You may know that we are currently five days into the madness of Camp NaNo, so I am furiously writing whenever I have a spare moment. (I am rather behind in my wordcount. Like, 4000 words behind. But I'm hoping to make that up this weekend.)
What that means for this blog is that my reviews and other posts will probably be short and sweet throughout July. Or some reviews may not happen at all this month, and just be written sometime in August or September. So there's my friendly warning.
Now, onto The Raven Boys.
This is my first Maggie Stiefvater book ever, and I must say that it definitely lived up to all the hype I've heard about her. What automatically makes me love an author is when they can describe things in new, clever ways, without using cliches, even subtle ones. Some examples of this kind of author are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Erin Morgenstern - and Maggie Stiefvater. So that is definitely a huge point in her favor.
I also loved the Characters. I think I've figured out that these are the two things that will make me adore a novel - creative descriptions and excellent characters. And The Raven Boys has both.
So clearly Blue is the main character. But I also would consider all four of the Raven Boys to be main characters as well. So we've got five main characters, which is a lot to work with. And on top of that, three of them get to have chapters from their own POV. If I were writing this, that would be a recipe for disaster.
But Maggie Stiefvater does it marvelously. Every character is clearly a separate defined Character, with unique quirks and a unique voice.
The Raven Boys is set in a contemporary world, but it's not super defined exactly what year. I'm only making a note of this because I'm currently reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and that book is also contemporary and is threatening to become fantastical. However, it is SUPER contemporary - very much 2012 or 2013. But The Raven Boys is more ambiguous about that. Not that one is worse than the other. Just a comparison of two books I read recently.
That's all I'm going to say, because I've got to go write a bunch of words about Venice now. I loved The Raven Boys, and am looking forward to reading more Maggie Stiefvater!
~Sophia
Have you read The Raven Boys? What did you think? Which is your favorite Maggie Stiefvater book?
I read The Raven Boys and loved it too! I just felt like I knew each character and like they had become friends. It's an amazing book! I was completely FLOORED by the plot twist ending. OH MY GOSH.
ReplyDeleteSo far I haven't really read that many Maggie Stiefvater books...only The Raven Boys, Dream Thieves, and The Scorpio Races buuut out of those three The Raven Boys was my favorite. :)
I had to read the ending a few times to figure out what the heck it meant. But it freaked me out when I understood. :-)
DeleteI love this book to pieces!! Are you going to read the sequel? I LOVED THE SEQUEL TOO. (But this is coming from the person who kind of just loves everything Maggie Stiefvater writes these days. xD) I love how all the characters are individuals and have personalities and I never ever got them confused. I can't even pick a favourite. Oh, well, maybe I can. I love Ronan. ;) Blue is epic and I adored her family relations too. I can't wait for book #3!
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