The Raven Boys by Maggie Stievater (2012)

In Henrietta, Virginia, magic is brewing. For Blue, this is no surprise. Blue lives in a house full of psychics. Some can predict times of events and some can predict things as a grave as the way someone will die. Blue’s only ability is to amplify other’s. Oh, and the fact that if she kisses her true love, they will die. For Gansey, the magic of Henrietta holds the key to the future. For a year and a half, he’s been searching Henrietta for the ley line that supposedly has the power to awaken a historical Welsh king that, when awakened, is able to grant powerful wishes. Enlisted in his search are his friends Ronan, Adam, and Noah. And now Blue. In a psychic reading gone wrong, the boys and Blue are put together, now all on the hunt for the ley line. There’s only one thing Blue isn’t telling them: she’s predicted to have a role Gansey’s death. Gansey, who’s alive right now. As they get closer to the ley line, it becomes clear that they’re not the only ones after the king and the consequences for losing might be worse than death.

I’m on a role with rereading books that I read at the start of my Young Adult reading journey. I’ve been a huge fan of Maggie Stievater for a long time and actually met her in 2014. The Raven Boys was a book that I first read in eighth grade that I remember enjoying but also not completely understanding the concept of the book. The second one, The Dream Thieves, went totally over my head and I ended up not reading the rest of the series. Now that I’m older, I wanted to try this series again and I started with the audiobook of this one.

The Raven Boys rides the fine line between a magical realism story to a full on fantasy book. Magical realism is a genre that’s been mostly established between the last few years. Within the genre, books could be described as “surreal” or even“psychedelic”, incorporating magical elements into an otherwise realistic story line. That being said, it is a hard thing to read because the concepts are so wavering but also have the recipe to create a truly magical book if it’s done properly. Maggie Stievater is one that knows how to write magical realism. The entire story feels so real, like it could happen to anyone even though there are so many unexplainable things. Somehow, all of those unexplainable things feel like they just go with the story, like they were always meant to be there.

Going with that, the writing itself was pure poetry. In the past, I’ve had trouble with books that replicate poetry too much, like Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Here, the writing worked, specifically with describing things. Somehow, Stievater was able to describe everything uniquely that always gave a clear idea to the reader as to what was going on. I was amazed with the descriptions that came out of the book the successfully flowed. Come to think of it, Stievater is able to make everything flow together in general, including the plot. At the end, every loose end came together in a really satisfying way, with the story weaving together throughout the book.  

There are five main characters in this book: Blue, Gansey, Noah, Adam, and Ronan. Besides them, there are at least three predominant side characters. That’s a lot of characters. This book is big, over 400 pages, but there still wasn’t enough time to fully establish everyone. I feel like I know distinct characteristics about everyone but they still all blended together a little. For instance, if the story didn’t indicate clearly who was talking, I couldn’t tell. Nevertheless, I did have a favorite character which was Ronan because he was simply Ronan.

Overall, I’m pretty happy that I reread this book and I think the audiobook added a lot to it with a fantastic narrator. I can’t wait to read the next one!

4 Stars