“There are only two reasons a non-seer
would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve. Either you’re his true love…or you killed
him.”
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, and he’s 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.
What
I really loved about this book was basically everything. I actually checked out
the book from the library a month ago and tried to read it, but ended up just
having to return it. I checked it out again and began anew with new eyes. I
must have just not been in the supernatural niche a month ago or something
because I was totally hooked.
The
book sort of had a slow burn, with a lot of pages dedicated to really defining
the characters’ motives, thoughts, and actions. By the time the boys and Blue
finally joined, I knew everything I needed to know about what made everybody
tick.
In
a way, this detailing of the characters bothered me somewhat. It was mainly
Adam and Noah that bothered me the most. Now don’t get me wrong, I love them
both, but one of them got too much emphasis and the other received little to
none.
Starting
with Adam, his character development keeps bringing up his resentment toward
Gansey’s background and money and upbringing. It comes up time and time again
and it really irks me how often it comes up. I understand the juxtaposition of
Adam and Whelk, and I understand that Adam’s resentment paves the way for the
ending of the book. Do I still wish there was less emphasis on this part of his
character and maybe just a little more air time for the rest of his personality?
Yes.
As
for Noah, he’s a smudgy guy and reasonably so considering his history. The
thing that bothered me was not so much how little we learn about him, but
rather how much he and Blue seemingly bond in no time at all. There’s the time
they meet, and then the next time we see them together they’re all BFFs. He
pets her hair like she’s his own Blue-pet. I understand the contact thing, I
do, but it was just a little odd. And I like odd. Blue just seems to adore Noah
as much as he adores her, and I wish I had gotten to know more about the guy
that is easily adorable.
I
think this book is very unique, and that’s what sort of turned me off the first
time but reeled and hooked me the second time. Quest books of this caliber in
young adult are an easy find, especially if you were to look in the middle
grade section. Love and supernatural are an easy find as well. What’s unique,
however, is the merging of the two. The book, and ultimately the series I
presume, is a bit of a witch’s cauldron. A little bit of contemporary issues, a
dash of love and supernatural, a bug dollop of quest, a pitch of magic and
mystery, a hint of chaos and whimsy. It’s got a little bit of everything.
The
character I’ve fallen the most in love with would have to be Gansey, which is
already a bad move on my part since he’s going to die by the end of series.
He’s like an eagle willingly surrounded by broken canaries. He’s got such a
depth of character that I haven’t quite experienced with any of the other
characters. Ronan is my second favorite for this reason as well, and he might
inch forward in the coming books. Blue was a fine character, but I much
preferred reading about her when she was with the Raven Boys or her family. Her
family was great, and I wish my own were that exciting.
All-in-all,
I think the plot was incredibly well developed, and I love that I’ve finished
the book and there’s still a lot of mystery. In some books there’s only one
mystery that links the series, but there are already so many for this one. I
think this series is going to do me in emotionally. I can’t wait!
XOXO Tia
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