The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys
(The Raven Cycle #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Length: 468 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Classification: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.His name is Gansey, 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 is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher 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 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 anymore. 

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This is not my first Maggie Stiefvater book, I have also read the first two books in her Shiver trilogy. And I love her writing. Love her books.

I think I waited on reading this book because I figured I would end up liking it and it would be painful to wait to read the following book, since it is a series. So I kept putting it off, thinking "I'll just wait until all of the books are out and then I can read them all."

But obviously I caved. I decided I wanted to read this book this month and added it to my February List.

I am glad that I did, but I am also upset that I did. Because now I am wanting more.

The Raven Boys ended on a bit of a cliff hanger! There are so many questions that I want answered. But I will share more on this later in the Spoiler section of my review.

Let me just say I love the characters! I think that Maggie did an awesome job developing them.
I felt like Gansey and Blue were the two main characters of the book. But I also felt that all of the characters were very important and we also knew a lot about the characters.

Possible SPOILERS AHEAD. Click the button to view spoilers.

  I found Blue's future fortune pretty interesting. When she kisses her True Love, he will die. What a HORRIBLE prediction! Not horrible because it is wrong and won't come true, but HORRIBLE because she has to live in fear about the possibility of kissing a boy that she likes will kill him!!!! I feel so bad for her. I can't imagine her having to live with this. I like Gansey. I feel bad for him because he feels so much pressure from having family money. He often says things that are taken the wrong way. And I feel like he struggles with trying to get people to see him for him rather to define him by the money that he has. (Even though I haven't read The Great Gatsby, I kept thinking how Gansey makes me think of Gatsby in some way. Maybe just because they both go by their last names and they both start with G?) Adam. I was and still am a bit confused by Adam. I felt like he had a good friendship with Gansey, but he struggles with the fact that he thinks if he lives with Gansey it means that he owns him. I felt bad for Adam a lot. He is poor and has a domestically violent father. He works hard and helps Gansey a lot with the search. And he likes Blue. Which is one area I was a little confused. Blue sees Gansey's spirit on St. Mark's Day Eve. And by doing this it means he is either her True Love or that she kills him (which if he is her TL then she would probably end up doing that other part too...) So this made me think that she is going to fall in love with Gansey. But it seems like she has or is developing feelings for Adam. Which makes me wonder if there is going to be a love triangle between the three of them. I am pretty interested in how the feelings between Blue and Gansey grow. And what happens to the relationship between Blue and Adam. Then Adam at the ending is the part that pretty much confused me. I don't know if I overlooked something when I was reading the end, but when Adam goes into the pentagram and sacrifices himself, I thought that meant he was sacrificing his life. That he was going to die. Whelk shoots him, but he doesn't get shot. It doesn't do anything to him. And the trees are what kills Whelk. So I am confused about what happened to Adam. What am I missing? Is he filled with magic now? He does it to be his own master, to be in control and have free will. So does it now mean he controls the trees in Cabeswater? Hopefully I will find out more in the next boo, The Dream Thieves.  Noah. I realized that Noah was different from the beginning. But his real identity was a surprise to me. And it also made me heartbroken. Poor Noah. He is so sweet. I am so glad that they were able to make it so he could reappear and stay with them! Ronan. I found him to be a pretty interesting character. So complex. And I am really interested in what happened to his father. There is more to that part of the story I think. And oh my goodness, the end of the story. Ronan's cliffhanger. I didn't see that coming either. And I think he is going to have a much bigger part in the next book. Since it is called The Dream Thieves.

 

So I am really looking forward to reading the next book. I almost ran out and bought it right away. But since I have the first book on the Kindle, I am debating which why I want to buy The Dream Thieves. Also, I am kinda waiting a little bit though too, because I am worried it might end on an even BIGGER cliffhanger. So I think I am going to wait until it is closer to book #3 coming out.
Guess I'll just wait and see, probably won't be able to wait that long.

My Rating: