The Raven Boys

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