The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“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.

I picked up this book not expecting much. Of course, I knew that Maggie Stiefvater was an acclaimed author, but I have picked up several of her other books many times, and never likes them enough to read past the first page. This book though - this book was amazing. Beautiful, and creepy, and lyrical, I could hardly put it down.

The book follows a wide cast of characters, the main being Blue and the Raven Boys, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah. Every person in the book, from the major to the minor, was amazing, my favorite being Gansey. Each character had their own story that perfectly weaved itself in to the main story.

Blue has always been told that when she kisses her true love, he will die. So when she sees, for the first time, the spirit of a soon-to-be-dead on the corpse road, and her Aunt tells her that she has killed the boy, or that she was his true love, or both, she knows that her life has changed.

That boy is Gansey - that's all there is - and when she unknowingly meets him a few days later, she immediately doesn't like him - but she does like his friend Adam, a scholarship student at the prestigious, and snobby, boarding school that marks the boys as Ravens, Aglionby.

The story unfolds along over time as the five friends quest to unlock the secrets of the ley lines - the Corpse Road, the Spirit Road - that run through the world, and awake the legend Glendower.


The romance plot is subtle and barely there, but there were many hints towards Blue and both Gansey and Adam. I admire the way the romance took a backseat to the story but also was very substantial to it.

The story is full if deceit, mystery, murder, romance, and magic, and held me in the beautifully written world Mrs. Stiefvater crafted. The lyrical writing style was entirely unique and wonderful and only added to the story.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an amazing read. I am waiting impatiently for the next installment of this series!

Rating: 5/5

Market: YA
Sensuality: mild
Violence: moderate
Language: not a lot, but when there pretty bad words