* * * * 1/2“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.”
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 bestselling 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.
Review:
Blue is the only non-seer in a house full of psychics. A house full of psychics that all agree on one thing – Blue will kill her one true love. The one thing lacking from their prediction is the who, when and where. But one thing Blue knows for sure is that the who could never be one of the pretentious and spoiled Aglionby Raven boys.
Gansey has one obsession. And that is to find the body of the old king Glendower. Gansey, a natural leader, has won the loyalty of three Aglionby classmates – Ronan, Adam and Noah. With the help of his friends, the quest for the ley lines that lead to Glendower’s resting place eventually drops them at Blue’s house for a psychic reading.
Blue never in a million years would have believed she would befriend one, let alone four, Aglionby boys. But after a chance meeting and a psychic reading that poses offers up more questions than answers, Blue can’t help but join Gansey’s misfit crew in their quest.
As we all know, I adore Maggie Stiefvater. She is my girl crush. Don’t believe me? Even she agrees….
But I don’t think I am being partial (at least not too much) when I say that this story is wonderful. The characters are ALL engaging and described in such a way that they just pop right off the page. Besides the purposely quirky Blue, there is the confident yet sometimes self-doubting Gansey and his friends – “elegant” Adam, “sulky” Ronan and “smudgy” Noah. Stiefvater leaves no room for doubt as to who these kids are inside and out.
When I was a kid I would hide in the back of my long dark and old closet and close my eyes while I imagined that the back wall would open into Narnia. With the imagery that breathes life into every page, I felt like I was living their magical quest. I am not ashamed to admit that after reading this I found myself doing the modern version of what I did as a kid - imagining the places I could go while I went on my own search for ley lines and old kings. As you may have guessed, The Raven Boys is a book full of adventure that I would recommend to pretty much everyone.
Nat
