The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Jul 11, 2013 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, new-favorites, youngadult, own

DAYUM.

GIVE ME MORE.

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Nov 26, 2012 Punk rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, good-more-than-once

Blue lives in a house full of psychics. Every year on St. Mark's Eve, she goes to a ruined church with her mother while the coming year's dead file by and her mother asks them their names. This year, for the first time ever, Blue sees one of the spirits herself, a student from the exclusive boys' school in town, and now she can't stop thinking about how he's going to die.

I really enjoyed this. It's well written, with quiet, spooky magic, found family, and characters that stand out instead of ble Blue lives in a house full of psychics. Every year on St. Mark's Eve, she goes to a ruined church with her mother while the coming year's dead file by and her mother asks them their names. This year, for the first time ever, Blue sees one of the spirits herself, a student from the exclusive boys' school in town, and now she can't stop thinking about how he's going to die.

I really enjoyed this. It's well written, with quiet, spooky magic, found family, and characters that stand out instead of blending together. Gansey's completely improbable, for so many reasons, but the text seems to be aware of it, and tries its best to explain him; in the end, he's still pretty improbable, but I'm okay with it. I like him and how much he cares about his friends, how proud he is that they're on his team. Blue is also awesome, smart and sensible and brave, and I like how she fits into the group of boys and the hint of tension it causes when she first joins their search for the ley lines that Gansey's convinced slice through the little town of Henrietta. You see, Gansey's in high school, and relocated himself to Henrietta in order to search for a dead Welsh king. So...I think you can maybe understand what I meant when I said he's improbable.

The narration jumps around a lot, and some of it felt unnecessary, and sometimes I briefly forgot who was acting as narrator, but I liked the different perspectives it added to the story, though it does mean you know who one of the bad guys is before everyone else does, which, I don't know, maybe Stiefvater could have found a more subtle way to do that. Otherwise, she does an excellent job of dropping clues throughout the story so that you get a sense that something's off, but you're not exactly sure what, so when she does finally explain (or at least gives you another piece of the puzzle) it's something you've been expecting—not a trick, but a twist she put time and effort into developing—which is very satisfying to me as a reader. I like to be kept in suspense, but still feel like I'm in on things, and Stiefvater balances those competing desires expertly.

Recommended.

Contains: references to past suicide attempt; domestic violence and child abuse; descriptions of wasps; life-changing injury. ...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: old-reads, mt-bookpile-2011-2015

I so wanted to give this a 5, but after reflecting, it's really a 4... maybe a 4.5.

Set in Henrietta, Virginia, a relatively poor area with one prep school that attracts the sons of the very rich, very powerful, this story of friendship is threaded with mysticism and psychic energy. There are four boys, Gansey (incredibly rich, polite and the leader), Ronan (incredibly rich, angry and recently lost his father and his home), Adam (incredibly driven, smart and from the local trailer park) and Noah ...more

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Nov 02, 2015 Cait rated it liked it

Shelves: theoretically-written-for-children

This is totally adequate brain-candy YA. I read it in about 4 hours, and I immediately picked up the sequel.

Things that were good: The rules that govern magic were both appropriately complex and knowable. The main characters were appropriately teenaged with incorrect but understandable logic. Blue's family was interesting and full and busy and not at all fleshed out- exactly the way I'd expect of a self involved teenager.

Things I did not like: We hear literally nothing about Blue's social life ...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to, ya, whatthehelljusthappened

Oh, dear, sweet, quirky, brilliant Maggie. What kind of trip are you taking us on? I don't get it. But I like it. Kind of. I'm not sure. I'm so confused. ...more

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Dec 31, 2014 Marianne rated it really liked it

Great characters and story. I loved this book!

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Mar 08, 2013 Kerry (The Roaming Librarian) O'Donnell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fiction, paranormal

I had a hard time reading this simply because I was SOOO nervous for the characters throughout the story! lol. It was crazy I almost couldn't read parts because I was afraid of what Stiefvater was going to put them through. But I suppose that's part of what makes the story so good that I felt that invested after only a few pages. I don't know how I'm going to be able to read the rest of the books though if she's already got me so emotionally involved! ...more

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Nov 06, 2016 Jessica rated it it was amazing

SO GOOD.

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Apr 15, 2015 Kati rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, in-english, urban-fantasy, look-for-more, young-adult, 2015

Not a bad book but I don't get the hype. The plot was interesting, but I didn't like the boys much, especially Adam and Ronan, neither deserved a friend like Gansey. They all needed a good shrink. But I liked Blue and her family, they were funny. Just like Mallory. ...more

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