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A review by trintrin
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
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, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism