On Rereading The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

 

There are so many new releases and backlist titles I want to get to in a given year, I rarely have the time to reread books as much as I would like to. But, in December, I took the time to revisit Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys.

I first read The Raven Boys in September of 2013. So it’s been just over a full decade since I first picked up this book, at the time of writing this in December of 2023. So fast forward to November 2023, I’m going through some of the older titles on my bookshelves, and I decide to spontaneously reread the first four pages—the prologue—of The Raven Boys. And I was, to say the least, very intrigued.

Granted, it’s been a very long time and, while I remembered some details of the plot, my recall of the majority the story was…vague. Back then, I liked The Raven Boys, but it wasn’t a favorite novel of mine. But I was also a very different reader then than I am now. I was less into folklore and mythology; I was still discovering what my reading tastes actually were; and my reading habits depended, in large part, on my mood. Most of those things aren’t applicable now, and I’ve gotten very good at being able to tell which books I’ll like—give or take a few instances when I happen to be wrong.

“It was freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrived.” Pg.1

The Raven Boys is a book about hunts—for Glendower, for the ley lines—and the people who search for them, explore them, or simply seek to experience or just to glimpse something…otherworldly. For Blue Sargent, she’s tired of being the sensible one, and wants a glimpse of what her family of psychics see—and is also involved due to rebellious decisions. For Ronan, Adam, and Noah, they’ve joined Gansey’s quest to find Glendower—and they form most of the friend group, and are often referred to as the titular Raven Boys.

Knowing (vaguely) what happens didn’t change how much I enjoyed my reread of The Raven Boys. I took my time with it, just appreciating the details. There is a lot of context and clues to keep track of, some of which I know is laying the groundwork for the sequels (the implications were literally everywhere!). I know I must have overlooked some of it before, or it was simply that I didn’t have as much appreciation for what the story was doing—because it has a lot to say.

The Welsh Mythology is one of the key factors of interest for me. Stories that are deeply entrenched in mythology and folklore are some of my favorites. A more recent book that I read that has a similar vibe was Kate Pearsall’s Bittersweet in the Hollow.

This isn’t the kind of story that has hard—almost scientific—rules for its magic. It had a soft, almost murky quality to it, making it feel natural to the nature of the story’s setting of Henrietta, Virginia. Some things just were or were wrapped with layers of mystique.

But The Raven Boys is also about its characters and their nuances. The cast is colorful, troubled, obsessive, and eccentric. Large personalities that, at times, clash, but the friendships were complex as well as enjoyable to read about, as the story explored their corners.

The ending is…a cliffhanger.

As far as I remember, I never continued with this series, but I plan to finish The Raven Cycle this year. That should be easy, since I now have copies of The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue, and The Raven King.

About the book...

“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.