Reviews

The Raven Boys – A Hollófiúk by Maggie Stiefvater

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giotameows's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

arttupappa's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

hangngt_'s review against another edition

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4.0

I think this book was interesting, it was also intriguing.
First of all, I love that this book talk about medium, spirits, energy.... (all those things that relate to spiritual) It was very fascinating.
The name Blue Sargent, I find very interesting and unique. It also sound very nice.
It was quite a predictable book for me. Well I fill like Maggie keep putting clue into a paragraph, she puts clue throughout the story. When I place it all together, it make sense. So I find if you just look out for the clues than the story will be more predictable.
The stories that unravel throughout this book was very interesting and intriguing. It like fits more pieces into the puzzle of this story.
There was some shocking thing that had happen. It really took me by surprise.
I find this book very intriguing and fascinating, it’s also a very fun read.
Then why you ask do I give this a 4 stars only, well it’s because of some scene I didn’t really enjoy.
Also I felt like the first few 160 pages was really dragging along. Just because there was a appointment for Blue’s mom and she said it was tomorrow evening. But it feel like it took a week. That’s my only complain maybe it’s because I was so excited to read that scene that I kinda didn’t like that it took so long to get to it.
But all in all, this is a really good read and also mysterious.

mozbolt's review against another edition

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5.0

I'm obsessed! Stiefvater is an incredible writer and has created a unique plot and characters that completely enthralled me. I'm excited to keep reading the series!

ambivia's review against another edition

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2.0

Ehhh... If a book wants me to relate with and feel sorry for a super-rich cis-het white boy, it really has to try harder than this.

I frequently found myself rolling my eyes during this book because everyone is so edgy and so misunderstood. I also found the writing and plot to be strangely overly convoluted; I was getting so bored reading and not understanding stuff that I ended up looking up a summary of the book. Once I'd read that, I enjoyed it so much more, which is not a good indication that this story had a real idea of what it was doing. It's like it stood in its own way.

Which would have been okay, I think, if I'd liked any of the characters. The convoluted and slightly nonsense plot does seem to be a secondary focus, with the cast of main characters the real stars of the show; everyone is very quirky, and misunderstood, and full of angst, and desperately clouding themselves in mystery. But I could not stand a single one of them with perhaps the exception of Adam. They came across so pretentious and unbelievable and annoying, Ronan especially as this caricature of a troubled rich bad boy. And Gansey was such a privileged little shit and rubbed me entirely the wrong way. Ugh. I just did not care about them at all.

I did my best to buy into this book. As someone who has a lot of first-hand experience of the rich private school the boys all go to, of that whole world, there was a lot of romanticising that I was willing to look past. I really wanted the characters to grab me and not let go, because I prefer character-driven stories more than anything. But this just was not it.

It wasn't terrible. Some parts were well written, and I was curious to see how the climax would go. It disappointed me, but aslkjhgdsg I was interested so that's something. And I enjoyed the spooky atmosphere, especially after the

Spoiler

Noah's actually dead

reveal (although a) I'd read a summary that already told me that, and b) frustration about the ~mysterious vagueness~ surrounding him was what led me to read the summary in the first place because his secret was not subtly written). When he

Spoiler

was invisible and writing on the glass of his Mustang near the end

— I loved that! So sad and spooky.

Melancholic spook is what I think this was going for. Cringe-inducing dark academia is what I got. The fact that the only thing that kept me willing to read was looking up an entire plot summary of the book so I wouldn't have to sit and try digest it in the messy order the author had written it is... quite the indictment. Not terrible, but pretty average and forgettable.