The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

My first real decorating job!
Pretty proud of it.

I got my signed copy of The Raven Boys for Christmas from a wonderful friend, and sadly I only just finished it (more like last week but I had a family event and a Bachelorette party to bake for).  Though part of the delay for reading was purposeful, me trying to hold off and have less time to wait for Book 2.  I made it what 4 months, that's it, but hey that's 4 less months to wait.

I'm a big fan of Maggie's other works so I was of course ready to check this one out, on past history alone but seeing the beautiful cover and the summary sealed the deal. 

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve," Neeve said.  "Either you're his true love…or you killed him."

Interested yet?  Well this is made even more interesting because for as long as Blue can remember she has been warned that when she kisses her true love she will cause his death.  Talk about killer cooties!  Still when Blue meets Gansy and his crew of 3, Adam, Ronan, and Noah all four of them, Blue and the Raven Boys, so called because they are students at the school for the local boys private school Aglionby.  This also makes them off limits, not just because of her rule, no boys, but especially no Raven Boys.  But meeting him, after she saw him on the Corpse road, she is drawn to him.

Despite her rule, Blue joins the boys in their quest to uncover something of myth and legend.  A non-seer in a family full of them, she feels left out but strangely perfectly at home with the boys on this adventure. 

                One of my favorite parts of this book as with all of Stiefvater's books, are the complex characters.  Each one has a different personality and motivation for everything not just moving the store along, you feel like they are doing things for a deep purpose.  Gansy, the leader of the pack, beyond rich, privileged, good looking, devoted friends, he has the perfect life yet he is restless always seeking something that to most is impossible.  Then you have Adam, a poor kid from town attending on scholarship working his behind off both in school and work and trying to help in the search, even as he struggles with a rough life and some resentment issues of those with money.  Ronan, is also a rich kid who goes back and forth from anger to despair who has dealt with more than his fair share of darkness.  Last but not least, it Noah, the quite one who doesn't say as much but somehow sees more than anyone else and holds them all together and so much more.

The book centers around their search for the sleeping King and what finding him would mean for each of them.  I don't want to give anything away, but this book is full of mystery, adventure, suspense, magic, and just the right amount of creep thrown in with amazingly complex characters and plotline.  Pick it up and check it out, though be warned you must wait till September for book 2!  I give this book 5 Ravens!