Loved it from page 1 to the last bit. The writing style implicated me immediately, the characters and the story are so pleasing different from the normal YA urban fantasy and the mystery is exciting enough to kept me going and going. And did I mention the twists I saw not coming? Can’t wait to soak deeper into this series.

honestly i’m still not sure how to feel about this book. the beginning was so slow pased it took me like 2 months to get threw the first half of the book but the second half- it was SO GOOD. i couldn’t stop and read more in 2 days than the past month. exited to read the next part cause YES i need more also the writing! it’s soo good i loved how blue’s family was described and just the whole vibe only critique is that the plot took a bit too long to start

i really wanted to love this i really did i'm so fucking sad but this just wasn't good. way too confusing, nothing is explained and it feels more like i missed a book before this. also i literally do not like the boys nor blue except adam i guess and i can't really tell with noah cause he said approximately 3½ sentences in the entire book which i guess makes sense but also how am i supposed to become attached and feel something about the reveal? also the pacing was so fucking bad the first half basically nothing happened and then it took one chapter for blue to be besties with the boys i'm like??? the second half was better i guess but like not by much. idk i'm sad i thought i'd love this to pieces.

WTF Okay, so i was halfway done when i thought i was really not vibing with the book. There where certain things i liked, certain passages and phrases, the way Gansey talks and how sweet Noah and Adam are, but i couldn’t really get into it. And then i hit Chapter 29 and … the bank exploded, debris everywhere, people are screaming, a child is crying and i am just standing there completely dumbfounded. I bought the remaining three books immediately after finishing this one.

it's very hard to review a book that you've read 6 times, i guess. let's just say - i get a bit scared sometimes that i won't be able to enjoy books anymore after i've read them too often. there are no surprises to the story anymore, you already know which scene will be next, you remember where the characters will be later. but with trc, i've only found that this knowledge makes everything better. reading tiny bits of foreshadowing and realising what they will lead to, i once again realised that this series is genius. i don't enjoy fantasy or ya as much as i used to, but these characters and their story are home to me. there's nothing that i don't like about this book. to me, it's the perfect series and now i can't wait to continue the adventure!! this was cheesy omg. i just really really love it and i always will ok.

Extrem langatmig und wenig Handlung. Am Ende hat die Autorin versucht Spannung aufzubauen, damit man den zweiten Teil liest. Allerdings ist ihr dies in meinen Augen nicht gelungen, da die Art wie sie das gemacht hat nicht zur Geschichte passt und wirkt als wie sie zu viele Blockbuster geschaut hätte.

Da die ganze Reihe ja neu verlegt wurde, musste ich sie mir unbedingt kaufen und lesen, bevor sie wieder nirgends zu kaufen ist. Das Buch bekommen wir aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven mit, wobei wir die meisten Kapitel aber aus der Sicht von Blue, Gansey und Adam mitbekommen. Blue weiß schon ihr ganzes Leben, dass sie ihre wahre Liebe mit einem Kuss töten wird, allerdings wird ihr erst bewusst, dass es schon bald soweit ist, als sie zum ersten Mal bei der Totenwache den Geist eines Jungen sieht. Kurz darauf befindet sie sich zusammen mit den  "Raven Boys" auf einer gefährlichen Suche nach Ley-Linen und König Glendower. Der Einstieg fiel mir tatsächlich anfangs sehr leicht, allerdings wurde das Buch nach einer Weile ziemlich anstrengend zu lesen. Der Schreibstil war sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig, ich konnte keinen Zusammenhang zwischen den Storys der unterschiedlichen Protagonisten finden, wusste anfangs nie aus wessen Sicht das Kapitel war und vor allem hat mich die ganze Story nur verwirrt. Bis etwa Seite 200 war ich noch sehr skeptisch was ich von dem Buch halten sollte, aber dann... WOW Die restlichen 250 Seiten hab ich in einem Rutsch durchgelesen und es wurde immer besser! Die Story hat nach und nach immer mehr Sinn ergeben, Fragen wurden aufgelöst, es kam ein Plottwists nach dem anderem und die Fantasyelemente haben mich einfach mur begeistert. Auch die Charaktere sind mir nach und nach ans Herz gewachsen! Fazit: Dran bleiben lohnt sich! Obwohl der Anfang des Buches ziemlich verwirrend und wegen des gewöhnungsbedürftigem Schreibstil anstrengend war zu lesen, war es ein sehr gutes Buch! Sobald man durchblickt befindet man sich in einer wunderschönen, geheimnisvollen und magischen Welt, mit tollen Charakteren und einer einzigartigen Geschichte in der man abtauchen kann! 4/5 ⭐

