The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Raven Boys was so different than what I had expected… different good.  This is a different writing for Maggie Stiefvater, a more complex and engaging writing.

~Sheila

At sixteen, Blue knows her life is different than others her age.  For starters, her family are psychics.  This alone would be enough to make her stand out – and she is told that her presence in a room helps her family see into others lives more clearly although Blue sees nothing.

Until one day while Blue and her mother are waiting in the graveyard to see the spirits of those who will die in the next twelve months.  And this time, Blue sees something.  At first it is a flicker in the air, nothing you could put a shape too… but then.. she could.  It is a boy and his name in Gansey and now Blue knows he will die within the year….

Blue is told…

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.”

And days later when this same boy arrives at Blue’s door step for a reading… Blue knows she is in deep.  Warned by her family to stay away from Gansey and his friends known as the Raven Boys, Blue does what any sixteen year old girl would do when confronted with an ultimatum and a chance to hang out with some interesting boys… she starts sneaking around and helping then with their mission… to locate a line of energy that could connect them to a Welsh King, Glendover…

Maggie with a few other Scholastic ROCK STARS last year in New York at the Scholastic gathering during BEA.

I admit that Raven Boys wasn’t what I thought it would be.  I have read Maggie Steifvater before with her Shiver series and enjoyed them finding then very YA, very Twilight like… good fun easy reads.  So when I put myself into Raven Boys I was surprised to find something deeper and more involved than I had bargained for.

Maggie Steifvater takes her writing to a whole new level in Raven Boys.  It is more detailed than her past writings that I have read, it is a meatier read and it took me a while to wrap my head around it.  Yet once I did, I couldn’t stop. 

The character of Blue takes on an interesting twist as she brings a little something to the party that most can not.  With her abilities through her psychic family… she is an asset on the Raven Boys Team.  But for me, the Raven Boys themselves trump Blue 100 fold.  They are well developed… the story line as they figure out clues to a past they are unsure of id truly impressive.  As I followed along I kept having these, “What the!” and “Oh…. awesome!” moments. 

There are many story lines that are left open and hearing this is a 4 book series (the second coming out this fall) I imagine that the teasers of this book… opening doors that we do not yet get to walk through, will lure this reader for sure, on to the next book… and probably the next after that. 🙂

I listened to this book on audio and narrator Will Patton did a wonderful job with the cast of characters he was working with.