The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) in ThatOneReader's Book Club

Mar 02, 2015 lani rated it it was amazing

This took me far too long to pick up! It was a stellar read and I loved every single second, every word, every chapter; it was fantastic! This books strongest aspect were the characters. They were all so different and even small characters like Maura, Calla, Orla, and Persephone, got enough attention in the short times we saw them for us to love them.

Our characters consist of the zainy, quirky Blue, the tough badass Ronan, the sweet boy next door Adam, the quiet Noah, and the oh so misunderstoo ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Karissa added it

Shelves: read-in-my-22nd-year, read-in-2015, 5-stars, kindle-copies-owned, audio-books, books-i-want-to-reread

~~Originally read 3/1/15 to 3/29/15

***REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WWW.WHATISMUCH.COM***

ANOTHER amazing book! That makes two rave reviews in a row (yippee, alliteration!) but I ain’t even mad about it.

I wouldn’t have picked up this book if it hadn’t been for a book club hosted by one of my fellow book bloggers. I didn’t think The Raven Boys would be my thing, but I figured I’d give it a chance. Why not, right?

TRB follows a cast of characters who live in Henrietta, Virginia. (Side note: This is th ~~Originally read 3/1/15 to 3/29/15

***REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WWW.WHATISMUCH.COM***

ANOTHER amazing book! That makes two rave reviews in a row (yippee, alliteration!) but I ain’t even mad about it.

I wouldn’t have picked up this book if it hadn’t been for a book club hosted by one of my fellow book bloggers. I didn’t think The Raven Boys would be my thing, but I figured I’d give it a chance. Why not, right?

TRB follows a cast of characters who live in Henrietta, Virginia. (Side note: This is the first book I can recall reading that takes place in Virginia, so of course I became a bit biased to loving the setting!) Blue Sargent’s mom is a true-blue psychic. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the joke.) Richard Gansey III, known mainly as just Gansey, is a rich kid who attends Aglionby, a hoity-toity school in Henrietta. His friends consist of Adam, Ronan, and Noah, fellow “raven boys”, a term coined by Blue.

So, here’s the deal, part one: For as long as she can remember, Blue’s been told that she’ll be responsible for the death of her true love.

Here’s the deal, part two: Blue goes on a walk with her mom every year, in which those who will die in the next year reveal themselves. It’s weird, kinda. But Blue can never see the (soon-to-be) dead.

And here’s the deal, part three: This year, a boy reveals himself to Blue on this annual walk. Or, the spirit of a boy would be more accurate. His name? Gansey. “That’s all there is.”

The rest of TRB follows Blue and “her” raven boys as they try to piece together a bit of a mystery. I don’t want to give away too much, obviously, but I WILL say that this book gave me chills and shivers at SO many points, I could barely stand it.

Maggie Stiefvater’s writing style is amazing, end of story. I’d never read anything of hers before, and now I’m craving more! Luckily, TRB is the first in The Raven Cycle series, of which there are three books published and a fourth coming later this year.

… I. Am so. STOKED.

I’d definitely recommend TRB to anyone looking for a different sort of story. The “love” aspects of the book aren’t played to excess. In fact, they’re mere nuances, in my opinion. The focus is more on the magic and the friendships. And I really liked that, to say the least. All that’s left for me to say is, it’s gonna be excruciating, this wait for the fourth book! ...more

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Mar 06, 2015 Elisa H rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It took me a few tries to actually get into this book. This try I am happy to say I've finally finished it! I think the plot is really interesting, and I'm glad that it's not all romance because of Blue were to kiss her true love, he would die. The characters were pretty interesting. I recommend if you like fantasy/ paranormal books ...more

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Sep 02, 2013 Elen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, welsh-language, age-young-adult

I’ve heard a lot of good things recently about this book because the second book, The Dream Thieves, was recently released and I figured it’s about time I read the first book. I’m so glad I read it because I loved it. It was such a great read! I really liked the characters and the plot, and the setting was great too.

The plot of this book is so gripping. The copy I had didn’t actually mention the whole Glendower plot, which I will fangirl about later, so I was quite surprised when it popped up. T I’ve heard a lot of good things recently about this book because the second book, The Dream Thieves, was recently released and I figured it’s about time I read the first book. I’m so glad I read it because I loved it. It was such a great read! I really liked the characters and the plot, and the setting was great too.

The plot of this book is so gripping. The copy I had didn’t actually mention the whole Glendower plot, which I will fangirl about later, so I was quite surprised when it popped up. The plot is very gripping with plenty of twists – some which are easy to guess, some which are a lot harder to figure out. I found that this book was a very easy read and that the events were easy to follow most of the time, although parts of the book had me really confused. But it was the sort of confused I felt while reading Mara Dyer, and I enjoyed it. This book does end with a cliffhanger, but it’s not a big one. It’s more of a throwaway line that you don’t expect and it really does confuse you. Thankfully, I am able to read the next one once I’ve finished my current book, and I can’t wait.

There are a lot of characters to deal with in this book. Firstly, we have our main character Blue Sargent. Putting the name aside, I did like her a lot. She’s an interesting character who’s likable and is also ready to get involved in the action in the book. It was nice seeing a main character who didn’t have an amazing supernatural gift either, and instead had to deal with the rest of her family having those gifts. Her relationships with the other characters are really interesting, and I liked the way those relationships developed throughout the book. Blue’s family was really fun and I loved the fact that their psychic-ness worked in different ways.

The Raven Boys were also great characters, and all so different. Gansey, otherwise known as Richard “Dick” Gansey III, was a character that definitely grew on me over the course of the book. Although he started out quite pompous and cocky, he became really sweet and adorable and it was clear that he did care for Blue a little. Adam, who had a totally different background to Gansey, was even more lovable and I really loved his character arc. Ronan was a very conflicted character who wasn’t as easy to like as the other too, but he seemed to open up more later on in the book and he clearly did care about some things in his life, like Chainsaw. I really loved Noah too and his arc was something really different to most YA books. I thought the way the whole thing worked was very clever, and his character fitted in well.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the Owain Glyndŵr storyline. As a Welsh person, I got really excited when I saw his name turn up in an American book by an American author. I assumed that this story was only known well across Wales, so it was awesome seeing him in this book. Glyndŵr is a really important figure in Welsh history, and it was so nice seeing that people still care about his story and the fact that more people know of him.

The whole supernatural side of this book was awesome too. I haven’t read many ghost/psychic books that I enjoyed so this was a nice change. The way the world worked was good and I liked the way different things turned out to be connected.

Overall, this book was awesome. By combining so many different elements, Maggie Stiefvater has created a really good book which I couldn’t put down. I’d definitely recommend it to fans of ghost and supernatural storylines, Welsh history and romance (although there wasn’t loads of it in this book).

For more reviews, visit my blog. ...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, 5-stars, supernatural-or-non-human, magic

I won an advanced readers copy of The Raven Boys through teenreads.com and I just finished it today. I loved this book, the characters were varied and complex, the plot exciting and never really left you anytime to get bored, and just the idea behind the book is fascinating. It does have a number of supernatural/magical elements in it, so someone who doesn't enjoy those types of elements in a story might not enjoy it as much as some who does like supernatural/magical ideas in a story. So in conc ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Kiran Bola rated it it was amazing

Can't believe I haven't reviewed yet I opened this expecting it to be another book with rich guys who are douchebags but popular and the main girl hates them and then falls in love with one of them holy crap I was so unbelievably wrong ...more

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