Bookish Bananas : THE RAVEN BOYS by MAGGIE STIEFVATER; BOOK REVIEW

Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: January 1st 2012
Format: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 416
Goodreads Description: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

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I just finished reading this book like an hour ago and I just had to make a book review about it. So I've seen this book around people's shelves and the cover looked interesting. So I wanted to know what the book was about. I read the description at the back of the book and I was like:

So it's a love story with some paranormal in it? I didn't understand. Me being me, I watched a book review and she explained the plot well. (Polandbananasbook aka xtinemay) Well I'm gonna do that so you won't get confused like I was.

Our lead character, Blue Sargent lives in a family of psychics. Not the fake psychics who make things up to get money. The real ones who can really tell what's gonna happen. But Blue didn't inherit the gift of being a psychics, instead she makes their psychics powers stronger if she's in the room.

""Yes" she said. "I guess I make things that need energy stronger. I'm like a walking battery"

"You're the table everyone wants at Starbucks," Gansey mused as he began to walk again.

Blue blinked. "What?" over his shoulder, Gansey said, " Next to the wall plug."

I had to include that conversation from the book because it made me laugh out loud. Anyway, our other lead is Gansey. And Gansey is not the typical wealthy rich character. Gansey has this life quest to find a lost not really dead king named Glendower. For whoever finds Glendower, the person will be granted a favor. And Gansey has 3 other friends that helps him to find this King and somehow Blue got involved with these guys and this quest.

The book is confusing at the first 50 pages since Maggie is introducing us to the characters and she's laying so much groundwork. I had to adjust to the writing style and adjust to the world since this book is very unique. But after you get past that 50 pages mark, you will be invested in this wonderful world.

I fell in love with all of the characters.

I really liked Gansey, he's my favorite. At first I thought he was your typical rich kid but I was so wrong. He's funny and smart. He says these words that I need to use the dictionary all the time! That was really frustrating since most of the time I' reading and my gadgets are not around me and I have to use the dictionary app. I have to stand up and get it, ruins my reading moment. But I still learned a lot of new words from Maggie Stiefvater and Gansey.

Ronan was really fun. He wasn't my favorite but I really liked him. He has this personality of a bad boy but there's a caring guy inside of him that I really liked. Just a thumbs up from me.

Noah was the quiet guy out of the 4 of them. You will know why as you read the book but I really liked him as well. He was observant and doesn't say much.

Adam was the smart scholar guy. I liked him at first but them my 5 star like went down to 4 star like :( He was just, let's see, doesn't think over stuff before doing them.

The plot is slow. But that's because Maggie was laying her groundwork and weaving things out.She was slowly introducing us the characters, their history and all those stuff. It's that kind of slow paced books that you are invested in reading. Maggie describes the places wonderfully. It's very dreamlike.

If you think this book is focused on the romance, you're so wrong. The description is very misleading. There's a tiny romance in this book. There's also a love triangle but there's not. You think there's a love triangle but the way it's presented in this book, it's like there's none. Just a tiny bit. Not those love triangles wherein the Main Character is in love with two guys at the same time. Just a tiny bit love triangle like there's none. I keep on repeating that...

Anyway, please read this book if you haven't! It's really amazing and it will give you the chills. My only problem is that, it was confusing at first. If you're bored on what you're reading and you want something new, then read this!