The Raven Boys

[bewize]

At the suggestion of a friend, I just finished The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater which is the first book in The Raven Cycle Quartet. It was excellent. I listed to it on audiobook and would be remiss if I didn't comment on the quality of the narration by Will Patton. I loved it. I loved the drawl of southern accent his voice had and the quality he gave a book that was really, incredibly beautifully written.

No real spoilers here, but I loved the way that the characters were fully developed people whose lives we happened upon at a particular moment in time. I loved that the hints of backstory weren't always explained and left a lot up to the readers to determine, and the pace with which these characters and their secrets came to light.

It as an excellent read/listen and I'm looking very forward to the next book in this series!

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Yessss. . .I'm glad you liked it and I'm here to talk more.

Can't wait for your take on 'Dream Thieves,' that's where the series gets fully unhinged.

[bewize]

Haha! That's awesome. That last line of book one... great hook into book 2.

I spent much of this book feeling like I had no real idea what was happening, but I couldn't put it down!

I really liked the way the characters all had their own peculiar flaws. I also liked the supporting cast of Blue's family.

Also, Dick and Jane had me laughing out loud.

Did you listen to the audiobook? The author apparently also wrote the music that appeared in parts of the book (intro, outro, etc.)

[likeadeuce]

I have yet to see a fic called 'Fun With Dick and Jane,' which seems wrong.

Maggie is a musician, composer, and visual artist in several media (plus she raises goats). Lots of talent to go around.

I'm glad you're enjoying the audiobooks, I think they set a great atmosphere though. . .there are some issues w/ the vocal performance for certain characters in book 2, hope you can power through.

[bewize]

Oh, no. I loved the narrator in book one. I hope book two doesn't screw it up.

[likeadeuce]

(Oh, also: who's your favorite after book 1?)

[bewize]

Hmmm. Favorite is hard. I liked them all in their own ways.

If I had to pick, probably Blue. I just really enjoyed her views on the world.

But my heart went to Adam. I felt so crushed for him. "All your things in one place," will resonate with me for a loooooooong time.

[likeadeuce]

Oh, Blue, my love -- she's got such a great sense of who she is and what she's about and she's so idealistic and practical at the same time. And she just looks at these weirdo boys and decides she needs to be part of whatever they've got going on. It's great.

And Adam. Gosh. He goes through such a journey even in this first book and I swear some people say they don't love Adam from the start and that puts me to 'hmm, i think you might actually be a bad person' because *flails* And his friendship with Gansey is so fraught and messy and they are both so bad at navigating it but they won't give up on each other and I don't know if they understand why (*cough cough* because they should kiss *cough cough*)and it's not something that's going to be easy to work out. They have 2 or 3 of the worst arguments I have ever read in Raven Boys (and this is the book where Ronan is smashing his brother's face into the hood of a car) and it's such a good portrayal of people who can fight and fight and still be friends, which I don't feel like is something I see portrayed this well very often in fiction. . .

obviously i have a lot of thoughts lol.

[bewize]

The fight in the parking lot at the hospital... just damn. It was heartbreaking.

But, Ronan sweeping in at Adam's house, my heart was pounding out of my chest! Adam breaking the silence because Ronan, whom he doesn't even like that much, is at risk. Adam carrying the weight of so much trauma and so little self-worth, deciding he has worth anyway, and then being afraid he sold it for Gansy.

Guh.

I am not sure what will happen with Adam, but I'm familiar with the adage that "Hurt people hurt people." I can see how that could play out so easily.

And Gansy, trying to prove his own self-worth by being a savior. White-knighting all over the place, no boundaries, no belief in his own inherent value.

Yeah, they are definitely destined to have some epic clashes.

Ronan fighting with his brother less surprising to me, because family is hard.

And money just magnifies everything so much.

It's really impressive to see all of this play out so deftly in YA fiction. The way that class affects the characters interactions really caught my attention, too.

But what I liked most, I think, is that these characters just ARE when the story begins. Their histories and baggage and damage is displayed before it is explained. We see their faults and their strengths well before we learn their histories and I really enjoyed that.

I'm anxious to start the next book, but I'm finishing up another one at the moment, which is also good. LOL. Good problems to have here.

[likeadeuce]

I have such a soft spot for Gansey because, well, I have a soft spot for privileged weirdos who collect interesting people in furtherance of their wild schemes -- but at the same time, he's different because he really wants to be better (even if at this point he's not always willing to take the steps he needs to be better).

I don't want to say anything else about Ronan or Adam until you've read more but, well, book 2 is wild and I'm interested in what you think of it!