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*** I know I know I'm way behind on reading this series but I never seemed to be in the right mood to read this book. Now I'm glad that I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try, after everyone kept raving about it so much. I've been a fan of Maggie Stiefvater, her books and especially her writing ever since I've read Shiver, which was in 2010 (if I remember right) so of course I was going to love this one. And even though I'm not gonna rate it 5 stars since I was bored from time to time (please don't kill me) I still liked it a lot, especially all the great characters and I cannot wait to continue with The Dream Thieves. The characters in this book are beyond amazing, seriously. All the boys (Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah) are so different from each other, it was so much fun getting to know them, especially Ronan who managed to capture my heart in only a couple of pages into the book. And of course I liked Blue, a lot actually. I love how she is so different from other girls in young adult reads. I love how quirky she was and I absolutely love the way she is written. It makes her such a refreshing and interesting character. She says whatever comes to her mind and I love how she doesn't care that people might not like that. She's fun and nice and interesting - I wouldn't mind being her friend to be honest. I think she would make a great friend. I mean don't you agree that she'd be such a interesting friend? I mean she, the daughter of a psychic living in a house full of crazy women who can see the death and the future and whatever? I would definitely love that. What I also loved so much about the book is how Blue and the Raven Boys grew together as a group solving mysteries together. It actually reminded me a little bit of the Scooby-Doo Gang or Buffy and her friends. One of my favorite thing was Ganseys sassiness and his and Blues relationship. From the start I knew I'd love them as a couple. That leads me to the thing I didn't like quite that much. I mean it is made pretty clear from the very beginning that Gansey is going to either be Blue's one true love or that she will kill him or maybe both. So when I started the book, well thanks to Twitter and Instagram I knew that the book was about two main characters named Blue and Gansey so of course I expected them to fall in love ... maybe, not right away of course. To fall in love takes time but I at least expected them to be interested in each other, to at least be flirting or something. They are both kind of drawn to each other but neither of them acts upon it plus Blue rather spends her time with Adam. I mean I love Adam and I love Blue but I just don't like them as a couple because - don't even ask why I have no idea - I kind of ship Adam with Ronan. Maybe because of how Ronan protected him at the end. Who knows? What I also didn't like that much about the book was that sometimes it was a little boring; sometimes I just didn't feel the urge to pick up the book and read it. Also it was a little confusing sometimes to be honest. I had to read some paragraphs over again and pretty often had to go back a couple of pages to figure out what was happening right now. But the plot twists happening towards the end? Mind blowing. All in all I really enjoyed the book and I'm so glad that my boyfriend got me book 2 yesterday so as soon as I'm done with my current read I will continue with The Dream Thieves and I cannot wait, especially to read more about Ronan since he's my favorite and definitely owns my heart. And I really want to know if maybe Ronan and Adam is going to be a thing haha so please no spoilers. Thank you!

The story has been a long time coming until something finally happened. I mean, yes, it´s good that MAggie introduced the characters, but after reading half of the book nothing happened. Personally I get bored by a book easily if the story doesn´t catch me. Plus: I didn´t quiet like the writing style and it was so confusing to read the first few chapters, that I just started to listen to the audiobook instead. I love the characters though!! And also the story is very nice! :) Don´t get scared off of the slowburn story, the book series is still worth reading or listening to!

