Book Review: The Raven Boys

I put The Raven Boys on hold at my local library back in April (after I heard how much Janssen liked it), so I was a little surprised when I was notified it was ready for pick-up. It took so long to come in that I had forgotten I'd requested it!

The main character is Blue Sargent (strange name, eh?). She's a normal teenager, living with her psychic mom and four other clairvoyant ladies (Persephone, Calla, Jimi, and Orla) in Henrietta, Virginia. They've told her for years that if she kisses her true love, he'll die. Of course, that's not much of a problem for Blue because she's not interested in boys, especially the rich ones who attend the snobby all-boys academy in town, Aglionby. They're so awful that one even offers to pay her to sit at their table while she's waitressing one night. (See where this is going?)

But there's a twist - one night, Blue is finally able to see a spirit (of that same boy who tried to bribe her into sitting with him) and talk to him. Her aunt says that means he is either Blue's true love . . or Blue killed him. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The story was awesome - so good, in fact, that I read this entire book in one day - but the romantic side was not my favorite must-finish-this-book-now part. No, my favorite part was actually when Blue started to befriend some of the Aglionby boys and joined in their hunt for a dead Welsh king, Glendower. (And sidenote - I looked up Glendower on Wikipedia afterwards and he had a sister named Morfudd. Morfudd? Gah!) They think Glendower might be buried/hidden somewhere in Henrietta . . and legend has it that the first to discover him will be granted a wish.

This book is the first in a four book series - and the ending shows it. But I'm loving the characters so far (and the plot!) so I don't mind have three more stories with these guys to look forward to. :)

Read anything lately? Thinking about naming your next child or pet Morfudd?