Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Rating: 2/5
Blue Sargent and the Raven Boys go in search of the Ley line.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
Blue Sargent is the only non-psychic in her family but she can amplify their powers. She lives with her mother Maura and two of Maura’s friends–Calla and Persephone. Her aunt Neeve comes to stay with them. On St. Mark’s Eve, Blue and Neeve go to the graveyard to note the names of everyone who will die. Blue sees a Raven Boy who tells her his name is Gansey. Blue is fated to kill her true love if she kisses him. The town they live in is called Henrietta and has a Ley line going through it–so it’s magical. Richard Gansey III aka Gansey, Ronan Lynch and Adam Parrish are Raven Boys. They’re also friends with Noah and live at Monmouth Manufacturing, a building owned by Gansey. The first two are very rich, Adam is poor. Ronan’s father was murdered before the events of this book and he doesn’t get along with his siblings. Blue meets the boys at this restaurant she works at. She doesn’t get along with Gansey who leaves his notebook with all his research about Ley lines and Glendower (this Welsh king). Adam asks her out after. She starts hanging out with the boys. They come to her family’s house for a reading. Ronan gets drunk and is found by Gansey in a church with a baby raven he names Chainsaw. The group goes on a helicopter ride searching for the Ley line. They find Cabeswater–a forest–where the trees speak Latin and call Ronan “Greywaren.” They take turns in a hollow tree and see visions. Adam sees Gansey dying because of something he did. Blue sees Gansey and her kissing.
Unbeknownst to them, their Latin teacher, Barrington Whelk, has also been in search of the Ley line. Adam is revealed to be abused by his father. Gansey and Blue go to Cabeswater and find Noah’s skeleton. Seven years ago, Whelk had tried to sacrifice his friend Noah to reclaim fortune after his family lost their money. So the group talks to Noah’s ghost. Whelk tracks Gansey down and threatens him at gunpoint. He takes Gansey’s journal and then Gansey escapes. Ronan sees Adam getting beat up by his father so he fights Adam’s father. Adam presses charges against his father so Ronan won’t be arrested. In doing so, his mother disowns him. Adam loses his hearing in his left ear because of getting beat up. He steals Gansey’s car and drives to Cabeswater. He finds Whelk and Neeve. Neeve had kidnapped Whelk but hadn’t tied his hands properly so Whelk now had power. The rest of the gang arrives. Adam decides to sacrifice his free will and a stampede kills Whelk. The book ends with Adam moving into a new place and the crew at Noah’s funeral. They rebury Noah’s body on the Ley line so they can still see him. Ronan tells the crew Chainsaw was taken from his dream.
Plot and Pacing
I had heard amazing things about this series. I remember one of my friends reading it in class in the seventh or eighth grade and getting in trouble for it. All the books in the series have ratings above 4.0 on Goodreads. So imagine my surprise when I was bored to hell when I read The Raven Boys.
Now that I’m actually sitting down to write this review (after procrastinating for an hour–I can’t believe it’s been that long), there were some good things about the book. The “chosen one” trope is completely subverted and it seems that every character brings something to the table. There are a few difficult themes that are touched upon. Adam and his abusive parents are an example and, honest to god, Ronan beating the crap out of the father was probably one of my favourite parts of the book. Ronan also seems to have a bit of a drinking problem and that seems to be his coping mechanism, a way to deal with his father’s murder (about which, according to Calla, he seems to know something). I would never have been able to tell that Noah had been dead all along so that revelation was well-written.
But there were so many more things I didn’t like. When we’re introduced to Blue, the first thing we’re told is the prophecy about her kiss and true love. I understand it’s meant to appeal to the young adult audience and one of the most effective ways of doing that is adding external pressure to roMaNcE. However, it really bothered me. I didn’t like how her whole character rests on that one prophecy. Forget about all her other eccentricities, nope, let’s just focus on her love life! Which reminds me, surely I can’t be the only one who feels Adam and Blue have absolutely no chemistry? Neither do Gansey and Blue and, so help me god, if the next book features a love triangle, I am going to bash my head through the glass window. At Nino’s (the restaurant Blue works at), Adam just seems to fall for her at first sight. Perhaps it was the Ley lines at work or whatever but the lack of development in their relationship made me sigh and shake my head at the whole YA genre.
The magic system lacks both internal and external consistency–that is, the magic isn’t consistent within itself nor is there any explanation as to why the magic works the way it does. Sure, Blue’s family (and whoever Calla and Persephone are to her) can be psychics and perhaps you can’t really explain that as an author. It’s an innate ability. But there weren’t any rules. How far do their psychic abilities reach? How was it that Neeve, despite being the best of the lot, didn’t foresee Whelk escaping? (Unless she did it on purpose to ensure Adam would be the one to do whatever the hell he did–honestly, I still don’t really understand the end.) The only clear limitation to the psychics’ ability is they can’t foresee “specific things” yet everyone is bending that rule all the time.
