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anaheeta's review
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)
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)
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
thecandiegirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Vomit, Death, Cursing, Violence, Child abuse, and Blood
rafacolog's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Blood
kitfkat's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Murder
lilly_reads98's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Blood
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Gun violence, and Classism
Minor: Suicide attempt
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
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
dlsmk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt
trintrin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
ooookay where do we start
THE CHARACTERS. I love the characters. I can't stress how much I love the characters. I would willingly read a thousand one-shots and spin-offs about them even though it's only been one out of four books so far.
- Maura, Calla, Persephone, and the other psychic women were very interesting to read about. I hope to get to know them more in the future books. Especially Persephone, she's got me in her charms.
- Blue is such a refreshing character, I love her so much. I thought she's gonna be one of those whiny YA protagonists,especially considering her forbidden love and kind of poor background story, but oh boy, she's none of those things.
- I don't really have an opinion on Ronan yet, but I smell a character backstory/arc up ahead. I shall deliver my judgement after that :DAlthough, I do admit, those little moments where Ronan actually expressed his emotions and his love for the others or Chainsaw made me feel warm
- Adam is probably the most realistic character out of everyone here. He was my first favourite character, I hope he pulls through all the way to the end.His relationship(?) with Blue was very pure, but obviously it's not gonna be the endgame. I pray for him and my future self.
- Gansey, oh Gansey. I have a soft spot towards Gansey. Something about the way he cares so much for the Raven Boys, and eventually, Blue, makes me want to not read this book anymore. Because I absolutely do not want him to die. He's such a FANTASTIC friend and he is the glue holding the group together. I genuinely cannot imagine how the boys would even survive without him. I want a friend like Gansey, and not just because he's filthy rich.I don't really sense any chemistry between Gansey and Blue so far. I kinda hope they don't have to resort to that, but oh well. A prophecy is a prophecy, but ig prophecies can also be misleading
- And finally, saving the best boy for the last, NOAHHHH.He went from a very suspicious background character to this adorable, cutest little child gahhhhhh someone please protect him from all the harm in the world
THE PLOT. The first 50%-ish part of the book had a very weird pacing, so much so that it nearly took me a month to finish it. I truly did not care about Glendower or the ley lines or Aglionby, but it was the characters that kept me going. Lucky I did, because after setting up the world and everything about halfway through, the book picks up the pace. One second you think you've got it, and the next second it goes poof. It keeps you guessing all the way till the end.
I literally just finished reading the book, but what wouldn't I give to find out that Noah Czerny's been dead all along for the first time. I was convinced he was sneaking out trying to wake up the ley line on his own, but turns out the poor child wasn't even alive in the first place. I'm so glad the others didn't freak out and suddenly turn Noah into this ghost who haunts them now, but they gave a logical explanation on why he appeared and disappeared at certain times.
The amount of foreshadowing this book has?? Noah quite literally said that the reason he is always cold is because he's been dead for seven years in the fourth chapter AND NO ONE QUESTIONED IT? Every time Noah makes an appearance has some sort of clue to his situation (the way he threw up after seeing that car and no one bothered to think why?) and yet I never guessed that he was actually dead, just that he's sketchy. And the way it matched up with Gansey's hornet death backstory and Whelk's Czerny backstory, it's incredible, really.
Whelk, I thought he's a weirdo who turns out to be a good-ish guy in the end. The psychopath straight up murdered Noah. Little bitch deserved every bit of his stupid death. Noah's funeral actually made me kinda teary eyed, but I didn't expect them to commit literal grave robbery wtaf 😭 we stan.
One thing that made me feel so relieved in a way was when Adam's father (he can go to hell) slapped him, he actually lost his hearing in a ear. That's it. It's gone. No partial hearing loss, or temporary deafness that will soon be back to normal, or magical abilities to heal his condition, or super hear with his other ear. Nothing. It's just an injury that can never be fixed. This is one thing that I never really liked about fantasy. Like why make the characters lose something as important as a body part only to immediately fix it in someway that its loss is not a big deal at all? I really hope Adam stays this way at least for a good long time, and that his partial deafness affects and slows him down every once in a while. (I understand how sadistic this sounds, but we really need more disabled characters who are actually disabled)
Overall, if only the pacing in the first half hadn't been dogshit, I would've given this five stars. As it is, I hope we can rectify that in the next one :D (although I still don't really care about Glendower, I'm just here for the lovely people and some vibes)
Jan 2024 reread:
This has been my favourite book ever to reread, easily 5 stars! I remember thinking there was a lot of foreshadowing immediately after finishing this book and just flipping back through the pages. Now, with the knowledge of the other three books and the Dreamer Trilogy combined, I can safely say THERE'S SO MUCH FORESHADOWING!! I was sitting here with my jaw dropped for some of those. So many of them evaded my attention, even the things that happen within this book. Maggie, you big-brained genius.
