The Scorpio Races (in audio book) and I can assuredly say it’s one of my favorite books ever. I’ve also heard Maggie speak at two book events and I follow her blog. In essence, I’m a fan. Now, the review…

The Raven Boys was an unexpected surprise. It has a different quality to her other books, it lacks the pure lyricism of The Scorpio Races and the romanticism of Shiver; instead it is something else. Something new, different and unique.

The Raven Boys(as Blue calls them) are: Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah. This is an unlikely group of friends. They form a ‘family’ of sorts being led by Gansey. Gansey is the glue that keeps them all together; he is exceptional, caring and careless at the same time. He has one goal in mind and he has the temperament and the resources to see it through.

Ronan is ruthless, tough, hard to get to know, in pain, and troubled, but he is like a brother to Gansey and loyal to the core. He has gone through a really hard time and it’s trying to make peace with that fact. Adam is very smart and not rich like Ronan and Gansey. He has a partial scholarship to Anglioby and works really hard to pay for school, works really hard on his grades, it seems like everything is hard for him, especially his family life. It’s so hard to read those parts of the story because they are often heartbreaking. Noah is the easygoing one, always there when needed and he has a big secret.

And then, there’s Blue. For some reason Blue, and to some extent her family, form a tight circle of protection around the Raven Boys. Blue is different to everyone else in the group. She’s pragmatic, open minded, practical, loved, sarcastic, and a little weird. It must be really hard growing up with this sort of prophesy that foresees a doomed love. I really enjoyed reading about her extended family, her mom and her aunts, that are all true psychics.

The writing (as the quotes below can testify) is impeccable. As I mentioned before, it is different than her usual style and a bit strange, but it’s still insightful and beautiful. The plot is probably what confused me the most. It is a mix of true psychics, a mystery (or mysteries), very serious conflict between friends and within families, and the paranormal. At the end it all works together, but it wasn’t love at first sight like it was for her other books.

Overall, The Raven Boys is a fascinating story and a testament to Maggie Stievfater’s imagination and endless capability of surprising the reader with a book that is somewhat something more.

Some quotes for you:

“My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.”

“Maura had decided sometime before Blue’s birth that it was barbaric to order children about, and so Blue had grown up surrounded by imperative question marks.”
“The fact was, by the time she got to high school, being weird and proud of it was an asset. Suddenly cool, Blue could’ve happily had any number of friends. And she had tried. But the problem with being weird was that everyone else was ‘normal’”.

“Where do you live?”
Adam’s mouth was very set. “A place made for leaving”
“That’s not really an answer.”

“It’s not really a place.”
“From the passenger seat, Ronan began to swear at Adam. It was a long, involved swear, using every forbidden word possible, often in compound-word form. As Adam stared at his lap, penitent, he mused that there was something musical about Ronan when he swore, a careful and loving precision to the way he fit the words together, a black-painted poetry. It was far less hateful sounding than when he didn’t swear.”
About the cover: I find the cover so pretty and artistic at the same time. The raven is (of course!) very important for more than the obvious reasons."

[lizarodz]

Once upon a time I went to BEA for the first time, actually it was last year, but never mind that part. Anyway, I stood in line waiting for a signed ARC of The Raven Boys for about an hour and a half. This was, by far, the longest line I waiting on and I was ever so happy with my new shiny book. And then… it sat on the shelf for over a year (not an uncommon happening around here.)

At this juncture you might be thinking one of two things: Is this a review or what? OR/AND, Why stand in line for such a long time for a book. Well, I promise to get on with the review in the next paragraph; as soon as I explain the why. I adore Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. I have now read everything she’s ever published. I adore the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and just a few months ago I “read” The Scorpio Races (in audio book) and I can assuredly say it’s one of my favorite books ever. I’ve also heard Maggie speak at two book events and I follow her blog. In essence, I’m a fan. Now, the review…

The Raven Boys was an unexpected surprise. It has a different quality to her other books, it lacks the pure lyricism of The Scorpio Races and the romanticism of Shiver; instead it is something else. Something new, different and unique.

The Raven Boys(as Blue calls them) are: Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah. This is an unlikely group of friends. They form a ‘family’ of sorts being led by Gansey. Gansey is the glue that keeps them all together; he is exceptional, caring and careless at the same time. He has one goal in mind and he has the temperament and the resources to see it through.

Ronan is ruthless, tough, hard to get to know, in pain, and troubled, but he is like a brother to Gansey and loyal to the core. He has gone through a really hard time and it’s trying to make peace with that fact. Adam is very smart and not rich like Ronan and Gansey. He has a partial scholarship to Anglioby and works really hard to pay for school, works really hard on his grades, it seems like everything is hard for him, especially his family life. It’s so hard to read those parts of the story because they are often heartbreaking. Noah is the easygoing one, always there when needed and he has a big secret.

