Wow. Wow. Wow.

I really don't know where to start with this. When I first read this series a few months ago, I could hardly put together a single thought about the characters or the plot or whatever the hell was going on. I know I did like them a lot but when I think back, I was so confused. It's such a strange series and that's why I now officially love it.

I love The Raven Boys.

"I was here. I exist. I’m alive, because I bleed.”

But reading this book makes me want to read this series from the beginning because it is wow. There is soo much to this story and the characters are amazing. Just so interesting and different; it's very refreshing.

“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.”

The language in this series is so truly wonderful, it's not backwards but well it's just unique and has a gorgeous quality, it's hard to put into plain English I feel but I'm gonna try and explain a bit about what goes on.

Henrietta is quite an ordinary town, if not drab. However, if you look closely, there are many clues as to what really lives in the area, once prodded. With psychics, ley lines, mystical forests and legends of the sleeping king, there is lots going on around Henrietta.

“I just want to pretend. I want to pretend that I could.”

First we meet the weird and wonderful Blue Sargent. She's fiery and quite eccentric. Of course you might be if you lived with a family of psychics. At 300 Fox Way, Blue lives with her mother and her mother's friends. The women have many abilities and services are offered at the house with appointment. However, Blue has never seemed to gain any special ability only that she appears to be able to amplify other psychics' power and energies. She's never really fit in anywhere, until she met the Raven boys.

“I don’t want to talk,” and Ronan reply,

“The fuck would I talk about?”

Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah. All attending Aglionby Academy, a school somewhat for rich kids,

Spoiler

except Noah, since he is dead but he is a former student, just putting this in.

They are not your regular teenage boys.

“Desire and dread lay right next to each other in his heart, each sharpening the other.”

So Richard Campbell Gansey III, or Gansey, is maybe the 'leader' of the group in the sense of the adventure in this story, although throughout the series we see the other boys develop skills and traits of their own as they come into themselves and play bigger parts. He's wealthy, favourited by most, well known, but somewhat old fashioned in a sense that there seems to be a maturity about him that makes him come across as someone way beyond his years.
His ambition is to find Owen Glendower, a Welsh ruler who had fought against the English for Welsh freedom, and then disappeared from the face of the Earth when his capture seemed inevitable.
Gansey is knowledgable, having travelled the world researching for this hunt which has become his life, passion and obsession.
In Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Gansey and the crew are getting closer.

“There is no good word for the opposite of lonesome.

Adam Parrish is the poorest out of the boys,

Spoiler

well, like I know, Noah,

, and came to Aglionby through a scholarship. Before he moved to the loft above the church, he suffered domestic abuse from his father. He is very conscious of his poorer background, constantly thinking about money, working many jobs, not accepting help from his friends, and even coming to resent them sometimes for the pity he thinks they have on him. He wants to achieve a comfortable life through his own efforts, working hard at school and at work.
Becoming the eyes and ears of Cabeswater after that incident (in #1 I think), for the surreal forest with a psychic sort of energy that appeared when the local ley lines were repaired by the group, Adam learns a lot about himself and his new abilities in helping the group accomplish their goal in finding Glendower.


“I know when I'm awake and when I'm asleep,"

Ronan Lynch is from Irish descent. We learn a lot about him in #2, Dream Thieves. As the title suggests, Ronan's abilities include being able to materialize objects by dreaming them in his sleep. From his father being murdered, to most of his family turning out to be results of active dreaming, Ronan doesn't really have much to go on family wise at this stage. He's quite arrogant, brash and almost dangerous looking. He never misses his Latin classes, regardless of everything else, so he is able to communicate with Cabeswater also.

"I'm dead," Noah replied, "not stupid.”

Noah Czerny is actually a dead boy. He is dead from the beginning but we learn what really happened to Noah in #1 along with the discovery of Cabeswater and the ley lines. He appears throughout the books, helping the group in whatever way he can. He is able to appear by feeding off energy.

Spoiler

I love how he's Blue's first kiss, a ghost boy. :')

The only thing more pleasing than seeing Ronan singled out was seeing him singled out and forced to repeatedly sing an Irish jig.

“Piss up a rope,” Ronan said.

In Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maura is missing, it all seems to be linked as Maura has gone underground to search for Artemus, who we learn is Blue's father from #1.

The search is getting more intense for Glendower. The group find a promising start and happen upon a certain tomb that signals the beginning.

With Mr.Gray's betrayal to his employer, Greenmantle's affect in Henrietta proves worse with his wife Piper ending up doing the worst damage...

Adam faces his father after he pressed charges in #2. Ronan and Adam become closer and Ronan shows a more contemplative side that none of the others really saw. Then again, Gansey is showing signs of doubt and fear in his ambition as serious risks are putting thier lives in danger, while Adam comes into himself and his connection with Cabeswater. Blue is finding it hard to stay away from Gansey, whilst keeping in mind her curse.

I don't want to say too much, but this was a beautifully written book, I loved it so much. The characters develop a lot and the plot got so intense.

Also I loved how I could laugh and cry and I just truly felt in another world whilst reading this book.

“Squash one, squash two, s—”