For a first volume, it was certainly interesting and made me want to read the next one right away. It did start really slow, though, and even the end was kinda calm, even though big things happened. It just has this Slice of Life mystery vibe, but I like that. It took me a while to get into it, though, and just at about 60%, I was really invested. When they found those woods, it suddenly got way more interesting, and some mysteries got solved. I have to say, though, I could guess most of them since the book doesn't really treat it as secrets. If you read carefully and take things literally, you know the truth (and I don't get why everyone says this book is confusing). The very last sentence of the book was the same, but it still excited me. Now, the characters are all great. My favorite is obviously Ronan. I just love the edgy ones, and as a fellow person with a buzzcut, I approve of his style. Also, adopting a raven, badass. Adam, I had my ups and downs with (especially at the end, idk what to think of that or what even really happened), but I like him. Gansey was probably my least favorite, but not that I disliked him in any way. Often, I even felt sorry for him, trying so hard. I just wasn't that interested in the Glendower thing, and since he is so excited about it (reasonably so), he just sometimes wasn't as interesting to me as the others. For Noah and Blue, I had kinda the same feelings. Their presence is somewhat comforting, and I like their role in the story. They bring people together. So, all in all, a nice first volume that gets you to know and love the characters and the magical setting. Though I don't care much for that old king, I do care about the general magic with the ley lines and am excited to learn more about the mysteries ahead. The title of the second book sounds promising, I love stuff about dreams.

This book exceeded my expectations (and I already had high ones)!! The characters are so loveable and so so so deep!! You know it is good writing when it makes them seem real. I can't decide which one is my favorite, everyone has parts I like about them or relate to. Also love the vibe I've felt while reading it, imagined 300 Fox Way as a cozy whimsi gothic home!! Still, I feel like there is something I've missed while reading, like I didn't fully understand what is happening. This is the only reason I rate this book 4,5 stars instead of 5. 

3.5 stars I enjoyed reading this book, but I mostly read it for the characters and not really for the plot. The magic system was pretty confusing, especially because it was never made clear what kind of magic is possible and what not. Will keep reading this series because I want to know what happens to the characters.

Ah, was kann und soll ich zu „The Raven Boys“ sagen? Ich liebe dieses Buch – die ganze Reihe gehört zu meinen Lieblingsreihen. Der Schreibstil von Maggie ist einfach wunderschön und die Charaktere und die Geschichte sind einfach so kreativ, dass mir beinahe das Herz zerspringt. Sie sind alle so ein wenig verrückt und liebenswürdig, dass man sie einfach nur beschützen will. Vielleicht ist die Geschichte rund um Leylinien nicht neu, aber welche Geschichte ist heute schon komplett neu erfunden? Wie Maggie ihre Magie in unsere Welt einwebt, ist wirklich phantastisch und so subtil ... das es real wirkt. So echt. Man verliert sich in Henrietta und mit den Raven Boys. Die Geschichte ist ernst und dunkel und wird mit so viel Witz und Feingefühl erzählt, dass sie heller erscheint, als sie ist. Liebe für eine Erzählung, die manchmal mehr Mystik und horrorartige Momente in sich hat, als man begreifen kann.

Ah, what a pleasant and somehow exciting book? The writing style is much "simpler“ than what I have read this year. But that doesn't make it less enjoyable! The book flows incredibly smoothly, the characters are extremely authentic and likeable and the whole story really pulls you in quickly. Even though I was skeptical initially, I'm looking forward to the next volumes because I've really taken the quirky people to my heart. Somehow they are all far from perfect and I love that. <3

*actually 3.5 | 5 stars* So I have to admit that the first 300 pages were just a big confusing chaos for me. I didn't get what the plot was about properly, I didn't understand what the characters intentions were, it was just a pain to get through really. The writing of the author also didn't make anything better, because it confused me even more. I felt like nothing really happened, but also nothing was really explained in these first pages. i just had so many questions and no answers whatsoever. I was so close to DNFing this book, but I really enjoyed the characters and especially the boys voices, so I continued. And I am SO GLAD that I did. Honestly, he last 100 pages made up for the first 300. A lot of the plot just cleared up, the things the characters did suddenly made sense, it finally was action-packed, and most of my questions were answered. My love for these characters grew in every single page, and towards the end I really (FINALLY) felt connected to the characters. Now that I know why the want to find the king and what the ley lines mean everything seems more familiar and I finally can say that I really look forward to the next book. Not so much because of the plot, but because of these great characters. 3.5 | 5 ★

3,75 ⭐️ Dieses Buch befindet sich seit zwei Jahren in meinem Regal und da ich gerade mit einer Leseflaute zu kämpfen habe, dachte ich in eine neue Fantasiewelt einzutauchen wäre genau das richtige. Und das war es. Band 2-4 sind schon bestellt und ich freu mich so weiter mit den Raven Boys und Blue die Ley Linien zu erforschen. Am Anfang bin ich etwas schwer rein gekommen. Irgendwie hat es mich nicht gepackt, aber umso weiter ich gelesen habe und mehr Geheimnisse enthüllt wurden, desto mehr war ich gefesselt. Besonders diese kleine Twist in der Mitte. Holy moly, das habe ich nicht kommen sehen.