And then, there’s Blue. For some reason Blue, and to some extent her family, form a tight circle of protection around the Raven Boys. Blue is different to everyone else in the group. She’s pragmatic, open minded, practical, loved, sarcastic, and a little weird. It must be really hard growing up with this sort of prophesy that foresees a doomed love. I really enjoyed reading about her extended family, her mom and her aunts, that are all true psychics.

The writing (as the quotes below can testify) is impeccable. As I mentioned before, it is different than her usual style and a bit strange, but it’s still insightful and beautiful. The plot is probably what confused me the most. It is a mix of true psychics, a mystery (or mysteries), very serious conflict between friends and within families, and the paranormal. At the end it all works together, but it wasn’t love at first sight like it was for her other books.

Overall, The Raven Boys is a fascinating story and a testament to Maggie Stievfater’s imagination and endless capability of surprising the reader with a book that is somewhat something more.

Some quotes for you:

“My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.”

“Maura had decided sometime before Blue’s birth that it was barbaric to order children about, and so Blue had grown up surrounded by imperative question marks.”
“The fact was, by the time she got to high school, being weird and proud of it was an asset. Suddenly cool, Blue could’ve happily had any number of friends. And she had tried. But the problem with being weird was that everyone else was ‘normal’”.

“Where do you live?”
Adam’s mouth was very set. “A place made for leaving”
“That’s not really an answer.”

“It’s not really a place.”
“From the passenger seat, Ronan began to swear at Adam. It was a long, involved swear, using every forbidden word possible, often in compound-word form. As Adam stared at his lap, penitent, he mused that there was something musical about Ronan when he swore, a careful and loving precision to the way he fit the words together, a black-painted poetry. It was far less hateful sounding than when he didn’t swear.”
About the cover: I find the cover so pretty and artistic at the same time. The raven is (of course!) very important for more than the obvious reasons."

[violetpeanut]

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one yet. The writing is superb. Maggie Stiefvater really has a gift with words and has a way of describing people and scenes that truly bring them to life. I don't know about the general plot, though. I think I need to mull this one over for a while before I give a rating and a more thorough review.

[wyvernfriend]

Blue has been told that if she kisses her true love he will die, when she takes part in the ghost road ceremony on April 24th, St Mark's Eve, she meets Gansey (okay, this name jarred me a little out of the story, a Gansey is a jumper/sweater to my brain, I know it's from the place, but it jolted me a little), she's the one non-psychic among pyschics, although she is a pyschic amplifier.

When she meets Gansey she's not so impressed, he's one of the Raven Boys, who go to the local private school and have a raven as part of their crest. He's monied and he has no qualms about using that money, something that often rankles other people, a gulf between him and other people. His mono-mania about finding evidence about a dead (maybe) Welsh King also is offputting for some but interesting. The people he surrounds himself with don't always realise why he wants them around.

I did like this story, interested to know what happens next but this does stand on it's own, just with some questions at the end

[ladygrey]

I don't even know where to begin. [a:Maggie Stiefvater|1330292|Maggie Stiefvater|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587234813p2/1330292.jpg] makes it so easily to tumble quickly into this world. It's thick with character description at first which was a little hard but I think I'll enjoy quite a bit upon rereading.

I love the chats tees in this story - almost every single one if them from Calla to Gansey (even though they have such odd names). I really enjoyed the plot and that it's unique and intriguing. Though I expected it to be The Covenant so I was surprised in the beginning when Blue was supernatural and the boys were not. But it's such an odd story with odd characters in such a lovely way that I really enjoyed it.

I also liked that it had very serious and dark elements but wasn't a dark book and wasn't awful to read or unbearably tense. I really liked that I could enjoy reading it and discovering the story without being all tense the whole time.

But the best part was Stiefvater's use of language. Her descriptions and metaphors are seamless and atmospheric and completely make the book. I want to reread it just so I can highlight all the lines I love in my kindle.

[jnikkir]

MAGGIE, YOU GET ALL THE STARS.

Review to come.

AMAZING.

I have to agree with so many other reviewers: yes, the first third of the book is slow. I started The Raven Boys twice before I decided to continue in order to find out if/when it would get good. And now I wish I had given it a chance sooner.

If I'd known going into it what I know now, or if I'd left my expectations behind on page 1, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found the first part quite so slow. I expected something completely different--something closer to Maggie's Shiver (which I was a little disappointed by), or at least something with much more of a YA PNR feel. A book about a girl whose kiss will kill her true love? That sounds to me like there are going to be pretty regular will they/won't they kiss?! scenarios. But that is not what we get with The Raven Boys. As it turns out, those scenarios are few and far between (understatement). And that, in my opinion, is a very good thing.

What we get, once things start to unfold after the first 100 pages, is a captivating, character-driven story. The plot starts to thicken, the characters really come into their own, and this book becomes something that is fairly impossible to put down.

So let's talk about those Raven Boys:

Gansey. I didn't start out liking Gansey very much, I'll be honest. But as the story progressed, and we learned more about why he acts the way he does, and what drives him to go on this quest with the other boys, he grew on me a lot. Now that I know more about his character and how the story unfolds, I'll be excited to read the previously "slow" opening before Book 2 comes out. I think it will be better going into it with more knowledge.

