REVIEW: THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater ~ P.S. I love that book!

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 416

Add to GoodReads // Buy on BookDepository

PLOT SUMMARY: Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.
His name is Gansey, 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 is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher 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 doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

I didn't know what to expect from this book since I read it only because I saw people recommended it an awful lot on Tumblr. The summary makes it look a bit cheesy and I am not a cheesy type so I was doubtful for a few days but I decided to give it a try.

And that's how I understood why people recommended it so much!

THE WORLD: It is set in the normal world. Earth as we know it. If we zoom in it is actually set in a fictional town called Henrietta, Virginia (USA). There is an addition of magical/paranormal elements which have to do with the Raven gang and Blue's family mostly, as well as a certain Welsh king called Owain Glyndŵr (Owen Glendower) which was an actual Welsh king at some point and his death had some controversy.
NOTE: I love Welsh language! I think they call it Cymraeg... anyway there are not many references to it but the ones there are I love them and there is also Latin!

CHARACTERS: The Raven Boys starts with the character and life introduction of Blue Sargent, who despite having a weird girl's name, is a very likable character. She has one of those "I can read the future" families where basically all of her relatives can see the future. Well, the females of the family. They can read the cards/tarot and all that jazz. Except Blue, she is not able to read the future until she has a vivid dream about a guy, Richard Campbell Gansey III (jesus christ what a name!), and she is confused because all her life her family told her that she would kill her true love. Now the thing to discover is WHO is her true love, nobody knows *cough cough*. Meanwhile, she gets into Gansey's gang; comprising Ronan Lynch "the trouble maker", Adam Parrish "the mr. goody two shoes" and Noah Czerny "the ghost". Here comes the best... Gansey is obsessed with a kind of mystical or esoteric belief which is about the Ley Lines, a kind of energy lines on Earth where magic is possible blah blah and well, let's just say it gets really interesting!

LOVE: The book focuses more on the Ley Lines and on the lives of Blue and the boys rather than on romance itself which I always appreciate, however this was one of those cases where I just stood blankly looking at the page thinking "now kiss!". It does feature some romance but not too much and hopefully the next books, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue and The Raven King, will feature more! I'm dying to know if my ship stays together or not... *crosses fingers and prays*

PLUS: I loved all the characters and their quest to find Glendower. I absolutely adored all the history parts and bits regarding the Welsh king and the Ley Lines.

MINUS: No major minuses. I am waiting for more character development and more story development because this book is the introduction for the other 3 after so yeah more, I want more.

OVERALL: It was a very fast-paced, enjoyable book with interesting, dark-ish, mysterious characters and a really interesting introduction to the mystical Ley Lines which makes the series perfect for all those fans of YA, Fantasy, or looking for books featuring legends (or better said... not-so-popular beliefs)
I can't wait to read the rest! I will definitely put them on my June to-be-read list. Did I mention I love Gansey? no? now you know.