I read this back in January but (eleven months later) suddenly decided to review every book I’ve read this year. So, here I am.
I am hopeless in love with all of the Raven Boys, especially Ronan. As someone who has just finished reading the entire series before writing this review, I can say that Stiefvater is phenomenal at foreshadowing.
Before I get to some actual points, I remember reading this book and expecting it would revolve a lot more around the ghosts and dead people and curses and prophecies. The blurb was about seeing dead people at the graveyard and killing your true love with a kiss, so I expected more of the plot to revolve around those things, or that they’d hold a larger role in the book rather than just the opening scene and a few mentions throughout.
+ The writing is perfect
I’m usually the kind of person who loves full paragraphs of description, but Stiefvater has a way of describing things where you almost don’t notice it’s happening. The details are subtly woven in and I could visualise everything perfectly in my head, just like a film was playing as I was reading the pages. The ‘box’ is a ‘cereal box’ and the car is an ‘orange Camaro’ and Ronan smells like ‘soap and deodorant’. It’s all these tiny details that really set the book apart from the rest.
Also, the book is written in third person, but the writing is so incredibly intimate to each character’s perspective. I felt connected to all of them, and I was completely engaged with the story. Although I wasn’t a fan of the head-hopping…
+ B l u e
In YA, girls tend to either be too soft or too strange or too sharp, either nothing at all or everything at once. Blue is interesting because she’s somewhere in the middle. She’s quiet and strong. She’s wants to impress the boys but refuses to stoop to impress. I love her way of thinking and how she’s matter-of-fact and nervous at times and sensible. She’s refreshing to read. I also love how she ended up with a secondary guy at the end of the book! I was expecting her and Gansey to become an item quickly.
+ I love the Raven Boys
I was going to say that they’re all equally amazing, but Ronan is my favourite and I have an extreme soft spot for Noah. Noah is the invisible one both literally and metaphorically, a boy who doesn’t speak much and seems to hurt and lost and just needs a hug. Ronan is rude and sarcastic, but he has a caring side and is just so alluring – he’s the kind of character that I need to know everything about, but he’s so secretive. Gansey is the Mom Friend and has a heart of gold and is wise beyond his years. Adam is my least favourite: my opinion now is possibly heavily influenced by the other books, but I don’t like how he treats Gansey, and he has so much baggage and is abused and I get it, and he’s still so incredibly well written. I am in love with all four of them.
Some additional points: the supporting cast is amazing, I love the dialogue, there’s so much foreshadowing and (SPOILER) there’s so many hints about Ronan not being straight that no one picks up on and it’s hilarious.
Overall, I love these characters. I love this book. I love this series.
Some quotes, because I love quotes:
- “She wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”
- “Gansey had once told Adam that he was afraid most people didn’t know how to handle Ronan. What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves.”
- “Fate,” Blue replied, glowering at her mother, “is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast.”
- “She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness.”
TandeWrites 