Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie
Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Press
Publish Date: 12 September 2012
Pages: 408
ISBN: 978-0-545-42492-9
Source: bought
Genre: YA, romance, paranormal
Series: The Raven Cycle
Other books in series: tbd
Rating: LOVED
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every
year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the
soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this
year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His
name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at
Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away
from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But
Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it
all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much
more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven
Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege
around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and
Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but
says very little.
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, as her life becomes caught up in the
strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
What if a chance
encounter brought you in contact with the people that you swore you would never
be around? That is what happened with Blue
Sargent. Her family is one that has supernatural gifts. Her mother is
clairvoyant. She lives with two other
women who are also clairvoyant. Not that she doesn't have gifts, her just isn't as obvious as the others. She magnifies their gifts whenever she is around them. One of
the jobs that her mother and the two other women do is write down names of the spirits
that they see at the church on St. Marks Eve and because of Blue's gift, she accompanies them.
Blue never sees the dead. Except
this time she sees a boy.
The caveat in all
this is that because she sees the boy’s spirit on St. Marks Eve on the corpse road,
it means he will die in the upcoming year.
She is told that there “are only two reason a non-seer would see a
spirit on St. Marks Eve. Either you’re
his true love…or you killed him.” This
doesn’t make Blue too happy. Ever since
she was little, she has been told that she will kill her true love with a kiss
and because of this, she’s never kissed anyone.
The boy that she
sees is Gansey. When she asks him his
name, he tells her “that’s all there is.”
She is so shocked about seeing him that she doesn’t understand it at
first. She soon realizes that he is a
boy from the local Aglionby Academy, the school for the rich boys.
They are called the raven boys because on their uniform, their sweater
had a raven emblem on it. That is the
first instance in which she sees Gansey, but it isn’t the last. In a “coincidence,” Gansey and his friends
schedule a reading with Blue’s mother.
She isn’t too happy with them and tells Blue that if she ever sees them
again to run the other way.
Gansey, on the other
hand, is searching for something. He is
into old legends and wants to find the ley line in Henrietta to find the
resting place of a Welsh King with the help of his friends, Ronan, Adam and
Noah. This is a big undertaking and
Gansey spends a lot of his free time on it.
During this investigation, his
path intersects with Blue’s. What will
happen between Gansey and Blue? Why did
she see him on the corpse road?
I was really excited
to read this book as soon as I heard that Stiefvater was writing a new
series. That was even before I read the
synopsis of it. I loved the Shiver
series and was hoping for another one that enveloped me in the plot like that
series did. I wasn’t disappointed with The Raven Boys. I loved it!
Just from reading what the book was about, I knew that it would be
something I’d be interested in. One of
the things that I love best about Stiefvater’s writing is that you can really
get into her characters. I can see how
Blue wouldn’t like the Raven Boys from some of the stories. On the flip side, I can also see the good
in them.
As far as whether or
not Gansey and Blue will get together and will she kill him, well, this IS the
first book in a series. Did you really
think the answer was going to be given away that quickly? I will say that there are a lot of clues in The Raven Boys about their relationship
and where it is heading. I like how she
shows that the characters are real by the things that they experience. You’ll understand that more after you read
the book.
I think that this
book is so awesome that I wanted to share it with everyone. Well, I really cannot afford THAT, but I did
buy two extra copies and took them with me when I went to Maggie’s book signing
in Lansing. So they are up for grabs in
this contest. More on how to enter later.
“It’s an all-boys school. For politician’s sons and oil barons’ sons
and for” – Blue struggled the think of who else might be rich enough to send
their kids to Aglionby – “the sons of mistresses living off hush money.” … “They
think they’re better than us and that we’re all falling all over ourselves for
them, and they drink themselves senseless every weekend and spray paint the
Henrietta exit sign.”
This contest is for two hardcover copies of The Raven Boys autographed by Maggie Stiefvater.
Rules
- You will have 48 hours to respond or you will forfeit
your prize.
- I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any
time without reason.
- I am not responsible for parcels lost or damaged
in the postal system. I will make every attempt to avoid this.
- You must be 13 years or older to participate.
- Contest is international.
- Names will be drawn by Random.org that is within
rafflecopter.
- Winner will be announced in this blog post at the
conclusion of the contest and notified by the e-mail provided to enter the
contest. Make sure this is the e-mail that
you want me to contact you! I am not responsible for e-mails that
were sent to accounts that you don't normally check.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