Re-read September 2019: Still one of my all-time favourites! The Raven Boys ist im September 2014 bei mir eingezogen und stand anschliessend ziemlich genau 3 Jahre lang ungelesen in meinem Regal. Ich habe nie wirklich das Interesse an dem Buch verloren, aber irgendwie hat es mein Interesse auch nie genug geweckt, dass ich endlich danach gegriffen hätte. Glücklicherweise nehme ich mir jedoch immer mal wieder vor, endlich ein paar der Bücher zu lesen, die schon endlos lange bei mir herumstehen und glücklicherweise habe ich bei einer dieser Aktionen endlich mal nach The Raven Boys gegriffen... Falls mein Rating und die ganzen "glücklicherweise" die ich im ersten Abschnitt benutzt habe nicht schon verraten wie meine Meinung zu dem Buch aussieht, dann kann ich euch vielleicht noch verraten, dass inzwischen auch die restlichen Teile des Raven Cycle in meinem Regal stehen und diese ganz bestimmt keine drei Jahre ungelesen dort stehen werden (vermutlich werden sie das nicht einmal bis zum Ende von diesem Jahr). Ok, ich habe das Buch absolut GELIEBT! Ja, die Grossbuchstaben waren notwendig! The Raven Boys war wohl die grösste positive Überraschung die ich lesetechnisch in den letzten Monaten oder sogar Jahren erlebt habe. Was erwartet man schon gross von einem Buch, welches man drei Jahre lang immer mal wieder angeschaut, aber dann doch nie gelesen hat? Ganz sicher nicht, dass man es direkt ab der ersten Seite nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kann, dass man sosehr darin versinkt, dass man alles um sich herum vergisst (beispielsweise, dass man in einem vollen Zug sitzt), dass man darin eine der interessantesten Gruppen von Figuren trifft über die man je gelesen hat, dass man jeden einzelnen dieser Gruppe sofort ins Herz schliesst und dass man von der magischen Atmosphäre so gefesselt wird, dass einem die Geschichte auch Wochen danach noch nicht losgelassen hat. Natürlich traf jedoch all dies (und noch viel mehr, meine Worte werden dem Buch bei weitem nicht gerecht) auf The Raven Boys zu und deshalb kann ich euch nur empfehlen, wenn das Buch bei euch auch noch ungelesen im Regal steht, oder auch wenn ihr es zuerst noch kaufen/ausleihen müsst, lest das Buch sofort! Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen!

