Monday, November 11, 2013

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater - Paul's REVIEW


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Title: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Year Published: 2012


My The Raven Boys PRE READING
Ashley's The Raven Boys PRE READING
Ashley's The Raven Boys REVIEW

Synopsis: 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.

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Review: I had a really hard time getting into this novel, but once I got to know the many characters I really enjoyed the story. The beginning is heavy. There's a lot of characters and a lot of information is thrown around. Psychics. Predictions. Lay lines.

The characters felt very British to me at the beginning and I'm not sure why. It took me awhile to confirm that this story takes place in Virginia.

Although the main character is a teenage girl from a family of legit psychics, the majority of the book is about a group of prep school boys. I enjoyed the girl's chapters more for most of the novel. They weren't as complicated. The boys' relationships are complex and it was hard for me to differentiate them at first. It was like the Pretty Little Liars tv show, but with guys. And paranormal things. I could definitely see this being turned into a tv show on ABC Family or the CW.

I liked how grounded and real the paranormal things were portrayed. It reminded me of the tv show So Weird that was on the Disney Channel in the 90s.

The first half of this book was a 2 for me. The second half was a 4. I think a 3 is fair for my overall feelings. I didn't find myself wanting to pick the book up and keep reading. Although, I'm going to start the sequel right now while the characters are fresh in my mind.


-PAUL

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