Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. New York: Scholastic, 2012. Print.
So, as it happens, I was shockingly (note sarcasm here) already reading a young adult book when the semester started, and you informed me of the Book Pages Project. Not only was I reading a young adult book, I was reading an extremely popular young adult book that is part of a series, or quartet, if you will. The fourth and final book in the series just came out in April of this year. So admittedly, I am late to the game, which is usually how it happens when there is a book that is wildly popular but doesn’t sound quite like my thing—especially when that author has written another novel that I read, and really didn’t like *cough…Shiver…cough* and particularly when said novel is the first in a series. For someone who reads a lot of young adult fiction, the series is an unfortunate trend, because: a) most series could have been one book, but it's simply a cash grab because series are “in” right now (see: The Hobbit trilogy of movies for a 200 page book) and also b) as someone who owns hundreds of young adult novels that I want to read and hundreds more that I want to read, which I haven’t purchased yet, I simply don’t have time for a book I read and like to turn into a three plus book commitment. But I digress: Let’s talk about The Raven Boys! This book is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Blue Sargent who lives with her psychic aunts and clairvoyant mother. The meat of the plot is that Blue has been told by her family that if she kisses her first love, he will die—think Snow White in reverse or Romeo & Juliet to the extreme. Talk about star-crossed love! Blue goes with her family to the cemetery on St. Mark’s Eve (which is a typical family outing for them to mark the holiday and commune with the dead, or soon to be dead, in this case). St. Mark’s Eve is the one day of the year in which the spirits of those who will die before the next St. Mark’s Eve are revealed to mediums (weird and confusing, I know). Blue’s only ability is to make her aunts’ and her mother’s powers stronger; however, on this auspicious day, Blue sees a spirit called Gansey. Her Aunt Neeve explains that the reason Blue could see his spirit was either because he is her true love or she will kill him…or both. Blue finds out that Gansey goes to Aglionby Prep and hangs out with a group of friends that all go there (the raven boys). Personally, I was really underwhelmed by this book. At first, I was intrigued because the book is a unique mix of contemporary and supernatural elements. Also, the question of whether Blue is going to kiss or kill Gansey is interesting as well. However, I feel that the novel quickly devolved into mediocre fare and fell prey to many of the common tropes found in YA fiction. Although it was subtle, I definitely sensed a love triangle between Adam, Blue, and Gansey. Furthermore, I don’t think very much happened in this book, especially when you consider its 468-page count. As is commonplace with so many YA novels, it is the first book in the series, which makes it little more than set up for the book to follow. After reading 468 pages of text, I still don’t know the answer to the central question: How are Gansey and Blue linked? What is his fate? I am my suspicions, but that’s all they are, and they haven’t changed since I started reading the book. As for connections to adolescence, there is something that teens can get out of the novel: Blue is something of a “black sheep” in her family, Adam is really poor and feels that he has to compete with and prove himself to his rich friends all the time. Adam also has an abusive father, and a mother who not only looks the other way, but asks Adam to protect his father. Gansey has a detached family with no real emotional connection. His family is extremely wealthy. As a result, they seem to care about things more than people. Gansey is also somewhat of a black sheep in his family. Ronan is the troublemaker, and wiseass who doesn’t get along with his brother (which is putting it mildly). I think that a teenage boy might get more out of this than a girl, because I think that they are bound to identity, at least partially, with one of the boys. Also the boys’ characterization is pretty well fleshed out, while Blue feels a little cookie-cutter to me as a character (a common pitfall in a genre that is flooded with female protagonists aka the Mary Sue). I liked the novel okay, and I’m glad that I finally read it and found out the source of the hype, so that I can stop wondering about it. However, it is very forgettable, and I will not be continuing the series.
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