From the Bookshelf of Hype or Like Friday…

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)

Maggie Stiefvater

Start date: June 1, 2016

Finish date: June 30, 2016

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By Jillian · 1 post · 33 views

last updated Mar 30, 2016 06:30PM

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Mar 18, 2018 Danielle (Life of a Literary Nerd) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, audiobook, cover-envy, favorites, paranormal-urban-fantasy

**3rd reread update**
I fall more in love with this story everytime I revisit Henrietta.
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4.5 Stars

“Fate," Blue replied, glowering at her mother, "is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast.”

I can’t believe that I like this book more each time I read it! For those of you who don’t know, I tried reading this book 4 different times before I finished it the first time. I have to say, listening to The Raven Boys on audio is the best way yet! The ...more

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Oct 03, 2018 lady h rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018

First of all I want to heave this book at anyone who unequivocally declares that all YA is silly and badly written, because this is one of the most gorgeously written books I've ever read. Let me tell you, it's really, really hard to write urban fantasy and not have it sound ridiculous, but Stiefvater actually manages to make everything seem elegant and believable. I just. I love her writing so much. And the atmosphere. HOO BOY. Who knew that this book would actually have super creepy undertones First of all I want to heave this book at anyone who unequivocally declares that all YA is silly and badly written, because this is one of the most gorgeously written books I've ever read. Let me tell you, it's really, really hard to write urban fantasy and not have it sound ridiculous, but Stiefvater actually manages to make everything seem elegant and believable. I just. I love her writing so much. And the atmosphere. HOO BOY. Who knew that this book would actually have super creepy undertones? I sure didn't! But I was mightily pleased to feel my skin crawling! The writing and atmosphere were my favorite aspects of the book. Everything else, I was pretty lukewarm about.

Plot-wise, The Raven Boys feels very nebulous. I've actually read the book now and yet I still feel like I understand about as much as I did before I read it. A girl who is supposed to kill her true love...or something. A group of boys trying to find a Welsh king...for some reason. Which is not to say that character motivations are not explicitly addressed; they definitely are. Stiefvater takes great care to address why each character is interested in discovering this Welsh king, and it makes sense, kind of, but in a weird, cloudy reality sort of way. Also the villain is just sort of...there? Like I wish we had gotten the opportunity to explore him and his motivations more, but he seemed to exist just to be a convenient villain. And I didn't get much from the main characters, to be honest...like, I liked them all well enough, but I'm not terribly sure I understood them.

Something else that bothered me is the way this book is presented. And this is probably more of a me problem than a book problem, but this felt like a book that should have been written for adults but instead was written for teens. And like. That's not a legitimate complaint, I know, but I just feel like this is the sort of story that wants to get really, really dark but can't quite go there because it's YA. Like, every time Blue was like "I can't kiss you because I might kill you" I just rolled my eyes skyward. And oh yeah, can we talk about that for a sec? I LOATHE the trope where sex leads to punishment. It's so stupid. Like why does the kiss even matter? How does that make sense? It just seems so contrived for a young teen audience.

Also, why is everyone white? Like. Seriously. This takes place in the American South and every single character is white??? Come on. And Blue has no female friends whatsoever, because she's just ~so different~? Like I get that this is from a different era of YA fiction but it's still irritating. And I actually enjoyed Maura, Calla, and Persephone waaaaaaay more than Adam, Ronan, and Gansey. I'd 100% read a book about those gals instead of three boring white dudes.

So this book felt very much like an extended prologue to a series, which is fine, and I enjoyed the writing so much I'm definitely gonna go ahead and pick up the second book at some point, especially since I hear the second and third books are the best.

...more

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Jul 29, 2016 Danielle (Life of a Literary Nerd) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, magical-realism

I have started this book many times, but have never made it past the first 50 pages or so. This time however, the story grabbed me and I read it in about 2 days.

This first book is a lot like the maps Gansey obsesses over; it sets a foundation and road map for the story moving forward. Each character has a trajectory now, that intersects and connects with one another. Creating a vivid and developd world where magic not only exists, but is starting to thrive. While much of the first book is setup ...more

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Jan 30, 2019 Mydailybookobsession rated it really liked it

This was a great read! I have been hearing about it for years but never picked it up. Well i am glade i did during the snowstorm because i have been craving a series that i can't put down. ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Elizabeth Green rated it it was ok

I really don't know what to think about this book. I feel like I would like it upon a reread. I was very confused as to what was going on the entire time. I started to enjoy the characters towards the end. I don't think this is the type of book you should read quickly. I was reading it for a readathon and think it really needs to be one of those slower reads. I definitely want to reread the book because there were things that intrigued me. ...more

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