The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)

So…you’ve might have heard of this series before. I admit I’m pretty late to the bandwagon. I’ve seen it pop up Tumblr for awhile and I have no idea what Lion’s Den of a fandom I am walking into or how popular these books really are, but I do know that I had a 40% off coupon for Barnes and Noble and nothing in particular I needed or wanted to buy so hence reading “The Raven Boys” and finally this review.

        The first word that comes to mind was: good. I enjoyed it. Enjoyed it enough to buy the next three books in the series which I’ll probably start this afternoon. Like all books that I’ve read recently, this book has more pros than it does cons, which sometimes for the teen fandom is pretty hard to come by unfortunately.

        So let’s delve in.

        One, I actually like the main female character. One of the very sad facts about young adult fiction is that the girl protagonists usually suck, and suck the big one. It pains me to say it, but they are usually whiny, too good to be true, pretentious, boring, or just shittily created. I can probably list on one hand female protagonists that didn’t make me roll my eyes or want to rip my hair out.

Blue Sargeant-the resident female protagonist-was actually pretty likeable in my opinion. I liked that she was eccentric but not naturally. She worked hard for that appearance, has no pretenses about being vain, and seems to not care or be embarrassed by her incredibly odd all female psychic family that are also pretty three-dimensional and interesting people.

So congrats Maggie Steifvater, you managed to create female characters with depth, complexity, and intrigue.

        As for the Raven Boys, they are all very interesting. While the individuals themselves are a bit cliché (you’ve got the leader, the poor boy who wants to be rich, and the resident badass douche) it was their dynamic more than anything that I found fascinating. With Gansey taking the role not only as the leader, but also their keeper, the trio took on a more meaningful but darker glean.

Adam felt like he was Gansey’s plaything and there are several points in the novel where he refers to Gansey liking all of his “things” in one place-things being the Raven Boys. Gansey is also the only one able to “control” or “command” Ronan to do or not do things like beat the shit out of his older brother or cram for an exam.

Their dynamic holds friendship sure, but there was also a very obvious undercurrent of power play and submission with Gansey acting as role of master which I found very odd but pleasantly intriguing for a young adult series. Fodder for fanficiton definitely.

        Also interesting was the role of Noah. I don’t want to give away spoilers, because I was actually surprised by this twist, but it was very interesting. Any twist that actually manages to surprise me instead of piss me off or being extremely easy to predict it is also very rare-so thank you again Maggie. I owe you one.

        Last, the plot was always moving. I did think the beginning was a bit slow how it was all about how Gansey conversed and behaved with his friends and the introduction of Blue’s powers and the beautifully small, but witchy town of Henrietta, but I found I didn’t mind. The complex relationships kept it fresh and invigorating instead of boring and dull and put emphasis on how important all the connections were.

        Actually, half the time I was a little bit confused and left in the dark about how things were actually working in the beginning. I actually like this writing tactic of not explaining every little thing and leaving readers in the dark to figure it out themselves; and Maggie pulled it off very well-just like Melissa Marr did in her Wicked Lovely series. It’s a very show-not-tell method of writing.

I like that you first read about Blue in an abandoned graveyard and you slowly start to figure out why and how and what gives. I prefer that technique over authors tripping over themselves to explain every inch and nuance of their one dimensional characters in their cookie cutter world.

        I suppose the only complaint I have was the pacing. Sometimes certain scenes or chapters would be a bit too abrupt, abrupt enough to leave me a little confused and uncertain where things had been left. The ending was a great example. I think Maggie was going for a cliffhanger but instead she created a valley of confusion and what the hell’s.

I had honest to goodness thought Adam died in the forest, so imagine my surprise when he was absolutely fine and bought an apartment. It didn’t make much sense to me and I needed more details. It’s a fine line between being left in the dark and being thrown in the dark with a hood over my eyes and no flashlight to speak of. The very ending, as in the last page, was also just plain confusing more so than gasp inducing. I’m hoping that the next book will clear up a lot of the burgeoning questions I have.

Recommendation: “The Raven Boys” is a good, unique read. If you like the dynamics of one cool girl with four boys, psychics, fortune telling, Celtic myths, prep-school-wearing-uniform-boys, and small towns then this is a good book for you. If you like authors to explain what they mean and to always know what is going on at all times this book will haunt you forever.

 Score: 8/10