Before I talk to you about Maggie Stiefvater's book, I wanted to tell you some new arrangements
concerning this blog.
Due to the rather big pile of my 'To-be-reviewed' books (five books in total) I decided to not post my reviews only on Saturdays. From now on I'll just post a review as soon as I finished writing and editing it. This will be way easier for me - I don't have to save a review for weeks just because I'm already posting two.
To give you some overview of what'll come in the next days:
1) The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
2) World After by Susan Ee
3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
4) The Selection by Kiera Cass
5) Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
They are in no particular order. I'll post whatever I feel like writing about!
Also, I thought about starting a thing called "Quote of the Week". Every Monday, I'll post a quote from a recent book or a line from my favourite books or maybe it has nothing to do with literature at all - be surprised!
Today's review is - as I've already told you - The Raven Boys
BasicsTitle: The Raven Boys
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: September 18th 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN: 0545424925
Number
of Pages: 416
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
What's special? Welsh mythology, psychics, Latin talking trees, ghosts – this book has it all!
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
What's special? Welsh mythology, psychics, Latin talking trees, ghosts – this book has it all!
Summary
Blue Sargent doesn't believe in true love. That's why she doesn't care about the prophecy everybody in her overpopulated home tells her either: If Blue kisses her true love, he will die.
But that isn't the weirdest thing about
her.
Every year on St. Mark's Eve her mom and Blue go to an old, long forgotten church yard and watch the people who will die in the next 12 months walking past.
In contrast to her family she has no psychic abilities and therefore can't see the soon-to-be-dead.
But this year she notices a boy named Gansey who vanishes in front of her eyes. Her aunt explains to her: Either she's his true love or she will be the cause of his death.
And according to Blue's prophecy, she may be both.
Gansey – not knowing about his destiny - is a student at the Aglionby private school for rich boys. He and his three friends – Ronan, Adam and Noah – are looking for Glendower, a legendary Welsh king. It is said that whoever wakes him from his sleep will be granted a wish.
But Gansey is not the only one craving this favour.
Even though Blue tries to stay away, she is drawn to the Raven Boys and their mystical search.
Even though, I sometimes just wanted to shake Sam, Stiefvater has the talent of writing interesting and realistic characters.
“My words are unerring tools of
destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.”
“When Gansey was polite, it made him powerful. When Adam was polite, he was giving power away.”
“How do you feel about helicopters?"
There was a long pause. "How do you mean? Ethically?"
"As a mode of transportation."
"Faster than camels, but less sustainable.”
“In the end, he was nobody to Adam, he was nobody to Ronan. Adam spit his words back at him and Ronan squandered however many second chances he gave him. Gansey was just a guy with a lot of stuff and a hole inside him that chewed away more of his heart every year.”
All characters have flaws and edges and you get angry with them because they act like a total jerk.
The same is with The Raven Boys. Every character is unique with own issues and flaws and is special in their own way.
We have the poor and diligent Adam who always feels odd around his wealthy friends.
Every year on St. Mark's Eve her mom and Blue go to an old, long forgotten church yard and watch the people who will die in the next 12 months walking past.
In contrast to her family she has no psychic abilities and therefore can't see the soon-to-be-dead.
But this year she notices a boy named Gansey who vanishes in front of her eyes. Her aunt explains to her: Either she's his true love or she will be the cause of his death.
And according to Blue's prophecy, she may be both.
Gansey – not knowing about his destiny - is a student at the Aglionby private school for rich boys. He and his three friends – Ronan, Adam and Noah – are looking for Glendower, a legendary Welsh king. It is said that whoever wakes him from his sleep will be granted a wish.
But Gansey is not the only one craving this favour.
Even though Blue tries to stay away, she is drawn to the Raven Boys and their mystical search.
My Opinion
First off, I've already read the Shiver trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater and I know lots of people don't like the books. But I fell in love with her writing style right away.Even though, I sometimes just wanted to shake Sam, Stiefvater has the talent of writing interesting and realistic characters.
