Mystically Sensible

Ok I am finally awake enough to attempt a semi-coherent rambling.  I finished this book last week and have been mulling it over trying to figure out how I am going to talk about it.  The book is called The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and is apparently the first book in a series.  This is a book that had me thinking about it when I wasn't reading it, always wanting to go back to this little piece of the world the author has created so that is a good thing, the weird thing is I can't really remember the plot...hmmm, anyways here is a quick convoluted synopsis that is probably missing the point of the book, but we will discuss that in a few minutes.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD.

Blue will kill her true love with a kiss, yep this is how the book starts, no punches pulled, Blue Sargent better never kiss her true love.  See Blue is the daughter of a psychic. Not a fake one who uses your own stuff to make vauge generic references to a nebulous possibility, but an honest to goodness see possible paths for a specific individual or group psychic.  Maura (Blue's mother) and Blue live in a house full of psychics and other women who have a finger on the pulse of the spirit world, including Maura's semi-famous half sister Neeve who has recently shown up.  This group lives in Henrietta VA which contains what they call a corpse road.  On St. Marks day every year Maura (or this year Neeve) goes with blue to an old ruined church and watches the spirits of people who are going to die that year pass through the road.  They can then use this information to give general warnings of imminent death (mostly old people) to the residence of this little town.  They cannot prevent them, just give people time to get there affairs in order.  Blue cannot see these spirits, her gift is not one of sight, but of essentially being a signal boost to allow the others to see and hear more clearly.  This year is different though, Blue see's the spirit of a young man who tells her his name is Gansey.  The only reason Blue can see him is he is either her true love, she is the cause of his death or both.  Obviously Blue is a little freaked out by this, but being a sensible sort of girl, just resolves to stay away from boys for the year.  Meanwhile in town we meet a gang of four boys all who go to a super elite school called Aglionby who's mascot is a raven, hence the students being known as Ravens Boys. The boys are Gansey (yep the one who is supposed to die this year), a super rich, super smart, super eccentric boy who is

searching for the supposed burial place of the legendary Welsh King Owen Glendower.  He is obsessed with this quest, using as a way to prove he is worth more then his money. His friend Adam, a scholarship student who is very aware of money and the fact that he does not have any.  Adam is a practical sort who does not want to take handouts from anybody, including his friends.  He is also regularly beaten by his father, especially now that he is hanging out with his "rich" friends.  Ronan is a troubled little rich boy who's father was murdered a couple years earlier.  He has become completely wild, controlled only by Gansey's constant influence.  Ronan is described as sharp, he does not care for convention or even rules and will say what ever he wants.  He is under the thumb of his older brother until he can graduate from Aglionby and get his share of the money.  Finally we have Noah, a very quiet boy who you keep forgetting is there until he is mentioned.  He does not like to go out much and keeps to himself, always appearing a bit disheveled and messy.  Gansey has recruited his three friends to help him find and awaken what he call ley lines, lines of power that criss cross the globe while trying to help all three of his friends get through school and life in general.  They meet Blue while she is working at a local pizza joint, initially making a really bad impression and reinforcing her pre-conceived idea of what a Raven Boy is, being the sensible (are you sensing a theme here) person she is, she has made it a point to never get involved with the Raven Boys as they always lead to trouble.  Eventually Adam gets to talk with her and leaves a good impression, even obtaining her phone number.  This is where the actual plot gets a little crazy and convoluted and a wee bit mixed up so I'm just gonna say that the boys go see Blue's mother and her friends for a reading, learn all kinds of crazy stuff and Blue ends up hanging out with the whole foursome.  They eventually find this wooded area that is all kinds of weird including a note in Latin on a stone from a future Ronan.  More stuff happens and Blue finds herself alone with Gansey doing some recon.  They stumble onto a skeleton and (SUPER SPOILER) they discover it is Noah, yep Noah is a ghost.  His killer is a man named Whelk Barrington (don't worry even in the book they know it is absurd) who used to be a rich Raven Boy but lost everything when his father was arrested for illegal activities and now he is forced to be a poor teacher.  He killed his friend Noah in an attempt to awaken the ley lines on his own quest to find Glendower, as a sacrifice is required.  More stuff and craziness and Blue learns a bit about her father (he mysteriously appeared from the woods and then disappeared after she was born) and that Neeve has been messing with the Dark Arts.  They all end up in the weird woods trying to save each others lives when Adam decides to sacrifice himself, but not his life to awaken the ley line and have control of it?!?!  This was not very clear at all. Anyways the epilogue has the crew reburying Noah's body on the ley line so that he can continue living as a solid ghost, Adam finally moves out of his abusive home, Ronan informs everybody that the raven he has been taking care of was plucked from his dreams, and Neeve has vanished.  A weird abrupt ending, but we will see how it continues in the next book.

