The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)

by Maggie Stiefvater

[nitzan_schwarz]

I can't believe I never added my review to GR... I suck lol It's from my old blog that is now private soooo... not my best haha none of my old reviews were :/
*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Writing this review is very difficult for me. I've actually been procrastinating doing it for the last week. I can tell you very clearly that I loved this book. Now, explaining my feelings on it, putting my jumbled thoughts in writing... that's the difficult part.

To start off, let me just say...

This was my first Maggie Stiefvater book, and I was impressed by the writing and the creativity, and the characters from the first moment, which is pretty amazing. The only other experience I had like that was with Libba Bray's The Diviners.

The best way I can describe this book is saying that reading it was felt a bit like walking inside of a dream; a magical, eternal, kind of confusing and disemboweled feeling. Not everything made sense. Sometimes things appear and disappear (but trust me, it all ended up having a meaning. Which is fucking genius, by the way). It was airy and bewildering. I wonder if anyone can understand what I just said?... It's the closest I can come to explaining it.

All the characters in this book are odd. They are not normal people, but they're all okay with that. And they're all shrouded in mystery. Mighty intriguing. You will definitely want to know what happens with them next once you start reading.

This is going to be long because there are 5 characters to introduce:

First, there is Blue. She comes from a family of psychics, but the only thing she's capable of is "increasing the noise", making her family members' abilities stronger. Her name really fits her. Nothing much fazes her (but maybe Gansey) as she's grown around weirdness. And, of course, with a prophecy that says she'll kill her true love with a kiss. No biggie.

Gansey is looking for something. Something supernatural - a forgotten magical realm and one dead welsh king. He's also the guy Blue is destined to fall in love with... and kill. He's an oddball; wicked smart, and determined, but also so rich he comes out condescending to those less fortunate without him noticing or meaning to hurt them.

Ronan is Gansey's best friend. He's never been the same since he found his murdered father; he drinks, he explodes often, he acts like a jerk. But something about him makes him appealing still. Maybe it's all Chainsaw. A curious character indeed.

Adam is the only guy in the group who's lower statues. He comes from a bad family background, and he's almost as determined as Gansey to find the Ley Lines, only for different reasons. He's got a huge complex when it comes to getting help from others. I was sometimes in love with him, sometimes really pissed with him. At the end, the annoyance won.

And last but not least, Noah. Possibly my favorite guy in this book. I don't know why, but I just found him so freakin' adorable! He was the quiet one people forget about sometimes, but with Blue he was just like an adorable puppy or a big brother, I don't know. But I loved him. He gets a pretty major and surprising part in this book, too.

I got invested in all of these characters, despite their strangeness. They were all so unique, and when things happened (and things seemed to happen often), I screamed "NO" out-loud more than once. I was really anxious and hopeful it will work out somehow. Mostly it did. Some it didn't.

The writing of this entire book was just phenomenal. It was so beautiful and magical and enchanting, and just for her writing I know I'll give any book this woman writes a chance. She's also a genius Confuser (the job title I came up with, for people who confuse others on a professional basis)

It was a joy to read this book, though I know I'll have to re-read it many times to fully - or even kind of - understand everything. It's confusing. Bottom line: I can't wait to read the next book in the series, and I pray all four will be published soon. A girl can dream. lol