My review of The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: September 18, 2012
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“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.

Oh dear, where do I start? The Raven Boys was a drag. I think that's the only way I can this describe it. At first, when I read the blurb a few months ago, I was extremely excited. It sounded unique, romantic and seemed to display a wide range of new characters to meet. But, no. No, no, no. 

The writing style was simply too complicated to read over once. I had to keep going back to it to find the hidden meaning or to mull over the complexity of it. Let's not even get started on all the useless descriptions that kept appearing in the middle of an interesting conversation. 

The book actually started off really well. The prologue was gripping and I thought, "YES! I am definitely going to love this!" Sadly, after the fourth chapter, Maggie was losing me. She was losing me to boredom. She was losing me to confusion. She was losing me entirely and completely. I didn't understand what the hell was going on. This was from the fact that the writing was too confusing and too many characters that were not properly explained.

As for the romance, I felt let down. I was expecting forbidden romance because of the whole, "If I kiss you, you will die" thing, but there wasn't. Just a load of nothing. Okay, so there might have been a few cute scenes, but not hot, sexy kissing scenes that I wanted from Blue and Gansey. *Shame*

I really want to tell you guys more about the story and the plot... but I didn't understand it. It feels like I haven't written a proper review because I haven't actually told you the ins and outs of the plot like I normally would, but you see, the plot was confusing and it went something like: the Raven boys are looking for something; Blue is going to help them; she likes Adam; she should stay away from Gansey; one of the boys is keeping something a secret. *Dun, dun, dun!* See? It doesn't make any sense. 

Despite all my complaining, I did enjoy Adam, one of the Raven Boys. He is not rich like Gansey and his other friends. He tries to do his best in life and put on a front so nobody can see his past or anything too deep inside him. Yeah, he was awesome. As for the other Raven boys, well just imagine them with a lot of money, fancy clothes and a dark secret that apparently everyone wants to know.

I've seen plenty of bloggers and reviewers rating this book extremely highly so maybe it's just me and you might actually enjoy it? 

When the sequel is out I'll probably give it a quick flick through to see if Maggie has toned down the complicated writing style and made the characters more likable. I think I'll go back and ATTEMPT to read The Raven Boys again just to see if I understand it. I would recommend this book to those who like complicated and descriptive novels.

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