As I am sure you can figure out I glossed over a lot of the plot, mostly 'cause I'm still not 100% sure what the plot was. The whole feel of the book was reminiscent of the Susan Cooper The Dark is Rising series, it was a page turning experience but by the time I was finished I still could not tell you the story.  What I really found fascinating about this particular book was the characters and there interactions with each other. I love books about friends, I love books about family, I love books that examine these relationships and acknowledge that as much as they love each other there are still difficult times.  Blue was about as awesome as a female character as I have seen in a long time.  She lives in this world straddled between the spirit/nebulous/arty space and time her mother and friends occupy, and the practical/sensible/work-a-day world the rest of us have to try and survive.  Blue believes in the spirit world, knows that the ley lines, corpse road, future readings and all that are real and have a part in her life.  She also knows that you have to pay bills, finish school, and even socialize on occasion.  Her attitude towards falling in love is great, she is not cold or bitchy about the fact she is destined to kill her true love, rather accepting and aware of the situation.  I think I like her so much because she tends to act and react the same way I think I would in these types of situations which makes her very identifiable, at least to me.  The four boys, there history (or what we know of it), there relationships with each other are just so perfect.  Gansey as the glue who holds them all together, yet is constantly saying the wrong thing and pissing his own friends off.  Adam who cannot tell the
difference between a handout or charity and a true selfless gift from a good friend.  His inability to accept anything from anybody, while Gansey just wants to make Adams life, if not easier then at least safer and this is a constant sore point between these two incredibly good friends.  Ronan may be one of my favorite characters of all time.  He is so twisted and tortured (though we never really find out why in this book) but the way he deals with it is just bizarre and perfect.  As I said before he is described as sharp, as if he will cut anybody who gets to close.  He has tried to commit suicide at one point and now is just wild.  He fights anybody he can, especially his perfect and proper older brother who holds the reigns to the family fortune, he is bitter, sarcastic and has no qualms about cutting somebody down with his words.  Ironically he is the one who eventually forces Adam to leave his abusive home, takes care of an abandoned baby raven he names Chainsaw, and with a few entirely blunt and honest words can actually make you feel better. Gansey tries to keep him reigned in enough to at least finish school and not hurt himself, he is the only one who can get Ronan to stop and think for even a second.  Noah is interesting, he starts out as the quiet one, and I figured something was up because he was obviously supposed to be part of the group, but was missing or ignored a lot.  The revelation that he was a ghost was not to surprising for me, but learning a little about him was fun in that context.  The boys interaction with Blue was done superbly I thought.  She initially is attracted to Adam (who is the one who asked for her phone number) and joins the group on there research trips because of him.  She is quickly accepted into the group and essentially becomes the fifth person in the group, to the point when she goes with any one of them on her own, it feels weird.  Each boy has a different interaction with her, but they are all positive and friendly.  She is not a force to break them apart (though there is potential later for a rift between Ganesy and Adam over her) but one more facet to the dynamic.  She is taking things very slow with Adam, even telling him she does not want to kiss him (though not the reason), no insta love for this sensible girl.  It is really nice to see a girl be actual friends with boys, not always a potential love interest.  Speaking of friendships, I love love love the portrayal of Blue's mother Maura and her housemates.  We meet a couple of the other tenets and they are all as vastly different as the boys are, and they share a similar bond with each other.  They have there moments of snappiness as all people who live together do, but seeing adult females bond in a healthy way is a great example not only for Blue, but for anybody reading this book.  It was weird to read this book and love the characters and relationships so much, and still not really know what the story is.  There are mysteries that have not been solved yet, but that does not bug me really.  The two things that got to me were the almost lack of cohesion between the characters stories and the plot story, I had a hard time tying the two together. I also did not like the ending of this book at all (big surprise right, I almost never like endings :-) ).  The open endedness was fine as it is part of a series, it was the way it ended.  First off, the whole bit where Adam supposedly sacrificed his self, or free will, or something never really solidified, I am not sure exactly what happened, or what changed, or...well anything.  After this nothing really seemed to change, the epilogue said nothing of what happened after this big climactic event, we just see them going about there lives...like most of the book never happened.  All in all I love the characters and will continue reading the series just for them if for no other reason.  There is a lot to take in and hopefully future books will straighten out some of the basic plot details. I give this book 7 out of 10 raven beaks and will be reading the next one shortly.

What is your favorite part of a book, world building, characters or plot?  If at least one of these elements is strong is that good enough to keep reading or do you need more?  How much coffee do you think it took me to write this epic post?