Book Review: The Raven Boys

By Chelsea Korn, '14
Editor-in-Chief

“Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.” This is the very first sentence in Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys, the first book in the author’s new series, The Raven Cycle. The Raven Boys tells the story of sixteen year old Blue Sargent, the only non-psychic in her family (which consists of a group of women who are all clairvoyant) and of four very different “raven boys”. “Raven boy” is a nickname for students at Aglionby Academy, a local prep school for the sons of the wealthy and well-to-do. Ever since Blue was little, she has been told that she would kill her true love if she ever kissed him. By the time she turns sixteen, Blue decides that in order to avoid this horrible fate, she’ll never fall in love. Simultaneously, a raven boy known as Gansey is knee-deep in the search for a man called Glendower—who happens to be a long-dead, mythological Welsh king. On St. Mark’s Eve, Blue sits in an old churchyard with her Aunt Neeve as the soon-to-be dead walk past, just as she has done every year with her mother before. Blue has never seen this procession of spirits—until this year, when a boy emerges from the mist and talks to her—a boy named Gansey. Before long, Blue and the raven boys are caught up in the world her mother and aunts have lived in for so long, a strange world of magic where anything is possible, danger lurks around every corner, and every choice comes at a price.

            The Raven Boys is by far Maggie Stiefvater’s best book yet. Not only does she weave an intricate plotline that keeps readers entertained and guessing what will happen next until the very last page, but the language used in The Raven Boys is simply beautiful. Having read all of Stiefvater’s novels, it is clear how much she has grown as a writer. The way this book is written is beautiful. One of my favorite lines from the story is “Tonight, the music was already loud enough to paralyze the finer parts of her personality”. Stiefvater’s use of imagery and descriptive language paints a mystical, mysterious, beautiful atmosphere which allows the reader to become even more immersed in an already great story. Great atmosphere + great plotline = amazing story.

            Another great part of this story is its many dynamic characters. There’s a character for everybody to relate to, and the story is told from the multiple points of view from different characters, similar to how A Game of Thrones or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is written. Many themes are woven throughout the book, including friendship, love, family relationships, secrecy, the lust for power, and the feeling of isolation. The Raven Boys is one of those stories that always keep the reader guessing and connecting with the characters on such a personal level. It’s a great book for people who enjoy books where fantasy and reality collide, and its romance, action, and humor make it appealing for other readers as well. Maggie Stiefvater herself has given readers 10 good reasons why they should read The Raven Boys including boys, psychics, and cars behaving badly, girls who are weird but totally fine with being weird, helicopters, Latin, jokes in Latin, kisses that never happen, kisses that do happen, and Maggie’s #1 reason: magical sleeping dead Welsh kings. If none of that appeals to you, then I don’t know what will. Go read Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys today. It will be worth it, I promise you.