Series Review / The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

“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.

Publisher:  Scholastic
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Books 1 to 4, The Raven Cycle
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I cannot tell you how many times I have picked up this series to start to read it and never continue.  I think the furthest I had got to before this time was about 50 pages and I am really not sure why!  I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing, having read and loved her Shiver series and also read her stand alone novel The Scorpio Races and guess what I loved that too!  This time around I was determined to read through the series and figure out what this series was all about.  I am so glad that I gave this story a chance.  This was so much fun to read.

This story was more about the search for the ley lines and all that sleeps beneath rather than a love story between any of the characters.  That's not to say that there isn't any romance along the way but its not the main part of this series.  The best part of this series for me was definitely the characters, more particularly the Raven boys 'gang' including Gansey and Blue with her family also.  The dynamics of the relationships between them felt so real I could not help but feel happy or sad (whatever the case may be) for them.

That said, for me, I felt that the story dragged a bit.  Although this series had a lot of plot and history it just seemed as though it could have worked just as well if it was a duology or trilogy rather than a four part series.

All in all, this was a really fun read with interesting characters and a wealth of history.  A bit dragged out in places but definitely worth the read.