Maggie Steifvater
Scholastic
Ages 14-17
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.
MY REVIEW:
I read Steifvater's The Scorpio Races a few years back and was completely mesmerized by her writing. The Raven Boys did not disappoint. While I felt a little lost for the first few chapters as I sorted through the seemingly myriad characters, I did finally settle in for a wondrous and spellbinding story.
Steifvater's strength as an author is her powerful and skilled use of language. Her writing is poetic, lyrical, and as otherworldly as her stories. I couldn't help but just fall into her story. I was completely entranced. Each character (and there are a lot of them) is so unique and complex, and is vital to the story, which is full of unexpected surprises.
I'm not sure what to call The Raven Boys, whether it's a romance or a ghost story or a coming-of-age tale. I suppose it is all of these. Every chapter was lush and visceral, sweeping me into this imaginative quest. But beware. Once you get to the end of The Raven Boys, you realize that the story is really just getting started.
CONTENT REVIEW:
Profanity: High
Violence: Moderate
Sexuality: Mild
Big fan of this author!
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