The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
Books in the Series
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King
First Book Synopsis (from Goodreads)
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.
Series Review
This whole series starts off with telling us the end: Blue sees Gansey's spirit along the corpse road, which means he will die within the next year.
But how we get to that point, and what the context is surrounding it, is a whole different thing!
In the first book, The Raven Boys, we meet the main characters. I loved Blue. She's so uniquely herself, even in the face of new circumstances and challenges. She makes mistakes and has her faults, but she also learns to find a place where she belongs, even though it's not where she first expected. Each of the four boys--Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah--have their own struggles and strong personalities and quirks and ways of speaking. As the series develops each character just becomes so deep and personal and real. I didn't like Ronan at all the first book, but by the end I just wanted to hug him (even though he would hate that). The character's individual choices and struggles were easy to understand from their own perspective, even if I as the reader didn't agree. It was all consistent with who they are.
There are also such great secondary characters, like Chainsaw and Mr. Gray and Gwenllian! Plus all the psychic ladies living at 300 Fox Way. It just fully rounded out this wonderful little world Stiefvater created.
Can I just say that I love it when something that could possibly be magical turns out to be exactly that? Instead of something symbolic or metaphorical or whatever. Gansey and Blue and company set out to find magic and myth... And they truly find it.
Gansey is on a quest to find the Welsh king Glendower, who he believes in buried in Virginia along a ley line. Ley lines are lines of energy or power that stretch across the world. Each of these characters is somehow affected by this ley line that cuts right through this sleepy town.
Throughout the entire series, we learn more about each of the characters and their backgrounds and what connects them to the ley line. Blue comes from a line of psychics, even though she herself is not. Instead she seems to amplify the powers of those around her.
I loved the way Stiefvater plays with the ley line magic throughout the story. The characters' (and this our) understanding of it grows and expands across the entire series. There's manipulation of time and space that make you question everything. The first book held a lot of surprises and twists that took the book in an unexpected direction.
In the first book there's a very prominent antagonist, but very quickly we realize there are bigger fish to fry. I liked that I would get to the point where I thought I finally had a grasp on where the books were going, and then Stiefvater would throw something in that was totally unexpected and took everything a completely different direction.
Each book has its own contained series of events, but I wouldn't say each book is its own complete story. The series could almost just be read as one really big book with the way each installment flows into the next. I burned through them all pretty fast!
I loved Stiefvater's quirky and vivid writing. I could picture the beautiful Virginia countryside and hear the southern drawls. She builds tension perfectly. I loved how accurately and poignantly she captures young love. I thought that this was such a unique story and world. It's new and different and I enjoyed exploring the paranormal and deep magical realism.
My only complaint really is that the ending felt rushed. There were some major things that weren't explained very clearly, and other more minor things that were left hanging. This is the only book in the series that didn't get 4 stars from me.
But don't let the ending put you off. Overall this is a beautiful and fantastic series and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it! I would definitely recommend!
Books in the Series
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King
First Book Synopsis (from Goodreads)
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.
Series Review
This whole series starts off with telling us the end: Blue sees Gansey's spirit along the corpse road, which means he will die within the next year.
But how we get to that point, and what the context is surrounding it, is a whole different thing!
In the first book, The Raven Boys, we meet the main characters. I loved Blue. She's so uniquely herself, even in the face of new circumstances and challenges. She makes mistakes and has her faults, but she also learns to find a place where she belongs, even though it's not where she first expected. Each of the four boys--Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah--have their own struggles and strong personalities and quirks and ways of speaking. As the series develops each character just becomes so deep and personal and real. I didn't like Ronan at all the first book, but by the end I just wanted to hug him (even though he would hate that). The character's individual choices and struggles were easy to understand from their own perspective, even if I as the reader didn't agree. It was all consistent with who they are.
There are also such great secondary characters, like Chainsaw and Mr. Gray and Gwenllian! Plus all the psychic ladies living at 300 Fox Way. It just fully rounded out this wonderful little world Stiefvater created.
Can I just say that I love it when something that could possibly be magical turns out to be exactly that? Instead of something symbolic or metaphorical or whatever. Gansey and Blue and company set out to find magic and myth... And they truly find it.
Gansey is on a quest to find the Welsh king Glendower, who he believes in buried in Virginia along a ley line. Ley lines are lines of energy or power that stretch across the world. Each of these characters is somehow affected by this ley line that cuts right through this sleepy town.
Throughout the entire series, we learn more about each of the characters and their backgrounds and what connects them to the ley line. Blue comes from a line of psychics, even though she herself is not. Instead she seems to amplify the powers of those around her.
I loved the way Stiefvater plays with the ley line magic throughout the story. The characters' (and this our) understanding of it grows and expands across the entire series. There's manipulation of time and space that make you question everything. The first book held a lot of surprises and twists that took the book in an unexpected direction.
In the first book there's a very prominent antagonist, but very quickly we realize there are bigger fish to fry. I liked that I would get to the point where I thought I finally had a grasp on where the books were going, and then Stiefvater would throw something in that was totally unexpected and took everything a completely different direction.
Each book has its own contained series of events, but I wouldn't say each book is its own complete story. The series could almost just be read as one really big book with the way each installment flows into the next. I burned through them all pretty fast!
I loved Stiefvater's quirky and vivid writing. I could picture the beautiful Virginia countryside and hear the southern drawls. She builds tension perfectly. I loved how accurately and poignantly she captures young love. I thought that this was such a unique story and world. It's new and different and I enjoyed exploring the paranormal and deep magical realism.
My only complaint really is that the ending felt rushed. There were some major things that weren't explained very clearly, and other more minor things that were left hanging. This is the only book in the series that didn't get 4 stars from me.
But don't let the ending put you off. Overall this is a beautiful and fantastic series and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it! I would definitely recommend!
Rating
I give the series overall 4 stars.
Raven Boys: 4 stars.
Dream Thieves: 4 stars.
Lily Blue: 4 stars.
Raven King: 3.5 stars.
Details
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy.
Language: Some heavy language throughout the books, especially from Ronan.
Sex: None.
Violence: Some violence, not graphic. Definitely some creepy things though.
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