The Raven Boys by
Maggie Stiefvater
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
This book was SO GOOD. It had really good Supernatural vibes, with the ghosts, ley lines, psychics, and all that. I loved how each character grew in this book, making me want to know more about Blue, Gansey, Ronan, and Adam. In this book, you are introduced to them, how they live, and how the mystery of Glendower affects them all.
Blue was told when she was little that she would kill her true love by kissing him. So she avoided all boys, including the Aglionby Boys, also known as the Raven Boys. One day, while out with Neeve, a friend of her mother’s, she sees a boy that looks like a ghost. Blue goes over and asks his name. He tells her that his name is Gansey and that if she can see him, he’s going to die. Oof.
Once Gansey disappeared, that’s when everything starts to happen. Gansey wakes up in the Pig, his Camaro, and told his friends Ronan and Adam about what happened to him and wonders who spoke to him when he recorded himself. Then at Nino’s, where Blue works, she meets the boys and Gansey kinda fucked up Adam’s choice to even talk to Blue when he offers to pay her salary, and she thought he was calling her a prostitute, which she was not. But then at home, that’s when they came to her house for a reading.
This reading is very weird to me because Gansey keeps pulling the page of cups, which Blue’s mom, Maura, claims is Blue’s card. She kept telling him to pull another one, and he does-I think he pulled the Death card and declared that it was his card. Then they went to a place via a helicopter (I forgot what it was) and that’s when they went into this weird world where the seasons change and they have visions-Gansey has a vision of his death and Glendower, and Adam did see himself kill Gansey, and Blue saw Adam die after she kisses him.
But the one thing that grabbed me was when they found out Noah, my baby boy, my sweet cheese, my soldier, my good time sweet boy…was a ghost. Like a full-on, I was killed and now I’m a ghost boy. That made me go OH SNAP…OH SNIZZIEY SNAP!!! Wasn’t even expecting that. And the one who killed him…
Wasn’t expecting it, since he kept calling him Czerny (Noah’s last name).
It was the teacher, Barrington Whelk.
Well, damn.
There were some side arcs, like Ronan and his brother Declan fighting, and Adam getting hit so hard that he couldn’t hear from one ear (he got boxed in the ear hard, that’s what happened) and he and Gansey got into a fight after he picked him up-after he punched Whelk hard in the face, messing up his thumb. They went back to Gansey’s apartment after discussing what they’re going to do, and Adam decides to go and do the ritual himself…only for him to come face to face with Whelk and nearly got shot, and thanks to everyone, Whelk was stopped, Noah was buried in the Church, and since I forgot about this…
Ronan has a pet raven that came from his mind…named Chainsaw (I’m completely convinced that Ronan would LOVE Chainsaw Man.) and Noah is still a ghost, and Adam still can’t hear from his ear. And also I’m convinced that Neeve is a demon now. I truly enjoyed this book, and cannot wait to read the rest of the series.
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Bride of the Shadow King by
Sylvia Mercedes
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
This was a really cute book. It does have some pining in it between Vor and Faraine, it has some political intrigue, and it also has rituals and something terrible that just made me so wrong while I was reading it. It was a good book, not going to lie, but the way the second half of this book just made me upset until the ending was quite a shocker and something I was not expecting. I wanted to DNF this book because of that, but as I read on to see when he’ll find out about it, it got good again.
Faraine is the daughter of the King, whose gods-gift shuns her (for no apparent reason), and she hides in the shadow, letting the rest of her sisters get the spotlight. But one day, while being attacked, she and her dumb brother were saved by the Shadow King, who, I want to say, immediately falls for her. But each time they are together or not, Vor and Faraine are thinking about one another, even though Vor is there to get a human bride. The King kept pushing Faraine’s sister, Ilvesel, in front of Vor, even though it was Faraine he met first and wanted to be his wife.
Reluctantly, he agrees to marry Ilvesel and signs and deals with it, even though he can’t get Faraine out of his head. He tries, though; he tries. Then one day, while he is back home preparing for her, Faraine is retrieved from her convent. She was forced to go and take her sister’s place. Immediately Faraine said no-she didn’t want to change her face and lie to the King. She wants to use her face and be truthful to him. But the Queen and Crown didn’t want that, so thanks to a witch whose name I’ve forgotten turned her into Ilvesel-and this was the part I wanted to DNF. I felt this was wrong, betraying the Shadow King’s trust. Faraine felt guilty for even going along with this, and until the wedding night, she was forced to wear a veil, so he won’t know it’s her-which was bullshit and didn’t work.
Once the two of them took their vows, they were alone. There was a touch of spice in the book, but it was cut short when Vor stopped, noticing that “Ilvesel” was crying, and Faraine broke it, spell and all, revealing the King’s treachery. Vor was surprised *as he should have* and Faraine explained what happened to his bride and why her family did what they did to her.
Outraged, Vor (poisoned) ordered them to be killed. But before that could even happen, he realizes that he still has feelings for her and saves Faraine from the executioner’s blow. Instead, he put her in jail/dungeon while he sent the other one back to the King and thought about what he wanted to do in a month.
This was a really good book, I enjoyed it up to that part, and then it picked back up. I will wait for the series' last and final book to read them all together because this is a really good series.
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A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon
