The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)by Maggie Stiefvater
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*5 Stars* I changed my mind…..
I’m leaning toward 4.5 stars….
“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.”
Ever since the day she was born, Blue has been told that if when she kisses her true love, he will die. If you were to ask me, I’d say this premise is intriguing, alluring, and altogether a heartbreaking reality. When you actually begin to read, though, you begin to see that the synopsis is not completely forthcoming. Now, this may turn a few readers off, but what I found was that while it wasn’t exactly as the blurb had described, it was both unique and alluring in a totally different way. I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much-it wasn’t any one thing….it just was.
I don’t quite know how to describe this story. On the one hand we have Blue, who is in a family of psychics without the ability herself to see anything. On the other hand, we have the Raven boys-privileged, without a worry, attending an elite school, thus dubbing them ‘The Raven Boys’.
I think the hardest thing to do in a story is to get your readers to care about every single character. It’s especially hard to get me to care about every single character. I have this way of being very narrow minded when it comes to books-I love romance. There is absolutely no question that without even the premise or idea of romance, I most likely won’t be as drawn to the story. Even if there isn’t supposed to be, I catch myself romanticising even the slightest of gestures, making the story work for me. Yes, I’m that sad. But more to the point, the basis of this story, in fact, did not revolve around the romance and really, didn’t have much to speak of. No, the story told was of all these Raven Boys and the non-psychic, Blue, who saw the ghost of either the boy she will fall in love with, or who she has (or will) killed.
Gansey. That’s all there is.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to make you like all characters in a story-even harder is to make that the deciding factor on whether or not you’ll enjoy or love the book. That’s how I look at TRB. You either liked it because you liked Gansey, Ronan, Adam, Noah, and Blue and the mystery behind the entire story, or you got a certain percent in and realized it’s not exactly as you had thought and put it down out of sheer frustration.
I loved the writing. It was intricate and had deeper layers and meaning behind it, all the while keeping you interested and grasping for straws. I loved how all the characters came together and the mystery they worked together to solve. I loved the break down of each character and how, as the story progressed, we began to see who they really were instead of just scratching the surface. Namely-Gansey and Adam. Gansey was such a fun character to unravel and Adam, while not my favorite person in the story, started to break out of his boring shell about halfway through. It was fun to see what they could be and what they were truly like after all the time we had invested, and it became fun to discover the possibilities of what could come in the next installment. And of course-the visions of romance. They hooked me and had me begging for those moments. They were beautiful and promising, making me giddy like a little girl.
It’s as simple as that. You liked it-or you didn’t. I don’t feel there’s a ton of room for in between on this one. If you just thought it was okay, most likely you won’t remember any of the story and therefore can’t say you liked it much. If your nose was pushed to the screen like mine was, then you loved it and can most likely say you remember at least 90% of the content despite the confusing aspects that might have had you scratching your head and struggling to put the pieces together. It is playing at a heartbreaking end for Blue and her true love, but inexplicably, I am drawn and obsessed with getting to the point where I get to see the hope or heartbreak first-hand.
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