Arantxa (TheRoomWhereItHappens)'s Reviews > The Raven Boys

*third read february 2016*
"Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she'd been told that she would kill her true love"

Okey, so this may be the first proper review I write for this series and I don't even know why, I love these books too much to not have spoken long and detailed about them, but is never too late.

I first read these books back in October, not so long ago so I still remember the first impression it left on me (not that I need to read my "october review" to know it.)
I read them because it had a lot of hype (still does) and when I finished it I was kind of underwhelmed. Sure, I liked it, I liked the story and the concept of the ley lines and the welsh mitology. But still, I was confused as heck and I couldn't connect with the characters so I didn't see what all the fuss was about.
The more the months passed, for some reason, the more I like these books when I thought about them. And by december I was intrigued enough to read them for a second time (not even 3 months later) and I'm glad I did it because ever since, my life has not been the same. I'M NOT EXAGGERATING, THIS SERIES CAME INTO MY LIFE AND IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME.

Okey, so what makes The Raven Boys The Raven Boys? Is it it's set of incredible fleshed-out and well built characters that make you feel part of their crew and quest? Is it it's amazing complex plot with layer after layer that makes you feel you're reading the book for the first time when you re read them? Is it they way Maggie fills the pages with poetry and perfectly manages to transmit the essence of the book with only words?

I think, all this and more is what make The Raven Boys The Raven Boys

And I'm not kidding when I say it feels like you're reading this book for the first time once you re read them. So many things you didn't notice the first time, so many ways in which Maggie strategically places quotes and actions for you to find out later. I'm at odd for words to express how brilliant I think this is, how cleverly placed everything was, how can you express the enormous talent of Maggie Stiefvater as a writer? you just can't

But I think what makes this books so damn perfect for everyone is the set of characters.
One like you'll never find again, not matter how hard you try.

"They were loud and triumphant and kings of Henrietta, because they'd found the ley line and because it was starting, it was starting."

-Adam Parrish:

"Adam felt the familiar pang. Not jealousy, just wanting. One day, he'd have enough money to have a place like this. A place that looked on the outside like Adam looked on the inside.
A small voice inside Adam asked whether he would ever look this grand on the inside, or if it was something you had to be born into"



I honestly can say, Adam Parrish is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. I connect with him in a spiritual level, really. I wake up everyday and thanks Maggie Stiefvater for creating him, for bringing him to the world and to my life.
One has to relate even a little bit to him in order to understand the meaning behind his actions, why he acts the way he does, why he is the way he is. It truly breaks my heart everytime I see someone calling him "annoying". Okey so you have this kid... abused his whole life by his own father, neglected by his mother, poor, working three jobs in order to pay for his education while at the same time trying not to be like his father but to be a better person for his friends and himself, someone who has self steem issues because he has had little in his life to make him feel worth it... and all you have to say about him is that he's annoying?? because he has flaws and insecurities and the only way to make him feel worth is achieving something on his own??? FIGHT ME, I DARE YOU

“Being Adam Parrish was a complicated thing, a wonder of muscles and organs, synapses and nerves. He was a miracle of moving parts, a study in survival. The most important thing to Adam Parrish, though, had always been free will, the ability to be his own master.
This was the important thing.
It had always been the important thing.
This was what it was to be Adam.”

-Ronan Lynch:

“Gansey had once told Adam that he was afraid most people didn't know how to handle Ronan. What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves.”



Ronan is my second favorite. I don't really relate to him but I know how special he is to Maggie and how, even if it doesn't look like it, he's the most "important" of them all because originally he was going to be the main character of this series.
On the outside he's just some reckless kid who couldn't care less about anyone or anything. After his father died it looks like he has a hard time trying to find something he cares about.
But that's not an issue when it comes to his friends. Ronan Lynch would kill for his friends. If he could, he would dream them the world without thinking twice. He loves fiercely and loyally. Once he decides you're worth it, he is going to try to demonstrate it to you with the most subtle of ways. Because, unfortunately for him, he thinks that showing he cares is a weakness, a problem. Thus he doesn't allow himself to actually act the way he really is.
Fortunately for us, we know the truth. We know how this dork gay irish farmer is capable of set the world on fire just to protect the people he loves

Ronan said, "I'm always straight."
Adam replied, "Oh man, that's the biggest lie you've ever told."

-Gansey:

"On the outside, he knew he looked a lot like his father. On the inside, he sort of wished he looked more like the Camaro. Which was to say, more like Adam,"



I have a feeling for Gansey, I really do. Everyone thinks he's the simplest of the characters for his kind of life, when really he's just one more of them with self steem issues and anxiety over his best not being his best.
Since he died and then lived again (Jesus Gansey) he made it for his mission in life to go after Glendower. It would look like a simple hobby, but really, Gansey is just looking for a purpose in life, for something more. And his character sometimes breaks my heart because he thinks he doesn't have the right to have problems just because he has a "perfect life". But like Blue realises later, apparently having it all a happy person does not make.
She wonders why someone like Gansey, who could possibly have all he wants, would have to fake a smile. But little did she know that for Gansey this material things are useless, what he really craves is connection with his friends, because they mean the world to him. There his necessity to give Adam everything, there his responsability of taking care of Ronan after his father died, there his effort in not looking like a spoiled child because he wants to demonstrate that he is so much more. Even when people think otherwise.

“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.”

-Noah:

"I was... more... when I was alive."



Sadly, Noah doesn't get a lot of protagonism in this book even if he is equal to the other characters. Yes, I'm talking to you, people who leaves Noah outside of their edits and publications.
Noah is still a mystery for me. What I know of him is that he is painfully cute and a cinnamon roll, but what do we know of his past? what do we know of what he really feels about his situations throughout the series? how does he feel about his friends? (he obviously loves them, but I want some insight).
I don't know if Maggie's plan was to make his character the most mysterious or what but I don't like that this situation doesn't really change in the next books. He's still as invisible (pun intended) as before. And he went through some trauma so who's taking care of him, huh? WHO?!??

"Without Blue there to make him stronger, without Gansey there to make him human, without Ronan there to make him belong, Noah was a frightening thing."

-Blue Sargent:

She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.



Blue may be my less favorite character in the ravens, and is sad because she's the only girl so she carried the responsability to make up for it in the lack of female leads in this book.
Still, I understand that Maggie's point was to make her little but with a great temperament and to get upset real quick. But at times, it was kind of excessive and plain annoying (yes, the annoying is justified in this case). Though I admire her need of being independent in a different level than Adam, and her character development in the next books is on point.

"Today, Blue thought, is the day I stop listening to the future and start living it instead"

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Truly, I can say I'm lucky to be born in a world and a time where The Raven Cycle is a thing. Bless.

"Is that all?" she whispered.
Gansey closed his eyes. "That's all there is."

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*Second read december 2015*
5 stars
Okey what the fuck was I thinking when I rated this 4 stars???? and what's that bullshit of "I really didn´t care about the characters" thank god for second reads

*first read October 2015*
4 estrellas
SOOOO GOOOD
Amé este libro, esta historia, todo...
La situación con la magia que Maggie creó me pareció de lo más fascinante, y cuando me venía a dar cuenta, me encontraba sumergida en todas las explicaciones de Glendower y las líneas ley y simplemente era FANTÁSTICO.
El único problema que tendría con el libro es que a pesar de todo, no me encontré muy involucrada con los personajes.. sí, me cayeron bien todos los raven boys pero realmente no me llegaron, siento que les hizo falta para que de verdad me interesaran y me preocupara por ellos, hasta ahora todos me dan algo de igual.