The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, Book 1)

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Narrated by: Will Patton

"There are only two reasons a nonseer 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.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the best-selling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we've never been before.

©2012 Maggie Stiefvater (P)2012 Scholastic Audio

Intesstng off genre book for me. Weak ending 😱

Excellent start and midpoint --?goes flat late middle and ending.
Hard to say if I'll pursue the series.
I don't have any experience with wealthy kids at school. Seemscbelievabkr 😱

Sigh, sigh, and sigh again.

Where does The Raven Boys rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is by far the benchmark for me. It's the first I've read by Stiefvater and I adored the poetic feel of it. I've talked with others that couldn't get into the book, so I suspect the combination of writing with narration has really set this off.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Blue. I love her attitude, and her reflections on the people around her.

Which scene was your favorite?

I can't think of just one that stands out on it's own. The first time she sees Gansey on the corpse road, the reading that the boys all attend at Blues house, the strange hypnotic effect that the wasp had on Gansey in his room late at night, the revelation that Noah isn't alive.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have, I would.

Any additional comments?

This is my go-to book when I run out of other books to listen to. I felt so drawn into the story of these teens. Not everyone is comfortable with the witch/tarot/supernatural aspects of the book, so I couldn't say it's for everyone, but it is my absolute FAVOURITE.

Will Patton makes this a winner

This is really a YA book -- did not realize that when I downloaded it -- however the writing is careful and creative -- the characters are very authentic and well crafted -- and the narration is superb. Part 1 does not complete the story...

Will Patton is the perfect narrator for this!

I really fell in love with The Raven Cycle over the past few years and with the pending release of the LAST BOOK in 2016, I knew I just had to start re-reading them. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did! (And something I highly recommend for any fan of the series!)

Re-reading THE RAVEN BOYS was such a magical experience and the book was even better knowing all of the things that I do now. It was so much fun to have insight on some little things that I’m sure I didn’t even pick up on the first go around (mostly likely because there wasn’t any significance yet). It was so amazing to relive this story from the beginning, especially having the knowledge of what happens in THE DREAM THIEVES and BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE.

The feelings once again were fantastic. I had a sort of notion in my head how things had happened in this book (after reading the other two, things sort of get muddied since obviously plots start changing and relationships evolve) and it was so great to see exactly how Blue met her Raven Boys and how these relationships started versus how they’ve developed and where these characters have ended up. The friendships and subtle romanticisms in this book are just delightful and it was so great to see the beginnings of these characters knowing exactly how much they grow throughout the series.

Maggie Stiefvater is absolutely brilliant with words. The prose is lyrical and really just flows so wonderfully, carrying the reader through book. I remember when I first read THE RAVEN BOYS, I had no idea what I was getting myself into (in a good way, of course). The only Maggie Stiefvater book I was familiar with was SHIVER at the time and the writing was much different, in my opinion, so I was a bit surprised to see how much more complex THE RAVEN BOYS was. My first read through took me just a bit to get used to the writing style but knowing the exact feel of the books now made it that much more magical for me as a re-read.

I won’t get super detailed since this was a re-read for me but I WILL urge you re-read this series as well if you’re a fan. It’s just such a wonderful experience to go through this story again from the beginning and I immediately wanted to jump into THE DREAM THIEVES! It was so hard to pace myself and not just binge the rest of the books but hey, THE RAVEN KING is still quite a few months away!

First Audiobook Experience

Loved the story while reading it in print, enjoyed listening to it in audiobook form. Will Patton's narration was quite silly at times, but nonetheless, a great job.