Review of The Raven Boys (#1 of The Raven Cycle)

Review of The Raven Boys

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Young Adult fiction is often predictable and follows familiar book tropes such as love triangles, but every once in a while, a gem of novel comes along in the YA section of the bookstore and library.  The Raven Boys is one of these novels.  Though, it hints at a potential love triangle in the rest of the series, that is not the center of the plot, and in fact, the description in the back makes it seem like the romance drama will take center stage, but the plot is not about the main female lead’s romantic relationship with one of the boys.  It is about her relationship with all four Raven Boys and how she helps them in their quest.

The plot centers around the female character’s, Blue Sargent, beginning friendship with these Raven Boys, and helping them find a mythical Welsh King, Glendower, that grants, the one who wakes him up, a wish.

Blue is from a family of psychics, but she has no psychic ability, except that she can amplify the psychic abilities of others.  Blue has a very low opinion of the Raven Boys: Gansy, Ronan, Adam, and Noah.  She learns from her mother and aunts that one of these Raven Boys will be her true love, and if she kisses her true love she’ll kill him.  But Blue is drawn to them, especially when she learns of their quest through a book with Gansy’s notes in it on the famous Welsh king.  Blue joins their quest beginning to bond with the boys, but someone else is also hunting Glendower too.

Stiefvater has a lyrical and flowery writing style that is not too dry or too descriptive. She creates an eerie and magical atmosphere that draws the reader in immediately. The descriptions she uses to create this world gives a very thorough image of exactly what is going on in the book. Each of the characters are unique in their own ways and feel very much like real life people. All four Raven Boys have individual personalities that make each one stand out in the story. The concept of Blue having no psychic ability, except to amplify other’s abilities, adds a unique twist, because most YA novels the protagonist do have some kind of power they are often unaware of.  Also, the romance taking a backseat makes this story different, because in many YA stories the conflict centers around the romance of the two main characters. The magical realism aspect of the story is not over the top, but written in a subtle and beautiful way.  There are 63 chapters, but they are not very long and like most young adult novels it is written in a way that is easy to understand and follow.  The author does not drag out the details of the plot, but rather gets straight to the heart of it.  I rate the first book in this quartet series, The Raven Cycle, an A+.