Don't kill me for the rating. I enjoyed this book but 75% in the book I still didn't understand what was I reading. It felt like a book which builds an epic world for you and the books later in the series are just going to be grand! ------ You can read the review here:: http://storypals.net/book-report-the-raven-boys-by-maggie-stiefvater/ THE RAVEN BOYS It took me way longer to reach to The Raven Boys. Honestly, they have been on my radar ever since I have discovered Booktube and PaperFury of course. You know how Cait is like obsessed with this series and I had to read the book to understand. Yes. Verdict: I am still as clueless as to what the book was about when I had read it to when I had not read it but the good point is: IT WAS ADDICTIVE ENOUGH FOR ME TO NOT PUT IT DOWN. Yes. Imagine not being able to understand almost anything and you just want to read and read and read. Before I start blabbering about how I didn’t understand anything, I think you as readers should be provided with some perspective. So what is The Raven Boys all about? WHAT IS THE RAVEN BOYS ALL ABOUT? “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. MY REVIEW FOR THE RAVEN BOYS… 75% of the book I had finished and I was still wondering what I was reading? Yet not once did I want to put it down, I was so addicted to the characters, the writing, the plotline that I had to continue reading to know further, to understand the plotline better. SO YES. Pick this book up for these reasons: UNIQUE PLOT I haven’t read anything close to this storyline ever, so it was all very refreshing for me. Talking trees, ghosts, future predictions, psychics, suspense, thrill and awesome characters with great character storylines. CHARACTERS The characters are just so unique and so very well fleshed out. They have unique storylines, not the ones you will just be like oh hey yeah– you know a group of four friends so let’s just stereotype them but uh no.. they are well developed and also very very relatable. THE WRITING Lovely, fantastic, magical, dreamy, moody, honest, real. I don’t know how else can I describe it? You are addicted to it, you want more of it, you just want to dwell yourself in it because the writing is just spellbinding. “My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.” “In the end, he was nobody to Adam, he was nobody to Ronan. Adam spit his words back at him and Ronan squandered however many second chances he gave him. Gansey was just a guy with a lot of stuff and a hole inside him that chewed away more of his heart every year.” “It was the way she felt when she looked at the stars.” Evidence enough for you to go through and pick up this book maybe? THE PLOT I have been reading a lot of fantasy, watching weird paranormal stuff, but this story was something else entirely. It was magical, paranormal, fantastical, lovely, romantic? THE EXCITEMENT So well, as I have mentioned, I wasn’t caught up with the story or understood what was going on but every page, every paragraph actually had something new, all the feelings and all the love. You will feel the needed, the required and the wanted. What else do you want from a good book? I am definitely looking forward to other parts in this series for my adventure to grow and excitement to blow up! xD RATING: 3/5 STARS Will I continue the series: HELL YES.

The Hype is real... Und wie eigentlich immer, bin ich gefühlt die Letzte, die das merkt. Ich hatte mir The Raven Boys wegen der zahlreichen Lobhymnen gekauft, war aber skeptisch. (Der Grund hierfür war übrigens das Cover des zweiten Teils... das ich absolut grauenvoll finde. Auch, wenn das kein Grund sein sollte, skeptisch zu sein.) Zu Beginn wusste ich auch noch nicht so recht, wohin mit dem Ganzen - also gefühlsmäßig. Befürchtet hatte ich etwas schnulzig Romantisches, bekommen hab ich etwas anderes, besseres. Dann war es so, dass die Charaktere zunächst alle keine Gesichter für mich hatten und keiner der Protagonisten wollte so recht Form annehmen. Was komisch war, mich aber seltsamerweise gar nicht gestört hat. Ich habe ehrlich gesagt auch immer noch kein klares Bild der Charaktere im Kopf. Macht das einen Sinn? Wie hat sie das Buch gelesen, ohne sich die Menschen vorzustellen? Sie bestanden für mich ganz einfach nur aus Charakterzügen und Gefühlen. Wenn ich das so schreibe, macht es irgendwie noch weniger Sinn... naja. Und es ist auch nicht der Falls, dass die Charaktere nicht äußerlich beschrieben worden wären. Es war einfach so, dass das Innenleben und die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen der Personen viel mehr Gewicht hatten, sodass der Rest fast unwichtig für mich wurde. An der Story fand ich den Bezug zu den Ley-Linien und zu Glendower großartig. Ich mag es sehr, wenn eine Geschichte etwas mehr oder weniger Reales aufgreift und dann die Handlung darum gesponnen wird. Der Schreibstil ist simpel, aber treffend. Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Maggie Stiefvater mit wenig Schnörkeln, dafür aber gut gewählten Worten ein Bild zeichnet. Ich habe mir jedenfalls gleich sämtliche Folgebände bestellt und freue mich, zu sehen, wie sich diese Geschichte weiter entwickelt.

So...I might have an unpopular opinion on this one. Only 3 more to a 3,5 Star rating for this book. Don't get me wrong, I like it. But nothing more. It isn't anything extraordinary. I like the characters but yet no one really got to me in this book. Maybe I need more time for this story. I already bought the second book ;)

Rezension  Kennt ihr die Raven Boys Reihe? Wenn ja, welcher der Figuren mögt ihr am liebsten?  (Before I start to write my opinion in German, like always.. I hope, dear Maggie, that you will read my words, because your Story took my head in a endless Dream and my mind is full of your Boys and belive me I love every word you wrote, because it's True! Thank you much lovely greetings jassy a new Fan