The Raven Boys - A Book Review

Hi guys!

So I know I'm late to the party, and probably everyone has read it by now (except not everyone, because I hadn't read it). But I finished The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater last night, and all I want to do is talk about it, so I'm doing a book review.

About the book, courtesy of Goodreads.

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

My rating

            

There was so much I loved about this book. Meaning, the characters.

The characters are so good.

Blue is not your normal female lead. She's not overly strong, or insanely quirky. She's pretty sensible really. To me, she thinks exactly like a sixteen year old girl thinks, which is kind of unique in Young Adult books. One strange thing about her is she designs all of her own clothes, and its kind of funny because as I'm reading the descriptions I'm like "Oh yeah, I would have wore this a few years back."

She's got good fashion sense.

The Raven Boys themselves are all such big teddy bears. Some it's just harder to tell under their sharp edges. But I want to hug them all.

Currently Gansey is my least favorite, but through no fault of his own. I don't dislike him by any stretch, he's just not as colorful as the rest of the lot.

Adam is such a cinnamon roll, and I love his dynamic with Blue. I just want to hug him and whisk him away from danger, and then yell at him to stop being so stubborn. Which is to be expected when dealing with teenage boys, I suppose.

Noah is such a sad little guy, and I love him.

But my favorite is Ronan. Which will probably come as no surprise to anyone. He's my literary type. Dangerous, snarky, so very angry. I worry about myself sometimes.

As for the story line, it absolutely hooks you. Normally I can outguess a book pretty fast, and know what's going on, but there were so many twists and turns in this one that I didn't see coming at all.

It was both maddening and fantastic.

It's a fast paced book and stuff just keeps happening, but I loved how it wasn't all action related to their magical quest. I loved the personal turmoil and chaos that sprung up from all of them, and how they dealt with it.

Content was the only reason I took a star off the rating. There was a lot of cussing.

No sex, or anything like that. A few very mild innuendos. But a lot of cussing.

Also, if you don't like psychics and mediums, and things of that nature, pass this book up. I didn't find it a bother, but some people might.

Now all that's left for me to do is scurry on over to the library to get book two.

Fingers crossed that they actually have book two. 

Have you ever read The Raven Boys? What did you think?

I'm in the mood to chat about it.

Procrastination 101

Hi guys!

So true story, I had all of these things planned to do for this Wednesday. Pick up fence, get Henry's hair cut, get my horse's hooves trimmed, etc. etc. None of those things involved remembering to write a blog post.

But that's ok. I got this. Today we're going to talk about procrastination.

It's going to be info packed and fast paced, so buckle in.

1. Accountability.

This is the first step, in my opinion. You have to be talking about your work.

"Yeah, I've got two articles due, and a brainstorming session that needs finished. Didn't get much done today. It's a start."

Opening up to people about what you're working on gives them the opportunity to ask you about it later. Spur motivation.

Talking to people also gives you a support group. Tell your editors you've come to hate your article and just want to light it on fire. Tell them its not in your destiny to finish it, and you can hear the sea calling your name. They'll understand. They'll probably throw you imaginary motivational chocolate, or maybe they won't respond at all. Silence is golden, you know.

2. Big Projects.

There's nothing like a big project to help the procrastination along. So seek out those massive, all-day tasks and volunteer for them. It's empowering to look back on all you've accomplished.

"I didn't get that article done this week ... but I branded 200 calves and moved two batches of cows."

Power.

3. Get your work out.

A big boost when dealing with procrastination is to get the project out. Lay it out on the table, leave the word document open overnight. Whatever it takes to make you feel like you've accomplished something just by casting a cursory glance it's way.

4. Read.

In all the articles for helping writers, one of the answers is always Read. And I think that's good advice. Need inspiration? Read. Need to rewind after finishing a novel? Read. Dealing with crippling procrastination? You got it. Read.

Start a new series. One with snarky characters and a brilliant premise that you absolutely cannot put down. Time will just fly by and you won't even feel the procrastination.

5. Schedule.

I'm currently reading Woman on Top: How to win in a woman's way by Karen Koenig, and in the latest chapter it talks about blocking out time for each task so you don't overwhelm yourself.

It's an excellent notion.

I love to put all of my tasks and deadlines on the calendar and watch as they come closer and closer. It's a game of how fast can Maddie write something and still turn out quality content. The thrill, y'all.

Not only does this aid the procrastination process, but it also gives a good kick to anxiety.

Bring it on, deadlines.

6. Set yourself up for success.

To be a successful procrastinator, you have to prepare. You can't win if you start out defeated. I coated my fingers with super glue yesterday, and man can I tell you I've had a successful procrastination spree ever since. I couldn't feel anything but hard ridges of glue, and it was driving me crazy. Don't even think about typing an article, because I was busy picking at it trying to get it off.

It did come off this morning finally, so I'll have to think of something else to set myself up for a successful day.

7. Blog about it.

Nothing says procrastination like blogging about not writing an article, instead of just writing it.

Prove me wrong.

Oh what, you thought I was going to write a post about beating procrastination?

Perish the thought!

I don't know anything about that.

Write what you know, people.

Writer Down

Hi guys!

Gonna be honest here, I didn't have a topic planned for today, so fair warning that this might turn into a ramble.

Ok? Moving on.

If you missed the celebration on Facebook and Instagram, I finished the first draft of The Mad Hatter. It's about 55K, and I'm just super happy to be done with it at this point so I don't have to think about it.

That being said, by the time I wrote The End I was feeling much more confident in the story, and I think I'll be able to polish it into something I love after I've had a break from in.

As usually happens after I finish a story, all the wind has gone out of my sails for writing. I've got to whip an article into shape for Story Embers and I'm just sitting here like ... I'm a writer?