Another thing that I somehow forgot about ishow present Adam's abuse is. I was genuinely shocked on reading about it even before Blue became a part of the gangsey. Reading Adam and Gansey's argument hurt even more, now knowing and understanding the two characters better than before. So proud of them for making it through eventually.
I remember struggling with the pacing so much that it took me nearly a month to finish this book because it took forever to get to the main plot. After flying through the book at record-speed during this reread, I realised it's probably because I didn't know that the main point of this series is not finding Glendower, it's the friendships, and it's always been there at the core of the book. Not justifying the book or invalidating new readers who might feel the same way, just a curious thing to point out.
THE CHARACTERS. I love the characters. I can't stress how much I love the characters. I would willingly read a thousand one-shots and spin-offs about them even though it's only been one out of four books so far.
- Maura, Calla, Persephone, and the other psychic women were very interesting to read about. I hope to get to know them more in the future books. Especially Persephone, she's got me in her charms.
- Blue is such a refreshing character, I love her so much. I thought she's gonna be one of those whiny YA protagonists,
- I don't really have an opinion on Ronan yet, but I smell a character backstory/arc up ahead. I shall deliver my judgement after that :D
- Adam is probably the most realistic character out of everyone here. He was my first favourite character, I hope he pulls through all the way to the end.
- Gansey, oh Gansey. I have a soft spot towards Gansey. Something about the way he cares so much for the Raven Boys, and eventually, Blue, makes me want to not read this book anymore. Because I absolutely do not want him to die. He's such a FANTASTIC friend and he is the glue holding the group together. I genuinely cannot imagine how the boys would even survive without him. I want a friend like Gansey, and not just because he's filthy rich.
- And finally, saving the best boy for the last, NOAHHHH.
THE PLOT. The first 50%-ish part of the book had a very weird pacing, so much so that it nearly took me a month to finish it. I truly did not care about Glendower or the ley lines or Aglionby, but it was the characters that kept me going. Lucky I did, because after setting up the world and everything about halfway through, the book picks up the pace. One second you think you've got it, and the next second it goes poof. It keeps you guessing all the way till the end.
The amount of foreshadowing this book has?? Noah quite literally said that the reason he is always cold is because he's been dead for seven years in the fourth chapter AND NO ONE QUESTIONED IT? Every time Noah makes an appearance has some sort of clue to his situation (the way he threw up after seeing that car and no one bothered to think why?) and yet I never guessed that he was actually dead, just that he's sketchy. And the way it matched up with Gansey's hornet death backstory and Whelk's Czerny backstory, it's incredible, really.
Whelk, I thought he's a weirdo who turns out to be a good-ish guy in the end. The psychopath straight up murdered Noah. Little bitch deserved every bit of his stupid death. Noah's funeral actually made me kinda teary eyed, but I didn't expect them to commit literal grave robbery wtaf 😭 we stan.
One thing that made me feel so relieved in a way was when Adam's father (he can go to hell) slapped him, he actually lost his hearing in a ear. That's it. It's gone. No partial hearing loss, or temporary deafness that will soon be back to normal, or magical abilities to heal his condition, or super hear with his other ear. Nothing. It's just an injury that can never be fixed. This is one thing that I never really liked about fantasy. Like why make the characters lose something as important as a body part only to immediately fix it in someway that its loss is not a big deal at all? I really hope Adam stays this way at least for a good long time, and that his partial deafness affects and slows him down every once in a while. (I understand how sadistic this sounds, but we really need more disabled characters who are actually disabled)
Overall, if only the pacing in the first half hadn't been dogshit, I would've given this five stars. As it is, I hope we can rectify that in the next one :D (although I still don't really care about Glendower, I'm just here for the lovely people and some vibes)
Jan 2024 reread:
This has been my favourite book ever to reread, easily 5 stars! I remember thinking there was a lot of foreshadowing immediately after finishing this book and just flipping back through the pages. Now, with the knowledge of the other three books and the Dreamer Trilogy combined, I can safely say THERE'S SO MUCH FORESHADOWING!! I was sitting here with my jaw dropped for some of those. So many of them evaded my attention, even the things that happen within this book. Maggie, you big-brained genius.
Another thing that I somehow forgot about is
I remember struggling with the pacing so much that it took me nearly a month to finish this book because it took forever to get to the main plot. After flying through the book at record-speed during this reread, I realised it's probably because I didn't know that the main point of this series is not finding Glendower, it's the friendships, and it's always been there at the core of the book. Not justifying the book or invalidating new readers who might feel the same way, just a curious thing to point out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Grief, and Gun violence
Minor: Classism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Vomit, Alcohol, and Self harm
obviousthings's review
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.
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