Cova Reviews | The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

Hello again! Today I bring to you a review of amazing YA, paranormal novel The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater. I'd heard some about it, and I found an awesome deal, so I just decided to buy it and only then asked if it was any good :P Luckily for me, I ended up really loving it! It is the first book to a series that has 4 books in it so far - The Raven Cycle. As I read it in audiobook format, it adds to the list of books I've listened to for my 2017 Audiobook Challenge! :D (surprisingly, I am 50% done with it and were're only half-way through March!). 

"“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.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore." (Goodreads)

I thought the synopsis was very appealing! This book mixes together love, spiritual things, handsome boys, and strange girl. It has it all! 

I fell in love with this book the minute I started listening to it. I feel the need to say, if you like audiobooks, you should definitely listen to this one. The narrator was amazing. It's the first audiobook I listen to that has a male voice-over, and the voice of Will Patton is beautiful in a way that calls you to keep listening to him. I think his did a FANTASTIC job with this book - I read some parts of the book, and I can safely say I wouldn't have chosen in my mind the voices of each character the same way he did had I started reading it instead of listening to it, but I assure you his choice was better than mine. He gave the perfect intonation for each scene, he differentiated each character perfectly and he even did some pretty cool accents. I absolutely adored listening to The Raven Boys on audiobook, and totally recommend you to check it out :)

About the story, I thought it was very unique - I'd never read a book about psychics in a non-believer world before, and I really enjoyed it. Blue knows that most people don't believe in what her family does, and that's OK. She knows she can never fall in love or else she will kill the love of her life (how interesting is that?!), but she's never really had to worry about it because she hadn't met anyone that could be her true love - but now she meets these boys, and everything changes. The story unravels itself very smoothly, and there are some interesting plot twists! 

I found Blue to be very authentic, not following any rule that says how she's supposed to behave - she's true to herself, and that I loved. Same happens with broadly all the characters in this book - which is definitely refreshing and I really appreciated it. I loved all the boys in the book - at first I was a bit confused as to who was who, but it got resolved quickly. Each of them was special in his own way, and I came to like them all :) Also, Blue's family is really eccentric, which was awesome! I loved Percephone! She is such a genuine character, full of good will and great personality. Character development was good!

I loved Maggie Stiefvater's writing! As I said before in some reviews, the story was told in what I call a "tale-like style", which basically means that I felt as if I was being told a very complex tale (short sentences, special vocabulary, etc.). I really liked that! And that was present from the very beginning of the book, which is probably what caught my attention the most. I really enjoyed her writing, and I will definitely be searching for more books by her to read (recommendations are welcome ;D).

I LOVED this book, so I give it 4.75 out of 5 stars (it took me too much to decide whether to give a 4.5 or 5, so I'll just take the average haha!). I enjoyed it very, very much! I totally recommend this book to YA, fantasy/paranormal lovers. And, as I said before, if you're into audiobooks or are planning on trying them out, please do listen to The Raven Boys! I think the fact that I listened to it on audiobook made me like it even more!

Definitely the best book I've read this year so far!

Happy reading!

If you'd like to try this audiobook or any other one for free, you can follow the link below and get two free audiobooks plus 30% off any other audiobook you may like - a month's Audible membership trial, all free of charge and you can cancel at any time! I'll get a small something is you use my link :)

If you liked this book, you might also like...

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender - Lesley Walton

We can follow each other! :D

Google+     Bloglovin'    Goodreads    Twitter