“My words are unerring tools of
destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.”
“When Gansey was polite, it made him powerful. When Adam was polite, he was giving power away.”
“How do you feel about helicopters?"
There was a long pause. "How do you mean? Ethically?"
"As a mode of transportation."
"Faster than camels, but less sustainable.”
“In the end, he was nobody to Adam, he was nobody to Ronan. Adam spit his words back at him and Ronan squandered however many second chances he gave him. Gansey was just a guy with a lot of stuff and a hole inside him that chewed away more of his heart every year.”
All characters have flaws and edges and you get angry with them because they act like a total jerk.
The same is with The Raven Boys. Every character is unique with own issues and flaws and is special in their own way.
We have the poor and diligent Adam who always feels odd around his wealthy friends.
Noah who's always a bit stained and way
too introverted. (I would never have
guessed that twist! Like, my jaw dropped to the ground)
Ronan who talks with his fists and has trouble with his brother. He's my baby. I just want to cuddle him.
Ronan who talks with his fists and has trouble with his brother. He's my baby. I just want to cuddle him.
Gansey who is obsessed with his search
for Glendower.
Then there's Blue, her mom, her aunt
Neeve and her mom's friends who all live together. Everyone has their
own speciality or tang.
I'm still not quite sure how to picture Blue's home. Apart from the people I already named, there seem to live a few other aunts and cousins? But Blue never mentions them – so was it just an exaggeration?
My next point is not about the beauty of the book's inside but the outside.
All of the covers are in the same really cool style, so don't you dare, Scholastic Press, to change the cover for book #4!
And have you seen the German ones? I really thought about getting them but my love for the English language prevailed.
I'm still not quite sure how to picture Blue's home. Apart from the people I already named, there seem to live a few other aunts and cousins? But Blue never mentions them – so was it just an exaggeration?
My next point is not about the beauty of the book's inside but the outside.
All of the covers are in the same really cool style, so don't you dare, Scholastic Press, to change the cover for book #4!
And have you seen the German ones? I really thought about getting them but my love for the English language prevailed.
So damn pretty!
Did you know that Maggie Stiefvater draws, too?
Her art is astonishing!
She drew the Tarot cards mentioned in the book:
Moving on to the plot! Most reviews I've read said that the first half of the book was rather slow or that they coulnd't dive into the story until the second half. I have to agree. There's so much going on and so much that has to be explained, which stops the plot from developing. Blue tells us about her family and the psychics while Gansey explains Glendower. But suddenly - when Blue meets the Raven Boys, I guess – the story takes off. It was so gripping! I just couldn't put it down.
She drew the Tarot cards mentioned in the book:
Moving on to the plot! Most reviews I've read said that the first half of the book was rather slow or that they coulnd't dive into the story until the second half. I have to agree. There's so much going on and so much that has to be explained, which stops the plot from developing. Blue tells us about her family and the psychics while Gansey explains Glendower. But suddenly - when Blue meets the Raven Boys, I guess – the story takes off. It was so gripping! I just couldn't put it down.
One climax chased the other – I
flipped page for page for page and then - they forgot to print a few
chapters. Wait, what do you mean the book is over? I NEED MORE.
As I've already said, Maggie Stiefvater is talented with words. Especially if it comes to describing nature. Maybe it sounds cheesy or whatever, I don't care. How she writes about nature, really changed my view on it. It opend my eyes and showed me how beautiful it truly is.
And whenever I'm outside and look over to the forest, I think about not only Sam and Grace but now also Blue and her Raven Boys.
Thank you, Maggie!
I can't wait to get ahold of book two
which is called The Dream Thives and Ronan will be in the center of
the story!
You probably have read that in most of the reviews but I've never read a book like The Raven Boys. It has Welsh mythology on one hand, then there are pychics who watch the soon-to-be-dead, there is the Walking-Amplifier aka Blue and trees talking in Latin.
Rating
4 out of 5 stars!See you soon, guys!
Stay funky - Franzi
No comments:
Post a Comment