Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

30 reviews

anaheeta's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Ok so this was a reread [march 2024]. I first read this book in July 2016.

This will always be my favorite. My favorite EVERY thing. Series, fantasy, characters, settings, writing style. Maggie Stiefvater you brilliant brilliant woman, you have written me (yes, me specifically!) the perfect characters to love. 

This is the perfect mix of whimsical and twisted magic, ghosts and ley lines, murderous professors, emotional things happening (you will cry multiple times by the time you finish the series). 

It reads like a magical realism set in West Virginia, but it’s much more than any one sentence can describe. The first book is an introduction into the characters and their beautiful found family. There’s incredible amounts of references and foreshadowing implemented throughout the books. The pacing is a bit slow, but this is the only time I didn’t mind that, it matches everything perfectly. There are so many beautiful descriptions, heartbreaking lines, funny comments, and heartbreaking character backstories that will make you fall in love with the series. The series has such a huge emotional and mental hold on me, that it can wreck me for days or weeks, so read if you are a fan of pain like I am. 



(I shall soon create a great playlist for this book)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt, Blood, and Alcohol

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This series has been in my TBR since 2018, so I figured I should start 2024 by finally reading it and I'm so glad to say I enjoyed it a lot and finished the audiobook in one day (great narrator)!

I really liked the characters and can't wait to see more of them, I love how Blue is so independent but also relies on her family to help her and they are always there for her; I want to know more about Gansey to have him as favorite, I see the potential, but we'll see; I already love Adam and just want to protect him but also smack him for his pride lol; Ronan is starting to grow on me but is going to take time with his personality ; and for whatever little we get to see of Noah I'm liking him too I like Noah (never getting over this personal things because it's just so funny, can't believe I avoided spoilers for SIX years only to go into twitter that day, read their names and then see how Noah

is a ghost lmao I mean I wasn't sure if he wasn't joking at the beginning when he said that he had been dead for 7 years, but the biggest surprise was that he was the boy murdered by the boys's professor, that would've good to find out on my own, but no big deal)

ALSO, I know I'm not the only one who saw the connection here: The Raven Boys reminded me of The Marauders! (don't expect something exactly like them, just something similar in dynamics, personalities, role in the group, but it was nice to see)

Love all the paranormal stuff about being able to see ghosts and the souls of people who will die, this "prophecy" on Blue, Ronan's

power with dreams that made him being able to take out an animal to the real world!?

and I'm excited to see more of that in the 2nd book.

I agree with other reviews though that this has an open ending, you won't get answers here, in fact you will have more questions on how things work and what the characters are going to do about it, but you will really want to know them and continue with this story and the characters. So if you're okay with that read this book.

So happy my first book of the year was so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder, Self harm, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Death

If you want to know more about the Trigger Warnings I'm leaving the specifics here, but some are spoilers and be aware some might affect you. For a longer list of the Triggers look into the feature of Storygraph, but I think this are the most notable: SELF HARM (doesn't happen to any of the main characters, it just shocked me how this random character just dropped a comment about

"slitting her wrists" as if it was a joke.

) ;; MURDER / DEATH (There's 2 cases of this, both involving 17 yo kids being both the murder and the victim. They happen around these pages

Won't say names so it's not an spoiler, but you find out about one at 30% and the other one happens near the end.

) ;; GUN VIOLENCE (no names mentioned:

a guy in his 20's having a 17yo kid at gun point

, and the Murder involves a gun.) ;; KIDNAPPING (let's just say the bad guy gets kidnapped so who cares lol) ;; DOMESTIC ABUSE BOTH PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL INVOLVING A CHILD (We see just one big scene of this but that's enough, one of the boys suffers from this at home and you will hate his father. If you want to know the name, it happens to

Adam , one of Gansey's best friend

) ;; ALCOHOLISM (No one is surprised to hear that the abusive father is the one who drinks.)

chloenrogers's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

booksandstardust's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, Ableism, and Kidnapping

lunep's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Classism, Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit

viacrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Classism, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, and Physical abuse

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping

obviousthings's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I really liked it, but I felt like it didn't quite come together at the end.

What exactly are the consequences of Adam's sacrifice, and the ley line being woken? His whole character arc was leading up to that, and during that scene I thought for sure he was going to be possessed by the spirit of Cabeswater or something, but it felt like... nothing happened? Neeve disappearing also felt odd and anticlimactic. I don't expect everything to be explained in the first book of a series, but it felt like that whole scene in the forest ultimately didn't affect anything much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

ifoundcallie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Classism, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Ritual sacrifice, they dig up a grave to move someone’s bones, someone is trampled to death

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cursing