Hi guys, and welcome to Olivia's Catastrophe.
I'm Olivia and today I'm here to give you
a book review of The Raven Boys by Maggie
Stiefvater.
Now, The Raven Boys is just one of those books
I have had on my shelves for 3 years but I
didn't read it. And the reason I can give
you for not reading it is because of the fact
that I first read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
which I absolutely detested. And I have a
video review of that down below.and a blog
review, so you can just tell how much I hated
it. But then I read this one for no reason
whatsoever. I just spontaneously picked it
up, and I absolutely fell in love.
What this book is about are the Raven Boys
who are four boys and a girl called Blue who
lives with a house of pyschics who are basically
her rag-tag family. And these characters all
come together, and the main character - well,
one of the main characters - called Gansey
is on a quest to find Glendower. Who is this
dead king who is supposedly still alive and
if you find him, will grant you one wish.
So, Gansey's on this quest to find Glendower
and a lot of other things happen while he's
doing this because when you're messing with
magic, nothing ever quite goes according to
plan. And people have been searching for Glendower
for years so he's not the only one who is
looking.
First of all, let's get to what I loved most
most most of all and that has to be character
cast. The characters make this book absolutely
amazing. As I already said, you've got your
four boys. There's Gansey, who is a genius,
who is rich, privilged, but he's kind of resentful
of the fact that he's been so privileged in
his life. And he doesn't know how to fulfill
his worth. He feels like he has been given
so much privilege so he needs to do something
with it. Then you've also got Ronan who is
another rich kid, but he also is someone who
has a lot of anger in him. His father was
murdered and he has just had a troublesome
past which resulted in a lot of anger and
a lot of brunt strength and pain that just
needs to come out in some for or way.
You've got Noah who is kind of a smudgy character.
He's kind of always on the sidelines and not
really in the center. And you've also got
Adam who is my bae. Adam is bae you guys.
Adam is someone who is in Aglionby school,
which is where the Raven Boys go to, a prestigious
school. He's only in the school by scholarship
and he has to work so hard to make his money,
he's got a difficult home situation and he
never feels quite on par with the rest of
his friends because he's poor and they are
not. And then you've also got Blue who is
this quirky character. Although she lives
with three pyschics who kind of all are women
and kind of act as her family, she herself
is not a psychic. But what she does is that
she makes psychic's powers louder and easier
for them. So let's say if someone was doing
a reading of someone's future, if Blue is
in the room it would be easier for them to
see the future and do that reading.
So you've got all those characters and the
bromance between the boys is just so amazing.
They are absolute squad goals. They know each
other inside and out. They know what makes
the other person tick, when to talk to the
other person or when to leave things alone.
And we see with their little interactions
how this bromance is so strong and so palpable.
That I just absolutely loved their characters.
And then of course you have Blue who comes
to fit in with the guys and the friendships,
and the complexities of the relationships,
just was so great. Even the like, sisterly
- what's a sisterly romance? A sromance? I
don't even know - the three people who look
after Blue. Even their friendship was uncanny
and great.
And then you've got the plot. As you're dealing
with psychics here of course, there is so
so so much foreshadowing. But even though
there is so much foreshadowing it is in no
way a predicatable book. I think that takes
a lot of writing skill so I can admire that
the author made it so unpredictable while
including all this foreshadowing in it. And
the plot, the finding of Glendower and all
this stuff that happens along the way, it
always kept me intrigued, there were so many
things happening that I was just - I was in
love with the plot as well. I just thought
it was so realistic and so adventurous, and
it led to danger as well which I was very
impressed with. It was kind of realistic danger,
the danger you think kids could actually get
in and not the danger that you see in movies
that doesn't quite seem real.
The writing style was absolutely beautiful.
Maggie Stiefvater uses these phrases which
you wouldn't just expect in young adult. Like
even though it's straightforward and simple
and easy enough to read, every now and again
she'll just pull a beautiful phrase out of
the air and put it on the page. So one that
I always remember and will always use as an
example is when somebody - when she's trying
to describe what someone looks like and the
description was: 'as soft as a poem.' And
even though that's just such a simple simile,
the way she said it and what she was describing
it just stood out a little to me as pretty
poetic and beautiful to just throw into a
young adult novel. So I appreciated that even
though this is a yong adult novel, she still
manages to write beautifully and coin some
really amazing phrases in there.
There were also other things that I appreciated
in this book and the number one thing was
its realistic element. This is something that
could happen to any kids, anywhere. Because
even though they are on an adventure, they
are hunting for Glendower, they is magic involved,
foretune telling and all this jazz, it also
emphasises the fact that they have to go to
school. They have to put down and pause their
adventures because they have to attend school,
they have to do their homework, Adam has to
work to be able to afford living and I thought
it was so realistic. Like, finally, a young
adult book which includes the fact that they
have to do homework, and they have to go to
school despite them going on such fun adventures.
Then we get to the ending. Of course, I won't
tell you what the ending is, but the best
thing about this ending was that it was not
a cliffhanger ending but it was kind of a
closed and open ending. Like all the events
- well not all of them - but a lot of them
were tied together, tied up and finished.
But it was also a cliffhanger ending because
right at the end she just throws something
new in that wasn't there before. And you're
like: wow, I need to read more! It is a cliffhanger
ending and it's also not a cliffhanger ending.
And what a better balance between those two?
Relevance to today was that it just showed
the complexities of relationships so so well
and I appreciated that while reading.
And lastly... did I say that Adam was bae?
That's all I really have to say about The
Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Really really
enjoyed reading it. Two days later I had to
go and buy the sequel which I am currently
reading now so, if you've read the Raven Boys
let me know your thoughts and opinions down
below. And what is something realistic, like
a reality for teenagers that yuo want to see
more in young adult. Like the school thing.
Leave that in the comment section down below
as well.
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Goodbye!
