Hi everyone! Welcome to Nox Reads, I'm "Nox", and Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys gave me all the feelings. This one is most definitely a NEW FAVORITE!
"She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, the strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness."
TRIGGER WARNING: This book has alcohol, mentions of drugs (I think), and abuse. There are also several mentions of death, and there's a scene with a gun.
Songs I Listened to While Writing This: Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) by Fall Out Boy; I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Fall Out Boy
Before I begin, I'd like to thank Jenny, for putting up with my frantic texts as I read four hours before her sister's wedding, and my parents, for showing concern while their daughter started hitting a book against her head but accepting it all the same.
If any of you think I'm joking, I'm not. I seriously started whacking my head with this book once I got to a certain part. But alas, that's a spoiler. So let's get started with Spoiler Free Talk!
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I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited to read this series. I heard a lot about it, but it didn't really catch my eye. I went to the library and the series was there, so I figured I'd check it out. My friend Jenny told me that she loves the series, so here I am, reading the book.
Thank you, Jenny, for getting me to read this!
I love my Raven Boys so, so very much. For those who don't know, there are four boys, called "Raven Boys" because they go to Aglionby Academy, and the mascot or something is a raven. The boys (Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah) are all friends with different personalities that tend to clash (especially with Ronan). Gansey is the leader, who loves his friends with all of his heart and is deadset on his search for Glendower, an ancient king that grants a powerful wish to the person that awakens him. Ronan is the stereotypical hothead, though we learn he has his reasons why. Adam is a scholarship student, who hates "charity" from his friends because they're all rich and he lives in a trailer park. Literally. And Noah is the Mori-senpai of the group, the silent watcher who occasionally speaks. There's more to each of them, but I can't delve into it without spoilers.
If you didn't feel like reading that, let me sum it up.
Precious Cinnamon Rolls Too Pure for This World: Adam, Noah
Sinnamon Roll: Ronan
And Gansey lies somewhere in the middle. Along with the Raven Boys is Blue Sargent (Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll, Will Actually Kill You), the daughter of a psychic. Blue doesn't have any psychic abilities, she's only able to enhance those of the people around her. She joins the boys on their quest to find Glendower, desperate to feel the magic she's witnessed her entire life.
As I have said before, I care about characters more than anything, and each character has a depth to them that I adore. The book has 409 pages and in such a long book, we learn more about everyone involved, even minor characters.
I couldn't get into the book at first. I've had it for about three weeks and I barely finished it. I kept putting it off and reading other stories. It wasn't until this weekend that I really gave it a shot. So if you're having trouble getting through it at the beginning, then my advice is to keep going because boy oh boy does this story get good.
Also, each of these boys is my newest fictional character crush.
I love this story and I completely plan on finishing the rest of the series as soon as I possibly can.
The main parts I want to talk about are spoilers, so if you haven't read it or mind spoilers, then please read it and come back to the spoiler section because oh boy do I have a lot of spoilers to talk about.
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My main complaint about the book is that there isn't enough Noah in it. He seemed like such a sweetheart, especially around Blue, that I wanted more scenes with him in it. Of course, once I found out he was freaking dead the entire time it all made sense.
You have no idea how much my head spun when I got to that part. This is when I started whacking myself with the book and frantically texting my friends. In fact, I think my texts can speak for themselves. I think you'll be able to see which ones I sent when Blue and Gansey were at the church.
Also as I'm writing this, I realized maybe part of why Noah didn't want to search for Ronan anymore is because after he found him that one time, it probably reminded him of his death. My poor baby, I love him so much. I think Noah is my favorite, which I mean of-freaking-course my favorite is the dead guy. Typical me.
It took me a while to start caring for Ronan and Gansey. I could see that Ronan really cares about his friends: when he gets mad at Gansey for staring at the wasp instead of killing it, when he mourns Noah, and when he beats up Mr. Parrish for Adam (THAT'S MY BOY). I started to care for him, especially when we see that he's really a caring person, just a little damaged. Also, I love that he named a raven Chainsaw and decided to be Ronan the Raven Dad. The fact that he took her in a backpack to school is adorable and once again I love him.
Gansey was a different story. The summary makes it seem like the book revolves around him, Blue, and their "relationship", but Adam was the one that Blue fell for. Possibly because he's a cinnamon roll and Gansey acted like a condescending snob that was trying to buy Blue's companionship. The truth is though that Gansey cares deeply about his friends. He loves them like brothers, and he'd do anything for them. He wanted to take Adam far away from his dad, he wants to help keep Ronan out of trouble, and he genuinely cares about Noah and what happened to him. Gansey has one of the biggest hearts imaginable and it seriously hurt him when he realized that sometimes people (especially Adam) see him as the man he doesn't want to be: another condescending, snobbish rich boy who buys his way through life. He doesn't "own" his friends- they mean too much to him. He's so desperate for meaning and magic in a life that he thinks is worthless. When he talks about how badly he felt that Noah's death saved his life, it broke my heart.
Of course, a part of the story is that Gansey is supposed to be Blue's true love and that if she kisses him he'll supposedly die. With all of the visions and reminders, this is either the heaviest foreshadowing ever shoved down a reader's throat, or it's meant to make it a surprise if he ends up living. My bet is that he's going to live. No matter the outcome, I won't be surprised.
I'd say more about Blue, but honestly I feel like she wasn't in the story as much, which is weird because the description makes it seem like it's about her. The truth is that with a story that rotates between about five different points of view (Blue, Gansey, Adam, Whelk, and I think Ronan at one point), it's hard to focus on one character. You see a lot of the boys because they're usually together- if it's one of their points of view, then the others are going to be featured. Blue joins in, sure, but she still isn't as prominent.
