The Raven Boys
Ratings408
Average rating4
despite all the spoilers i saw, i really didn't see that coming
i was very hesitant to read another YA novel, but this was pleasantly surprising and i'm glad i listened to all of the hype around this. i don't feel like the world was super well-developed, so it was nice to find out that there are three more books in the series. i'm actually quite interested in continuing!
I tried to listen to the audiobook of The Raven Boys. But I just could not get into it. IDK if it is just because I wasnt fully paying attention (I usually listen to audiobooks while I craft) but it just didn't keep my attention, and I had to keep rewinding. Its has such good reviews that I know I will give it another shot, but I just need to actually read it. So for now, it is DNF and back onto the TBR. :(
I can't believe I forgot how wonderful this book is. Everything Steifvater does in it is incredible. The prose itself, the dialogue, the characters, the settings. It all just comes together to create this beautiful experience. I tore through the book in just a couple days and loved every second of it.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Stiefvater's writing is just gorgeous and even if the story isn't your thing, I think anyone can appreciate the talent she has. It's worth a shot, anyway. To be honest, though, I didn't love the ending. It was too abrupt and a little confusing to me–and I think I felt the same way the first time around. But I'll see how it ties in to the rest of the series before I make a full judgment.
3,5/5
Начинала читать на английском и кажется из-за этого почувствовала магию, о которой все говорят. Язык Стивотер чудесен, метафоричен и временами саркастичен. В русском же остроумие и атмосфера абсолютно исчезают, открывая глаза на проблемы истории.
А именно слабый сюжет и удобные совпадения. Понимаю, что жанр мистический, но это не должно быть оправданием. Персонажи просто перемещаются из локации в локацию, получают маленькие кусочки информации и больше ничего не делают. Автор через главного злодея - пустышку, связанного с прошлым еще одного персонажа, - подталкивает их к действию, но только в последних главах. В них же персонажам начинает дико вести без всяких усилий - Ронан сдает экзамен, Адам съезжает от родителей, Пуп (господи, что за имя) сам умирает.
Возможно, в этом виновата завязка сюжета - Ганси всю жизнь ищет то, не зная что, а на Блу висит “проклятье”, связанное с любовью. И ничего из этого не выстреливает в первой книге. Зато есть надоевший троп как бедная девочка встречает группу элитных мальчиков и они внезапно начинают дружить. Серьезно, внезапно - Ганси хотел получить предсказание от ее мамы, а Адам кажется влюбился в ее внешность. Еще внезапно всплывает ирландская мифология, с которой этот клубок прочно запутывается.
Сама себе не могу объяснить ЧТО такого в этой книге меня зацепило. Я не люблю такой медленный темп, но именно будничные главы были моими любимыми. Может это то самое глупое желание оказаться вместе с этими персонажами?
Моя любовь - это Адам. Небогатый парень, пробившийся в элитную школу, пропадающий на трех работах, с семейными проблемами, принципиальный и верный.
Еще есть эксцентричная Блу. Ее семья - потомственные ясновидящие, никакого мошенничества. Но ей достался другой, незаметный дар - увеличивать силы других. Нравится, как она не боится быть собой. За ее тетушками также интересно следить. Хотя по началу мне так не казалось.
Ронан показан типичным бэд боем с добрым сердцем, в кожанке и с желанием почесать кулаки, но пока он для меня вообще не раскрылся. Знаю, что про него есть отдельные продолжения, и очень надеюсь, что мне зайдет, потому что связано это с моей любимой способностью - сны!
Ганси - с большими амбициями и большим кошельком, но хрупкий внутри. Он неназванный лидер их небольшой компании, потому что с него все и началось - поиск Глендовера, его даров.
Удивительно, как в книге может быть столько моих “нет”, но все равно мне понравится. Возможно, на следующей части мои глаза раскроются. Но пока я хочу получить еще этой магической атмосферы и дружбы странных ребят. С вороненком!
Full review will come, maybe/probably when I'm done the whole series.
What a start to a series. This was so fun and fast and devastating and GOOD.
Es un no, puedo entender porque a tanta gente le gusta pero personalmente se me hizo eterno y casi que no acabo con el. Debo decir que si le cogí cariño a tres personajes Blue y Ronan me cayeron bien, pero Noah me terminó por matar con lo poco que salió.
¿Lo recomiendo? No sé, creo que no es para todos, en especial si no es alguien que le guste tanto monólogo interno, que de eso sí había de sobra, pero tiene una trama bueno e interesante en cierto sentido pero eso sí la historia avanza lentamente.
WOW.
This series has been in my TBR for the longest time and now that I've finally picked it up I am so annoyed that I hadn't sooner.
There's something so immersive and special about this book. The characters, the plot, the world building... Everything about this book is just perfection and I can't begin to express how excited I am to read the rest of the series.
Blue is so special to me and I cant wait to read more about her. I am still trying to fathom how this is my first time reading this series and just from the first book, I love all of these characters.
I can already tell that this is going to become a comfort series for me.
First five star read of the year. We are so back
This gave me comfort when not much did. And it got me to rediscover the wonder that is a library and how it feels to sit and read in a good armchair for nothing but the want of reading.
Hello and welcome to the first installment of a new review series I'm calling “Retrying Books That I Didn't Give A Fair Chance To In My Youth (Because I Was Influenced By The Bandwagons Of Their Time, Or Simply Because I Was A Stupid Teen).” Today's review is on Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, which I had previously DNF'ed at 30% in 2018. I decided to try this again with OwlCrate's The Nest community for their The Raven Boys read-along. It's a great community and you should check it out if you're into books!
I feel scammed. But I'm not entirely upset about it?
