YA Grim Fantasy about a kid and an old guy who does magic. Read around 2005.

[Alex]

Looking for a book that had this kid with dark hair and green eyes who I think was either an apprentice of an old guy or something similar but the old guy had magical items and there was a book that had blank pages but the green eyed kid could read it. I think there was a raven or crow maybe and a tower. I read it in about 2005

[Becca]

The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick?

[Kris]

Google Books preview of The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick - Becca's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=Qbo... There are different cover images.

Wikipedia's plot summary - with Spoilers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boo...