Born into a family of psychics without any ability of her own, Blue Sargent has been told for as long as she can remember that she will one day kill her true love with only a kiss.
For Blue, a free spirit who aims to make her mark on the world and to step out of the shadow of her family’s strange powers, the prophecy has never been much of a concern. Instead, Blue decides from an early age building her own strength and identity will be her focus in life, rather than the doomed love that hangs over her future as a hurricane just offshore.
However, one St. Mark’s Eve she joins her estranged aunt at an isolated and abandoned church. As they take down the names of the souls who will pass away during the following year, Blue sees the spirit of a boy named Gansey wearing the uniform of the local Aglionby Academy for the first time. Blue knew when she saw Gansey it could only mean two things: he was going to die within the next twelve months and he was her true love.
Maggie Stiefvater, who is also the author of the New York Times Bestseller Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, once again spins a vast web for her readers to fall into. From a forest whose trees whisper Latin to back alley drag races, Stiefvater creates a picturesque small town that’s just south of normal. The amount of description Stiefvater puts into the town of Henrietta and the world of the occult that lies beneath can overshadow the focus and direction of the story at times, but it serves the purpose of enrapturing the reader in a world both similar and so unlike our own.
The supernatural element which greatly influences The Raven Boys isn’t so overwhelming that the story loses a sense of reality. Instead the use of the supernatural has a way of reflecting our own lives and the certain thrills we feel when we come across something of the unknown. The strongest point of the novel though is the characters it revolves around and the voice which gives them life. Though she may veer a little off course in places, Stiefvater never fails to bring the focus back to the characters and the utmost importance of family, whether by blood or by bond.
Featured Photo Credit: (Maggie Stiefvater.com)
