Maggie Stiefvater's "The Raven Cycle": A Review

My most recent obsessive read took me on a wild supernatural journey through a tiny town called Henrietta. I've been to Virginia in person, and found it to be an oppressively humid, green, and historical place. But Maggie Stiefvater managed to also make it magical.

The Raven Cycle is a quadrilogy (four books-- break all the rules, Maggie!) about a group of teenagers searching for a mystical king said to be sleeping on the magical ley line that runs through Henrietta. But they're also about more than that. The book tackles magic and stereotypes, curses and cars, and the kind of friendship that makes me ache for a my own group of misfit magicians.

Blue Sargent is one of our heroes, remarkably strange and sensible, and predicted to kill her true love with a kiss. She's a firecracker of a character, who cares too much and has a penchant for yogurt. Her house full of psychics and tarot card readings makes for a solid foundation for the series.

And much like Blue, I fell in love with all of the strange boys that populated the pages of these novels. From surly dreamer Ronan to shattered, careful Adam. From smudgy, soft Noah to grandiose Gansey, these boys made me want to believe in teenage magic.

The four novels all take on different battles the teenagers must face on their search for the mysterious king, Glendower, and while some of the battles are ones they wage against themselves (and sometimes each other) a lot of them are supernaturally terrifying. I was kept awake into the wee hours of the morning several times because I couldn't bear to put the book down until I knew the gang was going to be alright. And sometimes that wasn't for quite some time. These kids go through some stuff, but them come out stronger in the end.

Stiefvater uses hilarious dialogue and gut-wrenching teenage honesty to tell a story about personal growth and trying to find a place in the world. The Raven Cycle is truly a coming-of-age drenched in love, both romantic and platonic. It stresses the importance of family ties, both in the family you're born into and the one that you create. With dynamic, positive female relationships and an LGBT love story I barely saw coming but instantly fell in love with, this series easily earned a place on the bookshelf in my heart.

Each book brings a new, more terrifying villain, and a new, more terrifying violence. This is a young adult text, but it also dabbles in some dark magic and even darker themes. I mean, right away we're introduced to the idea that a main character is destined to die in a year. But I clung with growing hope to the idea that these teens could save each other, until the bitter end and beyond. And I loved them every step of the way.

Overall the series was bittersweet and hopeful. I wanted more, but a good book always leaves its reader with that feeling, and I was satisfied with the ending I was given. I was promised psychics and spirits and death from the beginning, and the series delivered, even if I wasn't always expecting it. The story is compelling and original, and I am desperately in love with it.

Keep writing (and reading!), my friends!

Book recommendation: The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater

Movie recommendation: Practical Magic

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