Rereads #2: The Raven boys

 Series: The Raven Cycle #1 

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Magical Realism, Fantasy

Original publication date: September 18, 2012

Book description: 

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.

Thoughts:

To start off, this book was not in my TBR for this month. I was not even sure I was going to reread it again this year. Especially because I started the reread of the second series of this universe- Call down the hawk, my first reread of the year is the first book reread of 2021, and its set after the end of the Rave Cycle series. 

Did it stop me?

Not really. This is my 3 reread of the series or fourth not sure really but I do enjoy greatly my time in this world. It seems it's going to become one of those series I reread constantly.

We follow Blue mainly, she is the daughter and the only member of her family with no psychic abilities. On St Mark's day, her mother goes to the Corpse road and figures out who is meant to die that year. This time is the first one Blue is not accompanied by her mother but goes with her aunt Neeve and for the first time, she is able to see a spirit as they walk by the road. 

She meets a boy named Gansey, and the fact that she can see him is troubling. As the synopsis mentions she has always been given the same prediction: If she kisses her true love, they are going to die. She gets very invested by the intrigue of who the boy is and why he is going to die. she has no idea who this Aglonby student is. But either she is going to kill him or he is her true love and in her case it's likely it's both.

On the other hand, we follow Ronan, Adam, Noah, and Gansey. They are in a quest to find an ancient Welsh king who is said to be sleeping in the ley line waiting to be awakened. The four boys are called lovingly by Blue (eventually) "The Raven boys" because they go to the Private all boys school that has as main animal Raven. 

The ravens are present a lot in this story. It is the bird that is very present in Henrietta, the small town they live in, it's the bird associated with the king they are searching for, and it's the official mascot of the all-boys private school our main male characters go to. 

We have friendships, great family relations, a few family issues due to lack of communication, and also we see the other side, bad parents, and a household featuring domestic abuse. It gives it a very realistic representation. Most of the time the victims and the people around them make excuses and only strong situations will force the victim to fight back or denounce it. The issue portrayed here shows a realistic problem, a minor or a teen who denounces abuse what happens after that? They can't go back to the abusive household and have the next difficulty of finding somewhere else to live as they no longer have a house to go back to. In this situation, the teen is already sufficiently independent, has part-time jobs, and is able to support the school, housing, -he can be economically self-sufficient. It is by no means an easy task as living on your own is not cheap especially if you have nothing to fall back to. So we see a bit of drama in that aspect.

There is really not much plot development, we spend most of the time getting to know a bit more of the main characters and their family lives. It really is a character-focused story so do not go into it looking for a huge plotline and twits left and right. It is set in a very similar world like ours, even if Henrietta is a made-up place is located in Virginia, so I assume this is magical realism: as it features magic and supernatural abilities in a real-world setting. 

You are meant to care a lot for the Raven Boys, Blue, and her family. The ending was designed to grip you and have you wishing to jump straight into the sequel. I highly recommend this series, it is very easy to get into, and it's a quick read. I have read this book on average 2 days if we take into consideration the 3 times I have read it.

This is the second time I review this book in this blog, and yet in both, I can't manage to provide a real book review. 

I gave this 

This book is one I feel very comfortable returning to. I am no feeling like reading lately, it's a huge disappointment. A reading slump right now is not what I need, I am going to try to pick up something engaging or if that does not work I go back to comfort reads like picking up the sequel to the Raven Cycle. We'll see a bit later.

That is all from me guys, stay safe, stay healthy!