Review - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Paperback, UK, 454 pages

Published September 19th 2012 by Scholastic
Source: Own copy
Challenges: Mt TBR Challenge, A-Z Title Challenge

Synopsis:
'Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?'

My Thoughts:
The Raven Boys is an interesting book which centres around a small group of boys trying to find the whereabouts of a mystical 'Ley Line' and a girl who befriends them and eventually gets caught up in their search.
The main female character, Blue, has been told all her life that if she kisses her true love he will die. Blue has grown up in a household full of psychics and I thought she was a very likeable and strong young woman mainly because of the hurdles she has had to overcome by growing up in the environment she has, and also not ever knowing anything at all about her father.
Blue has a very bad opinion on any boys that go to the local private school who everyone calls 'Raven Boys'. When Blue ends up meeting a group of them and eventually gets to know them she realises that she shouldn't be so judgemental because they aren't all like she thought. For example, Gansey is your typical rich and popular young man, but doesn't let it go to his head or is selfish because of it. He's thoughtful and really sticks up for his close friends. Adam, on the other hand comes from a very poor background and is only attending the school on a scholarship.
The story that follows the search for the 'Ley Line' and the grave of the ancient Glendower was really intriguing. You don't really get much in the way of a wrap up of this story at the end (obviously to get you to read the second instalment) so I am keen to see the outcome in the second book.
Unfortunately I thought the ending of this book seemed a little messy and disjointed and I was left feeling a bit annoyed by how little was revealed in the story overall.
Overall, while I did end up liking The Raven Boys once I got to the end, I didn't find myself loving it as much as I thought I would compared to other readers. It had a very slow start in my opinion but did contain a few interesting twists and turns to keep the reader wanting more.

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