I was eagerly anticipating The Raven Boys, the first book of a new four book series by Maggie Stiefvater. The story revolves around Blue Sargent, the local psychic’s daughter, and the Raven Boys, young men from the local prestigious boarding school. Blue has been told that she will kill her true love if she ever kisses him, so she just avoids boys all together. She lives with her mom and several wacky relatives who seem oddly one-dimensional despite detailed descriptions. The Raven Boys, Gansey (rich and privileged), Adam (scholarship student), Ronan (rich and angry), and Noah (barely talks), are all on a quest to find Glendower, a Welsh king who is supposedly buried on a ley line (supernatural energy) and who will grant a wish to the one who wakes him. Blue gets involved because she sees Gansey’s spirit on St. Mark’s Eve on the ley line, which means that he will die in the next year. According to her wacky aunt, the fact that non-supernatural Blue saw Gansey means either he’s her true love or she killed him. Blue joins their quest and they battle against the poorly outlined villain (I can’t even remember his name!) that is trying to wake the ley line before they do.
I really enjoyed her Shiver Triology, so I had high hopes for this book. I finished it a couple of days ago and I’m still not sure what to make of it. At times it was riveting and a page-turner, but other times it dragged and left you with the feeling that you were missing some piece of vital information. It actually seems like it was the victim of bad editing because as I was reading I had the nagging feeling that there was more to the story and that it was just hidden from my eyes. I don’t think I’m even looking forward to the next book at all.