Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 454pgs

The Story

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey's spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why - either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower - a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can't imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

The Review

Having loved and adored pretty much every single book Maggie Stiefvater's has ever written, it's a real shame when I found that her newest release, THE RAVEN BOYS, didn't particularly do too much for me. And sadly, as much as I hate to say it to myself right now and to you guys especially reading this review, but I couldn't connect with this book as strongly as I did with her last book, The Scorpio Races, which was - and still is - one of my favourite books coming from Maggie Stiefvater!

Both different, dark, and heavily detailed in the likes of witchcraft and medium work, THE RAVEN BOYS has it all in the first installment of a very interesting and new series, but the main problem was how the story was told and how often I had gotten confused by it, and perhaps I was the only one feeling this on that part. I mean, while I did get the 'gist' of the story but there were so many things happening all at once and if I were to tell you about what exactly happened and what I had just read . . . unfortunately I would have no idea where to start other than you will have to read it for yourself to find out what it's like for you personally. That's really the only advice I can give you regarding this book alone.

The only redeeming thing about this book I guess was the variety of characters we get to meet, some more interesting and some more appealing than others. The characters on a whole were an okay bunch and each of them tended to have their own set of personalities and stories to tell, but while that was all well and good, there was still just not enough there to keep me invested with the storyline and it made me lack in a strong connection that I would always get from a Maggie Stiefvater book, so it's unfortunate for me really that I felt that way but hey . . . what are you going to do?

Overall, THE RAVEN BOYS would have to be my least favourite book coming from one of my favourite authors and I'm quite disappointed by admitting that openly. With that being said, for those who are already used to the beautiful writing Stiefvater always uses then I would still highly recommend reading this book and who knows . . . you might actually enjoy it more than I did!

The Rating
2 1/2 / 5 stars

6 comments:

  1. Aww that's so sad you didn't like it! I haven't read any of her books, but if I do I'll be sure to start with one of the other ones before attempting this one. Great review :)

    -Jessica (Peace Love Books)

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    1. It's such a shame but I would definitely recommend you start one of her other books before this one.

      Thank you! :)

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  2. Oh no :( I'm sorry this didn't work for you, esp. as you're a fan of Maggie's previous books. I really loved this (top 10 for me) but I can understand that there was a lot going on, but I did love all the different characters :)

    Great review, Erin!

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    1. I know! I couldn't believe it myself that I didn't like this book but I'm glad you loved it! It does have its appeal.

      Thanks! :)

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  3. Oh no! I'm sorry you didn't like this book, even if it is from one of your favoritest authors. I feel like this book is one of those "you either love it or you hate it" type of books. Some people just clicked with this book, and for others, it's just not for them. I haven't read this one yet, but I really hope I don't get confused by the plot like you did. I hate it when that happens! The introduction to multiple characters seem nice, but they have to be well-developed to be enjoyable. Thanks for being honest--even if it hurts! :( -- this is a fantastic review, Erin!

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    1. Exactly! It's the whole 50/50 thing going on with this book with either loving it or hating it . . . so it's a shame I didn't like this book all so much.

      Thanks Jen!

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