Maggie Stiefvater
409 pages
Released: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: purchased
★★★☆☆
You can read the Goodreads summary here.
Every year Blue sits with her mother on St. Mark's Eve while she watches the parade of souls who will die within the year. But this year is different, as Blue herself sees a soul a named Gansey. When she meets him in real life and learns he's a Raven Boy, a student at a local all-boys school filled with wealthy, future-congressmen; she ordinarily wouldn't be attracted, but she soon finds herself involved with Gansey and his friends. Blue never thought she'd have to worry about the prophecy that she will kill the boy she falls in love with, but now she has to wonder...
What threw me off about The Raven Boys was that I was told it was a contemporary novel, but in reality The Raven Boys is a little bit fantasy, a little bit paranormal. It took me a good half of the book to wrap my head around that. Ultimately, however, it was that paranormal aspect of the book that I really ended up loving. Blue lives with an eclectic bunch of women who make a little money on the side as psychics. It was an interesting family dynamic, particularly as Blue begins to question who her absentee father is. Blue and her eclectic family often left me smiling.
I was also drawn into the book initially by Blue's relationship with the Raven Boys, Gansey and his friends. Blue had a preconceived notion about what Raven Boys were like and quite frankly she didn't want to much to do with them until "her boys" came around and she was thrown in to their project of finding ley lines and a missing king (that would be where the fantasy aspect comes in).
The problem I had reading The Raven Boys was my lack of attachment to just about anything. I really and truly cared about Adam and his home life situation and I was really intrigued by Noah's, er... life situation, but aside from those I didn't feel a great attachment or yearning for any of the characters or their relationships. Blue's relationship with her mother seemed distant and I was unsure of her romantic relationships as well... I didn't feel much chemistry between her or any of the boys.
Three stars. I had high hopes for The Raven Boys, but ultimately I didn't find myself that interested in the characters or most of their life situations. I feel like I'm in the minority, however, since so many other people have loved this book, so I definitely think it's still worth a look if you're already a fan of Maggie Stiefvater's work, or of contemporary works with a paranormal nature.
It's interesting -- I really liked this book when I read it but I definitely understand your criticisms here. It did seem like Blue was very detached from her mother and even from her "romantic" interests....there just wasn't a great connection. I did like this book when I read it and I'm interested in the next book but I will be wary of the criticisms you've made here
ReplyDeletethanks for an honest review!