The Raven Boys, Not for Me
Unfortunately no where near as good as Stiefvater's other book, Scorpio Races. Though The Raven Boys certainly was interesting.
I have mixed feelings about the use of magic in this book. On one side it made things unpredictable, which I didn't mind, but there also felt like there was no solid footing - the rules kept changing to fit the circumstances, and I did notice a couple of holes in the story that I suppose may, or may not be explained in the following books.
I did like how all the characters had failures but I didn't in particularly like any of the characters, they for me where just.... meh. Blue was strange just for the sake of it (I suppose knowing people are going to judge you anyway why not just run with it) the boys sounded similar when reading from their POVs.
I'm disappointed Adam turned out the way he did, also what of that 'thing' toward the end - will it have a lasting impact?
I felt fairly meh about Gangsey, though I suppose for a teenage boy he was interesting enough.
Ronan was definitely the most fascinating - he also stuck the most clearly to his 'defined' personality which I like, even if his personality wasn't great. He didn't flip-flop around like the others occasionally did.
The bird was certainly fun and a good look for Ronan.
Noah was alright, his relationship with Blue was cute.
So while non of the characters particularly floated-my-boat I do appreciate the uniqueness and backstory of the four main characters. They were ....complex in comparison to a lot of YA characters, with broken families, domestic violence, suicide and death and Blue's family (an all female & not completely blood related) was certainly different to any other family I have read about which was nice.
Overall still a so-so read for me, even if I do find myself deeply fascinated with what Ronan's secret could be, but possibly not enough to continue reading the next book.
3 stars.
4