When I read the blurb of this book, I thought that this would be a young adult fantasy romance about a girl who can't kiss her true love, featuring plenty of angst and mutual pining galore with magic/supernatural elements. What I got? A borderline educational story about said girl, boy, and some friends of this boy going on a supernatural adventure to find some dude named Glendower and ley lines with maybe a teeny tiny smidge of romance.
And here's the thing- I liked this. Not as much as I probably would've if this book had been anything like I thought it would be, but I still enjoyed this. Now, onto the meat of the review...
To start with the characters, I found it strange how much I can relate to Blue. We almost have the same mom, they're so similar in both their actions and behaviors. I could definitely relate with her on the absent dad thing (lol) as well. My family's also super spiritual like the Sargents, so I wasn't new to the psychic elements in this book. This was definitely my favorite parts of this story.
Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah reminded me way too much of the Marauders from the Harry Potter series. Their personalities and physical appearances are very similar; Gansey is like James, Ronan is like Sirius, Adam is like Remus, and Noah is like Peter (minus all the betrayal... stuff)- there's even a confusing plot twist where Noah turns out to be a ghost kinda like the plot twist were Peter turns out to be Scabbers. Hell, even Ronan has a brother he has beef with just like Sirius and Regulus. Blue isn't much like Lily outside of being Gansey's love interest, but everything else is too similar to consider as a coincidence. If you had told me this was originally written as a Marauders fanfiction, I would believe you.
All of this aside, these characters weren't very well characterized. For example, I found myself frequently wondering whether these Raven Boys were high schoolers or college-age kids because Stiefvater never made it clear within her character's actions. These characters are somewhat barebones, given a small hint of personality and prematurely pushed to the stage similar to the Thirteenth Doctor's companions from Doctor Who. It was almost as if Stiefvater was trying to be mysterious but just ended up being confusing.
Plot-wise this was very slow- not as slow as I remember when I originally DNFed this, but not as fast-paced as I usually like when I read a book. The plot was set up in the first three-ish chapters, then the story didn't really pick up until a bit over the halfway point for me. Everything between that was just filler that I managed to push through.
My main problem with this book, though, is Stiefvater's writing style. It's comparable to Holly Black and Alex Aster's writing styles (or so I've heard for the latter). For example, “April days in Henrietta were fair, tender things,” “Mornings at 300 Fox Way were fearful, jumbled things,” and “Robert Parrish was a big thing” are comparable to quotes I've seen tossed around from Lightlark- quotes that were quite the opposite of praised.
I also found the dialogue pretty confusing at times, considering the dialogue practically carried this story. One of the raven boys would say something, and another would reply with something completely confusing, complex, and/or off topic that didn't make sense. I found myself more and more confused over these scenes but trying to ignore them as I continued. I think this adds to the case of Stiefvater trying and miserably failing at being mysterious. Overall, the writing of this book is very poor quality in my opinion, but it's definitely not the worst I've seen. Though it's much worse when you realize this is far from the first book she's ever written.
In the end, this was an okay book. When reading this, if I was not bored I was confused, and vice versa. I believe I would've been less bored if this had focused more on romance than the adventure and if the pacing issues were fixed. Or maybe if it had been advertised as what it actually is, I may have entered with a different mindset and not have been so thrown off. Yet somehow this was still enjoyable overall despite feeling scammed by that description, and I do want to continue on with The Dream Thieves. 3 out of 5 stars.
I've had this book on my TBR for a while and I've even owned it for a while, but I kept putting off reading it. I tend to put off reading books that are hyped no matter how much I want to read them, and I don't really know why I do this. Maybe I am afraid of being disappointed who knows.
I went into this book thinking it could potentially end up being a new favorite book. It didn't end up being an all-time favorite, but I did really enjoy it. The pacing is weird in this. I felt like not a whole lot was happening and it was happening slowly, but I ended up flying through it in like 3 sittings. I would say this is a character driven book. Yes, there's a plot but I feel like the star(s) of the show are the characters. I loved all of them obviously some more than others, but I'm totally invested in these characters and want to know what happens next.
It did this thing in the end where we were in the middle of the conflict and all of a sudden, we are in another chapter and it's a few weeks later so instead of getting to see what actually happened we are quickly told, and I didn't like that abrupt ending. We are also left with a cliffhanger which I typically don't like and while it does leave me wanting to know what happens next, I don't feel like I need to rush to the next book.
While I did have some issues with this book, I overall really enjoyed it in large part due to the characters. I don't own any of the other books yet but I definitely want to get them so I can continue on with the series.
4 and a half stars for sure
i think i had some trouble getting into the book at the beginning, but god it was amazing! the whole story and the unexpected plot twists! amazing!
I can't say that I didn't like this book, but I didn't love it either. It was enjoyable, but it took me more than the first half of the book to finally understand what was going on and things are still a little bit blurry. All I can say is that this book was weird. Right now I don't even know if I want to continue reading this series, but I do want to give it a chance, maybe it gets better.
I loved Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy and hoped this series would at least be as well written, but unfortunately it fell short. The beginning was a mash of characters and backstory, trying to lay down the ground rules of the setting and world, but it never really explained anything well enough. I think Stiefvater had a clear picture in her mind and jumbled the translation to words. For instance, the scene where Blue meets the Raven Boys was poorly done. She tried to identify them by their characteristics instead of names, but I didn't know enough about the boys to tell who was who. This entire book felt as though it was a stream of conscience first draft that never made it to a second. Between the random things added to the plot, and useless life details from Gansey I wanted to just shut the book and walk away.
so sad that this book was not for me. not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.
Maybe 3.5. There's a lot I really liked about this book, but I never developed any real emotional connection with it.