Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Way back when in 2016, (which is officially way back... yeah) I was in a group on Goodreads and it was decided that we would read The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Well, the fact that I'm here in 2019 reading the book for the first time shows how well that went for me. However, I'm glad I read this book now as a mature 19 year old, because I don't think I would've enjoyed it as much if I read it while I was still an angsty 16 year old girl.
Blue Sargent has stood by her psychic mother every year as she counts the soon-to-be-dead that walk past. Blue has never seen them herself until this year, when a boy seems to emerge from the darkness and speaks directly to her. Gansey is one of the richer students at Aglionby, the local private school and Blue has a personal policy of staying away from those kinds of boys. Also known as The Raven Boys. However, Blue is drawn to Gansey. He has it all, family money, good looks, devoted friends, but he doesn't seem to care about any of that. He is on a quest that encompassed three of his friends - three other Raven Boys: Adam, who is at Aglionby on a scholarship and resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the troubled, fierce soul that has ranged emotions and is closed off from almost everyone; and Noah, the quiet watcher or follower of the group, who notices many things but says very little. These boys don't fit the strict stereotype Blue has built in her head, they may have some of the qualities but they are not typical the typical Aglionby boys. 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 that her life has been caught up in The Raven Boys quest, she's not so sure anymore.
I need to give a quick thank you to Maggie Stiefvater for writing this amazing book (and series!). Also to the group that brought this book to my attention in 2016. It was so incredibly good. I went into it with high hopes, which typically leaves people disappointed, but I wasn't even close to disappointed! At the beginning I was confused with the plot and the characters, so much so that I almost thought about putting it down to pick up later, but THANK GOD I didn't end up doing that. It made sense the more I read and honestly that's just how most books are now, so I need to get used to it. I was anxiously turning the last 150 pages of this book. I gasped in a quiet room every time I thought something bad was happening... it was embarrassing but I don't care (welcome to college)!
Once I better understood the plot and characters, the book was much more enjoyable to me. I understand how other people became attached to the characters because I definitely am too. I for sure didn't look up fan art after I was finished... (don't judge me). There are so many things I want from the rest of series. I hope I get answers to some of the questions I have and to the things left unanswered.
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