Book Review: The Raven Boys

Hello All,

If you saw my last post, you know that I've had a LOT of time on my hands to read a few books in my preferred genre, YA fiction. My newest review, following my review of Graceling, is on Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, the first book in the Raven Cycle series.

The Raven Boys -Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there — known as Raven Boys — can only mean trouble.

[WARNING -this review may contain spoilers.]

Indeed, the Raven Boys, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah, prove quite a bit of trouble for Blue, who is just trying to make it through high school without falling in love. 

As always, I love Stiefvater's writing, and I couldn't resist the urge to ask for this book for Christmas -I would have bought it myself back in September when if first came out, but I had a lot going on in my fall semester. Anyway, Stiefvater manages to write both mundane and disturbing instances sound like poetry, or lyrics in a song. If you haven't read any of her other books, I encourage you to pick up The Scorpio Races -it was so incredible and such a great story, and can't stop talking about it, a year after reading.

Things that I liked:

I really appreciated the different personalities and characters of the three main Raven Boys (we don't see a heck of a lot of Noah in this first book, so I can't really talk about him that much). One of the things that I really admire so much about Stiefvater's writing is her ability to balance a number of different characters and their own personal stories into the major storyline of the book.
I utterly loved Gansey's unintentional insults and obliviousness to other people's feelings and principles, despite his obvious intelligence and focus on his passion. 
Adam is a little too self-depricating for my taste, but overall I really liked him and his personal principle to make his life what he can by his own power; and I'm not-so-secretly rooting for him and Blue to get together, and not the hinted Gansey-Blue future romance. Although, I am a little concerned about how he survived the weird ritual and what it means about his "person" in the coming books.
Ronan is a little hard to love, as he is in the story, but not because he's aggressive, gloomy, violent, but because his character is full of unresolved secrets! GRRR! I just want to know how his father died and what kind of strange power he really has to make ravens out of his dreams and his thoughts.
Blue is less of a mystery than her mother and aunts and weird family psychics living in her home. I would, however, love to know if her power-that's-not-a-power is going to transform in anyway to help the Boys find their ancient king.

The story is a new kind of quest that I haven't really seen done this way before, and that intrigued me a lot, especially because I picked up this book for the author, not so much the story. I liked how the individual aspects and journeys of each character sort of fell into place as the book moved along, and the mystery that came along with the magic Blue and her Raven Boys discovered helped make the story even more interactive.

What I didn't like:
Not finding out who Blue's father really is.
Not finding out how Ronan's father died. Or what his problem with his brother and the rest of his family is.
Not knowing what the heck is happening with that weird tree.

Getting so lost in the story that I didn't realize there wasn't enough time/pages in the book to actually get to plot points that have been hinted at earlier in the book, and then failing to accept that this book was the first in a series that has yet to be fully published, and not a stand-alone novel.

Overall Impression:

While I was extremely disappointed to discover that this was the first in a series that I'll have to wait for, I was enamored by the mystery in this book, as well as the characters and their personal histories, of which readers haven't completely uncovered just yet.

Amy's Rating: 4/5
Amazon/Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Thanks for reading!
Amy Liz

Review of: Linger, Wolves of Mercy Falls

Front Flap Summary: (from Amazon.com)

the longing.
Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.

the loss.
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a human.

the linger.
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

Amy's Review:

I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing. If you've never read anything by her, go pick up "The Scorpio Races" -that's my Stiefvater favorite right now. She has this weird style of writing, like everything is a musical poem. Most books in first person "speak" as if the character is talking to you, but even through the multiple views that The Mercy Falls books take us through, there is the rhythmic quality that makes the writing beautiful.

As for the plot of this book, it moved a little slowly. There was a lot of exposition from two previously secondary characters (Isabel and Cole) that was, plot-wise, next to useless. It interrupted the flow of action between the main characters, Grace and Sam, and made the book seem a lot longer than it needed to be. The first 200 pages moved a little slowly because we had to be introduced to Cole St. Clair and his moody, depressing and drug-filled rock star background, but I would have appreciated more about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and his best friend and bandmate, Victor, whom he also had made into a wolf -"for the high of it." More details on these characters and Cole's relationships with them would have made me feel more sympathy for Cole later on in the story. The story following Grace and Sam moved a bit faster, especially because Sam had to rediscover all of the possibilities life can now offer him and his wolf-less state. Grace's parents needed more of a reason to dislike Sam (at least before they found them in bed), and more of a reason to become so overprotective and authoritative. Also, Grace's illness/the wolf's death at the beginning needed more connection. The reveal at the end that they went hand-in-paw was a little far-fetched because in 300 pages it wasn't brought up after the initial discovery of the dead wolf.

The emotional impact of this book is powerful, especially if you've been with Sam and Grace since Shiver. I found myself crying at the end in a few places, mostly when Sam couldn't bring himself to change back into a wolf to be with his Summer Girl. Stiefvater definitely knows how to squeeze a few tears out of a reader, and she did it well in the conclusion of this book.

Overall, I give Linger, Book 2 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls 3 out of 6 stars. Despite its slow beginning and questionable attempt at a connection to science, the characters of this world have intricate and beautifully tragic personalities and lives, and the musical quality of the writing kept me reading until the end. I will most certainly be picking up the final book in the series, Forever, to see if Grace and Sam can be together for, well...forever.

Thank you for reading.