The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
pages: 416 | rating: 4 / 5

I could legitimately start a series of blog posts called: Tumblr made me read it, because a lot of my book collection stems from what I see there. The Raven Boys is not excluded from this rule. Both interested and wary, I ordered the book online a while ago and just now started reading it. For those of you who don't know what The Raven Boys is a novel detailing the life of a psychic's daughter name Blue who was given the prophecy of killing her true love with a kiss and four boys who attend a prestigious, elite school in Henrietta, Virginia who are on a quest to find a dead king. While my synopsis might not make it sound incredibly enticing, I assure you, it really really is. Each character are fully fleshed and characterized. Every action and choice they make never stray from who they are, and it's so delicious to see it pan out for both good and bad. My favorite character so far has to be Adam Parrish, one of the raven boys whose life as a boy struggling to have a better footing for himself despite the cruelties he faces in his life at home makes him endearing. But he's also a character capable of incredible tragedy if the story continues with his particular mindset of pure and unmerciful justice that we see towards the end. The book itself besides rich character and rich description also charms me with funny one liners, and the well executed cliffhangers after each chapter. Stiefvator knows her cliffhangers, and I would love to learn from her. With all that said, I couldn't give the book a total 5 out of 5. Certain characters that hold much larger or distinctive roles could have been fleshed out better. Neeve or Whelk for example were characters who seemed lacking. I never felt that I should be afraid or suspicious of Neeve as much as Blue made it seemed like I should or that she would be capable of potentially killing someone if necessary. Whelk's desperation felt flat. And certain aspects of the witch's ritual that Maura, Persephone, and Calla performed left me wondering what they exactly did. I realize that this is one book of a series, so maybe I'm demanding too much to be revealed so soon. But, it was a very good start regardless and I'm anxious to get my hands on the second book, The Dream Thieves.