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Well, this is already an incredibly long ramble, so I'll leave it here! Thank you for reading, and if you've read The Raven Boys then who's your favorite?
Have a good day!
~Nox
"She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, the strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness."
TRIGGER WARNING: This book has alcohol, mentions of drugs (I think), and abuse. There are also several mentions of death, and there's a scene with a gun.
Songs I Listened to While Writing This: Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) by Fall Out Boy; I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Fall Out Boy
Before I begin, I'd like to thank Jenny, for putting up with my frantic texts as I read four hours before her sister's wedding, and my parents, for showing concern while their daughter started hitting a book against her head but accepting it all the same.
If any of you think I'm joking, I'm not. I seriously started whacking my head with this book once I got to a certain part. But alas, that's a spoiler. So let's get started with Spoiler Free Talk!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S P O I L E R - F R E E T A L K
Thank you, Jenny, for getting me to read this!
I love my Raven Boys so, so very much. For those who don't know, there are four boys, called "Raven Boys" because they go to Aglionby Academy, and the mascot or something is a raven. The boys (Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah) are all friends with different personalities that tend to clash (especially with Ronan). Gansey is the leader, who loves his friends with all of his heart and is deadset on his search for Glendower, an ancient king that grants a powerful wish to the person that awakens him. Ronan is the stereotypical hothead, though we learn he has his reasons why. Adam is a scholarship student, who hates "charity" from his friends because they're all rich and he lives in a trailer park. Literally. And Noah is the Mori-senpai of the group, the silent watcher who occasionally speaks. There's more to each of them, but I can't delve into it without spoilers.
If you didn't feel like reading that, let me sum it up.
Precious Cinnamon Rolls Too Pure for This World: Adam, Noah
Sinnamon Roll: Ronan
And Gansey lies somewhere in the middle. Along with the Raven Boys is Blue Sargent (Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll, Will Actually Kill You), the daughter of a psychic. Blue doesn't have any psychic abilities, she's only able to enhance those of the people around her. She joins the boys on their quest to find Glendower, desperate to feel the magic she's witnessed her entire life.
As I have said before, I care about characters more than anything, and each character has a depth to them that I adore. The book has 409 pages and in such a long book, we learn more about everyone involved, even minor characters.
I couldn't get into the book at first. I've had it for about three weeks and I barely finished it. I kept putting it off and reading other stories. It wasn't until this weekend that I really gave it a shot. So if you're having trouble getting through it at the beginning, then my advice is to keep going because boy oh boy does this story get good.
Also, each of these boys is my newest fictional character crush.
I love this story and I completely plan on finishing the rest of the series as soon as I possibly can.
The main parts I want to talk about are spoilers, so if you haven't read it or mind spoilers, then please read it and come back to the spoiler section because oh boy do I have a lot of spoilers to talk about.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S P O I L E R - T A L K
My main complaint about the book is that there isn't enough Noah in it. He seemed like such a sweetheart, especially around Blue, that I wanted more scenes with him in it. Of course, once I found out he was freaking dead the entire time it all made sense.
You have no idea how much my head spun when I got to that part. This is when I started whacking myself with the book and frantically texting my friends. In fact, I think my texts can speak for themselves. I think you'll be able to see which ones I sent when Blue and Gansey were at the church.
Also as I'm writing this, I realized maybe part of why Noah didn't want to search for Ronan anymore is because after he found him that one time, it probably reminded him of his death. My poor baby, I love him so much. I think Noah is my favorite, which I mean of-freaking-course my favorite is the dead guy. Typical me.
It took me a while to start caring for Ronan and Gansey. I could see that Ronan really cares about his friends: when he gets mad at Gansey for staring at the wasp instead of killing it, when he mourns Noah, and when he beats up Mr. Parrish for Adam (THAT'S MY BOY). I started to care for him, especially when we see that he's really a caring person, just a little damaged. Also, I love that he named a raven Chainsaw and decided to be Ronan the Raven Dad. The fact that he took her in a backpack to school is adorable and once again I love him.
Gansey was a different story. The summary makes it seem like the book revolves around him, Blue, and their "relationship", but Adam was the one that Blue fell for. Possibly because he's a cinnamon roll and Gansey acted like a condescending snob that was trying to buy Blue's companionship. The truth is though that Gansey cares deeply about his friends. He loves them like brothers, and he'd do anything for them. He wanted to take Adam far away from his dad, he wants to help keep Ronan out of trouble, and he genuinely cares about Noah and what happened to him. Gansey has one of the biggest hearts imaginable and it seriously hurt him when he realized that sometimes people (especially Adam) see him as the man he doesn't want to be: another condescending, snobbish rich boy who buys his way through life. He doesn't "own" his friends- they mean too much to him. He's so desperate for meaning and magic in a life that he thinks is worthless. When he talks about how badly he felt that Noah's death saved his life, it broke my heart.
Of course, a part of the story is that Gansey is supposed to be Blue's true love and that if she kisses him he'll supposedly die. With all of the visions and reminders, this is either the heaviest foreshadowing ever shoved down a reader's throat, or it's meant to make it a surprise if he ends up living. My bet is that he's going to live. No matter the outcome, I won't be surprised.
I'd say more about Blue, but honestly I feel like she wasn't in the story as much, which is weird because the description makes it seem like it's about her. The truth is that with a story that rotates between about five different points of view (Blue, Gansey, Adam, Whelk, and I think Ronan at one point), it's hard to focus on one character. You see a lot of the boys because they're usually together- if it's one of their points of view, then the others are going to be featured. Blue joins in, sure, but she still isn't as prominent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this is already an incredibly long ramble, so I'll leave it here! Thank you for reading, and if you've read The Raven Boys then who's your favorite?
Have a good day!
~Nox
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