Raven Boys

Stiefvater, Maggie. 2012. THE RAVEN BOYS. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9780545424929 [Suggested Grade Levels 8-12]

REVIEW

Blue Sargent performs an important role for her psychic mother and clairvoyant friends during readings. Even though Blue isn’t a medium, her presence strengths spiritual energy and enables others to “see” more clearly. Each spring she accompanies her mother to the corpse road and records the names of the people who will die in the coming year. Blue never expects to see the spirits herself, until one boy materializes in front of her. Her aunt informs Blue, “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve. Either you’re his true love, or you killed him.”

Blue has always been told she will kill her true love with a kiss, so she resolves not to fall in love. After she sees the spirit of Gansey on the corpse road, he begins to cross her path. Against her mother’s advice, Blue begins to develop a friendship with Gansey and several of his classmates from the exclusive boys’ school in town. She quickly discovers Gansey’s obsession for locating ley lines in the hope of finding a long-dead king rumored to grant favors to whoever wakes him. Intrigued, Blue aids in their search and together they uncover mysteries in their small Virginia town. THE RAVEN BOYS is the first book in a planned series.

CONNECTIONS

This is an excellent book for teens interested in psychic powers or spiritual locations. Give this novel to fans of Libba Bray looking for mystical adventure stories.

RELATED BOOKS

Other books for teens about seers, magic, and supernatural powers:
Bray, Libba. A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY. ISBN 9780385732314
Bray, Libba. THE DIVINERS. ISBN 9780316126113
Garcia, Kami and Margaret Stohl. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. ISBN 9780316042673

By Kimberly C. Kinnaird