In 2018, I finally read The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I really, really didn’t enjoy this reading experience, I felt so lost all the time. I had no clue what I was reading, this highly influenced my rating. I zoned out a lot. I still have no idea what the problem was, maybe I wasn’t as used to reading in English back then as I was now, although it still occurs that I have a hard time understanding the story. A good example for this is One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. Anyway, this book was already published in Dutch in 2014, but only the first two books in this series were translated because the sales were not great. Fast forward 10 years and the publisher promised to translate the entire series this time around. This first book got published in August. Did I finally understand the story now I was able to read it in my native language?

About the book

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Published by Scholastic Press on September 18, 2012
Pages: 409
ISBN: 9780545424929
Genres: Fantasy, Young adult

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

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.

My review

Before reading

In all honesty, I didn’t know what to expect. Even though my previous reading experience has been six years ago, I still felt nervous and hesitant to pick it back up. What if I still didn’t like it? This series is beloved by many and I wondered whether this was worth it. I therefore went into this reading experience without many expectations. This season seems the perfect timing for it, so I was hoping that would help. I previously read it in November as well.

Characters

This book evolves around Gansey and Blue, but there are also several side characters. I was still lost on them, what was their goal? I have no knowledge at all about spirituality or even witchcraft, so this was totally new for me. Despite this, I think these characters are written well. We get to know them, although they still remain quite a mystery after this first novel. They all have their own reasons why they do what they did, but I wonder how this bunch got together. I hope this will be elaborated more in the next books in this series. This book is not character driven and it shows, so therefore the characters are written fine.

Writing

The writing itself was good too. I really like books with multiple POVs as you get to know the story and characters better this way. This applies to this book as well. It’s told through third person POV which is not really my preference but works fine for this novel. In contradiction to my previous reading experience, I was able to finish this book rather quickly. Nevertheless, I still wasn’t fully emerged in this story.

Plot

This novel is very plot driven and it shows. The plot is action-packed and quite mysterious, whereas the characters lack some depth. I think the book is fast paced, albeit a bit complicated still. It’s lovely when you have a lot of spiritual knowledge, but for me it still was pretty vague. Despite all this, I still was intrigued by and curious about this story. What would happen next? And why are the boys called The Raven Boys? I have a feeling this is the basis for an interesting series, because it seems like there is so much more to explore in this world and within the relationships between these characters.

Final thoughts

I’m glad I gave The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater another chance. It won’t be my favourite book. It definitely has some flaws, but I understood it now. It’s still all pretty vague to me, but it seems like a solid start for a series as there is much more to explore in both characters and plot. Are you looking for a good fall read? I think this book suits this season perfectly because of the vibes. I will definitely pick up the next books in this series to find out what’s next!