Adam. I know Gansey is supposed to be the main guy in this book (or is he?), but for me, Adam stole the show. Everything he goes through is just... gut-wrenching. Initially I thought he was being a little weird about not accepting help from anyone, even his friends, but once you learn more about him, and why he feels so strongly the way he does, just... I have no words. I JUST LOVE HIM OKAY.

Noah. I don't really know what to say about Noah, except that even from the little we see of him throughout the book, I knew there was something about him that I was going to love. I was right, and then some.

Then there was Ronan. I so wish we could've seen into his head a little bit more because there is so much I want to know about him. He kind of intrigued me from the get-go, not because he was easy to like (he isn't), but because he had that prickliness that only comes from some serious back-story. There is not enough of this in Raven Boys, and I need more. The end of the book makes me think that we'll definitely get more in Book 2, so I'm looking forward to that for sure. Especially the resolution to that cliffhanger. It came out of NOWHERE!


Really, the Raven Boys made the book (it is named for them, after all). Their unlikely, unbreakable friendship was the crux of this story, and these 5 stars are all thanks to them. (Oh yeah and Maggie too.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Just for the heck of it, I'm including sections I highlighted in my ebook: No spoilers, just pretty descriptions and phrases that struck me somehow.

He knocked fists with Adam. Coming from Gansey, the guesture was at once charming and self-conscious, a borrowed phrase of another language.

Ronan's expression was still incendiary. His code of honor left no room for infidelity, for casual relationships. It wasn't that he didn't condone them; he couldn't understand them.

At night, Henrietta felt like magic, and at night, magic felt like it might be a terrible thing.

Adam closed his eyes for a minute. Gansey could see his irises moving underneath the thing skin of his eyelids, a dreamer awake.

The filled the hallway to overflowing, somehow, the three of them, loud and male and so comfortable with one another that they allowed no one else to be comfortable with them.

When Gansey was polite it made him powerful. When Adam was polite, he was giving power away.

She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness.

[elvinagb]

Blue Sargent has grown up as the daughter of a psychic and lives in a house with her mother and her mother's likewise gifted friends. Blue has been told that that she would kiss her true love and kill him and so has decided to never fall in love. That is until St. Mark's Eve when she goes with her mother's friend to the church yard to use her energy to help see the ghosts of those destined to die in the next year. Blue sees her first ghost and realizes that she the one who will kill him. Is this her true love?
Stiefvatar has written a great book for the first of a series although I would have liked a stronger ending and had this as a stand alone novel. Her characters are interesting and I really liked their dialogue. She manages to touch on so many themes in this book; first love, different parenting styles, child abuse, friendship, sibling rivalry, murder, ghosts, haunting, etc.
I look forward to the next book in this series and to finding out more about all the characters and what will happen to them next.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Maggie Stiefvater creates a stunning new spellbinding world that captures spirit, intrigue, and beautifully crafted world bilding with, The Raven Boys. She weaves together a beautiful tapestry of myths, legend, and psychic abilities that will eagerly draw reader's in and keep them deeply entrenched in the rich story details. It is a wonderfully written and magnificently developed mystical ride, sure to enrapture reader's leaving them breathless and filled with anticipation. Gorgeously intense and realistically believable, The Raven Boys depicts a truly suspenseful tale sure to entertain. It is a tale that is sure to tug at reader's heartstrings, with richly intensely wonderful character's that come alive and leap off the pages.

Blue is the strong and sensible type of girl that reader's will be able to relate to. She's likable in many ways, with a few realistic flaws of her own which makes it easier to connect with her more on a realistic level. She's done pretty well at dealing with growing up in a house that isn't anything less than unusual. Her mother and Calla, Maura, and Persephone are brillinatly colorful, bringing so much life to the pages in their own eccentric ways and personality flare. They add a lot of whimsical unusual fun to the story, enriching it in so many other details and facets. Reader's will definitely find themselves enjoying these colorful kooky character's.

The friendship between each one of the Raven Boys, is one of the best aspects of this wonderfully written and enjoyable novel. Each of them possesses their own painful backstory, that Maggie Stiefvater manages to gradually reveal over time. It's heartbreaking and beautiful, but it's such an amazingly touching story. These group of boys are incredibly complex and complicated to figure out at first, but once reader's get to know them along the way they will surely fall in love with each of them. Together, they each bring so much depth and layers to the story. I personally enjoyed how well compatible they were with one another, it made the story much more interesting and enjoyable.

Maggie Steifvater has managed to pen such a beautifully illustrated, deeply rich and intense, emotional story that is just as eloquent and almost lyrical at times. She never fails to set the stage or the mood, with whatever she is writing. Fans of her previous novels, will not be disappointed with The Raven Boys. It is an amazing start to what is soon to be another brilliant series on her behalf. She has truly outdone herself, by writing one of the most character driven novels full of dark beguiling beauty and intrigue.

The Raven Boys is a book that reader's will definitely not want to miss out on!