The Ley lines themselves also didn’t interest me. The tree speaking Latin was cool but I felt annoyed because a few years back, I had written a story where this boy could hear the boys talk in an archaic language and now I feel cheated. There didn’t seem to be a point to anything. The characters’ motivations seemed flimsy at best (although Ronan is probably my favourite) and I couldn’t bring myself to care about whether or not they accomplished their goal. Also, what the hell was that ending? I have no idea what Adam did. And Ronan and his dreams? That came out of nowhere!
Characters
I don’t know why but I tend to really dislike female protagonists in YA novels (emphasis on protagonists–Hermione and Annabeth don’t count–and YA–this doesn’t include classic characters like Jo March and Anne Shirley). They never fail to annoy me and I can’t bring myself to root for them. When I realised Blue was one of the protagonists, I swore I would do my utmost best to not dislike her. I ended up disliking her anyway but I don’t think that was because of her character being “bad” but more as a result of Stiefvater not developing her well. Blue serves as an amplification of people’s inherent powers. Maura and the other psychics use her in their readings if they’re having difficulties. Noah is more visible when he’s drawing upon Blue’s powers. Stiefvater briefly touches upon Blue’s feelings of dissatisfaction that she’s the only untalented one. But her character arc immediately changes into one of romance. The things that made her unusual–the way she designs her own clothes (I think?) and her desire to stand out from the crowd–were all forgotten when Adam and Gansey got in the picture. She had a lot of potential. I liked how she was “sensible” and didn’t want a romantic relationship. I scoffed when she threw that mindset out the window when Adam swept her off her feet.
I thought I would like Adam the most. He has the classic rags-to-riches trope going for him but in the early stages. His family is poor, he works several jobs and his intelligence is the only thing that is keeping him at Aglionby. He wants to carve out a better life for himself. To top that off, even his backstory had a lot of complexity, having been abused for who knows how long. Besides his instant infatuation with Blue, I didn’t like how he turned down Gansey’s offer of help. I could understand that Adam wanted to be on his own and not rely on anyone but to reach that stage of independence, you do need some help initially! For such a pragmatic lad, it killed me at how irrational he was being in that respect. He didn’t have any problem relying on Gansey for literally everything else–friendship, car rides, hobbies (yes, I consider tracking down Glendower as a hobby).
I wanted to strangle Noah, at first, because of how little attention he was given. With every scene featuring the Raven boys, my brain would scream at the book begging for more character development for Noah. I guess that sorted itself out near the end and when it was revealed Noah was a ghost, I could finally relax.
Gansey. Where do I start with Gansey? I have a hunch that he’s gay and likes Adam. And part of that reason might be that I don’t want a cliched love triangle between Blue, Gansey and Adam where two boys pine after one girl. In every scene where the three characters were together, Stiefvater would show Gansey to look troubled at Blue and Adam holding hands or something. I didn’t think Gansey’s motivation to find the Welsh king was compelling. He’s allergic to wasps or something and when he was younger, on the brink of death, a voice told him Glendower was the answer and that someone else had died in his stead (that someone being Noah, I think). Perhaps his quest is meant to serve as a distraction for how meaningless Gansey’s life really is. He doesn’t seem to know what part he’s meant to play and is so wealthy that he doesn’t need to even consider future prospects. Gansey is meant to be this very put-together, eloquent young man but I think Stiefvater tried too hard. The words he used weren’t all that complex (something the characters kept pointing out) and only made me question the effectiveness of the education system. He is shown to wear this facade every time he’s with people but his “true” persona isn’t really all that different. The one thing I really loved about Gansey was his desire to find something wonderful. I loved his insistence that magic did exist. Part of me wanted him never to find it just so that I’d feel a bit better about how sucky the world is but I guess I’m a cynic.
I liked Ronan and I hope he narrates a chapter or two in the next book. From what I’ve gathered about the fans online, Ronan seems to be the favourite so I’m sure he’ll have a bigger role to play. I loved seeing his interactions with Chainsaw and I loved how he cared a lot about his friends. I mean, one doesn’t simply beat up a parent! Also, the way he went straight to the library when Adam pressed charges so he wouldn’t be kicked out of school was heartwarming. Ronan’s conflict with his brother and unnamed (and ungendered) third sibling irked me primarily because it seemed so baseless. Perhaps we’ll go into more depth in the next few books but as I was reading, it felt as though Ronan was being violent for no reason. You would think losing a parent would bring siblings together. Also, Ronan’s older brother (I can’t remember his name) is a senior at school but he spends a lot of time in suits, doing internships, so I keep getting confused as to whether he’s a senior in university or Aglionby.
Writing Style
I didn’t find the writing style particularly gripping or enthralling. I found it to be quite generic. I do appreciate the short chapters and the minimal amount of description though. About halfway through the book, my inability to really care about the characters bothered me because I consider myself to be quite an empathetic person. When I read the author’s name, this weird cold shiver swept over me because I finally realised why it sounded so familiar. Stiefvater wrote this other series about wolves or something, the first book being Shiver, and I absolutely despised it when I read it in school. I just couldn’t get into it. So it might just be that her writing and I don’t get along.
I’m really hoping the next book is better than this one. I’m almost tempted not to finish the series but if I managed to finish The Witcher, I should be able to get through this, right?