Writer down!

Me, with my writing obligations in the background.

But that's actually ok with me (apart from needing to turn in that one article). I need this time after a draft to recharge and do other things. Like read The Raven Boys, because I got to the part where Blue sees Gansey, and Gansey hears his voice on the recorder, and stopped. The suspense is killing me.

It's also been absolutely beautiful outside. Almost to the point of being hot. I've spent the bare minimum of time indoors, and Henry and I have been out playing with Finn and Scout, building forts, and generally soaking in the sun.

We've also been branding calves about every other day. I think we've done around 400 so far, give or take, so we're a little over the halfway mark.

Branding calves is super fun to me, so I've really been enjoying that.

All that niceness is about to come to a screeching halt though, because the weather men have the audacity to predict another Bomb Cyclone moving in tonight and tomorrow. I'm really praying we can just skip all that. It's not good for anything go from 70 and sun to 20 and snow.

I've got a sunburn right now and I'm digging out my winter coat. This is ridiculous.

In all seriousness though, say a prayer for Nebraska please. We really don't need hit with anything else right now. During my hiatus from writing Henry and I went with Rosie to drive along the river and see some of the devastation now that the water is down. You would not believe the trash that washed in. Entire trees, piles of cornstalks, sand. Entire fences are absolutely gone, and there were places we couldn't get to because the road was washed out so bad.

It was terrible.

Nebraska, next time it rains

Now that it's been a grand total of three days since finishing Mad Hatter, there is a tiny sliver of my brain that wants to think about what I'm going to do next.

I've been toying around with a Viking idea, which isn't ready to be wrote yet, but I'm having fun gathering ideas.

The reality is most likely going to be rewriting. Kara Swanson and I have been looking over Blood and Dust and we think it just needs a little extra something to it, so I'm going to try to figure that out. And once I do that, it'll be time to do something about Bad Boy--first and foremost is to give it a real title.

So that's what I've been up to. I'm off to try and finish my article and get back to business.

What about you?

I do not own any of the Gifs. All came from Google.



Mad Hatter Snippets

Hi guys!

I am so close to finishing The Mad Hatter. I've got them right up to the edge of the cliff, and just need to kick them all off and tie up the loose ends.

As such, I've been in full blown writer mode and hadn't planned a blog post for today. Therefor, you're getting snippets from the story. It's so much easier to copy and paste chunks of story than it is to come up with a whole post.

So here you go. Mad Hatter snippets.

                                    

“Think about all those sci-fi movies you like to watch. No one ever dies. It’s going to be fine.”

I know he’s trying to be reassuring, but I want to remind him that I’m not that naive. “Characters die all the time.”

“But not the main ones.”

“Debatable.” I mutter, thinking back on every secondary character I’ve ever loved and how they’ve been so brutally sacrificed on the altar of entertainment.

***

“Come on mortals. Assemble! I have to remind you of your unfortunate mortality.”

I scowl as our emo companion’s chipper voice cuts through my resolve.

“Kill him.” Matt whispers as I spin to face Malec, and I can’t help but smile.

“We’re very much aware of our mortality, thank you.” I march over to Malec and stand in front of the opening between realms.

Malec takes his hat off and peers inside. “Well, of the three of us, I’m the only one that’s died before, so I thought I’d better go over some ground rules with yous. As your friendboy has never dealt with fae, and you seem bent on your own stubborn destruction, a crash course of fae etiquette seems in order.”

He whips his hat back on and claps his hands together, sending up a puff of glistening blue smoke. “Do not eat anything you see in there. Even if it blatantly tells you to. Even if a cute little butterfly tries to shove it down your throat. Smash the butterfly. Live a bit longer.”

Malec paces in front of us like a teacher at the front of the class. I’d pay to see Malec in my high school classroom.

I must smile because he scowls at me. “Trust no one, kiss no one, don’t ask anyone for anything, give your name, or agree to any conditions. All will end in your untimely death.”

He stops suddenly and stares at us. “Do you understand?”

***

“Careful.” Malec strides past us, brushing at his jacket. “It might bite.”

I cast Matt a quick glance before following him. “What might?”

“Anything. All of it. Take your pick.”

***

“I mentioned the castle.” Malec nods. “And we are going there. But first, we must free the slaves.”

I blink at him under his stove pipe. “Is that an Abraham Lincoln reference?”

“Is that a human reference?” He blinks back at me, and somehow that one simple movement feels condescending.

***

“Sounds like a snowballs chance in Hell.” I mutter.

“Precisely.” Malec spins and walks backwards to face us.

“That’s not a chance, Malec.” I scowl.

“It is if the snowball adapts. The fire may melt the snow, but the snow can put out the fire.”

I don’t think this guy fully grasps the level of inferno that Hell refers too, but I don’t bother spoiling his cute, hope filled metaphor for the moment. He’ll just spout off something equally useless.

Malec faces forward again. “Now that that’s all cleared up, how about we keep moving on.”

I roll my eyes and glance at Matt. “We’re all gonna die.”

***

I muster all of my willpower and point to his shadow that doesn’t match the rest of him. “You haven’t told your secret.”

“Correction. I haven’t told you. Bunny knows, therefor it is no longer a secret. But for the sake of fair play …” He takes his hat off and studies the strange shadow. “I told you I died before this. So you already know the secret in part.”

***

I push and shove and finally haul myself out from under his arm. I heft my sword and try to crawl out of the tangle of limbs without tripping myself. Graceful as the movies. Hollywood talent scouts are going to be lining up at my door when I get home.

***

We’re all gonna die.

I know that as I run toward the chaos.

Those birds and whatever else have obviously killed Bunny, otherwise she would have stopped them. All that’s left is for them to kill Matt.

And I’m going to run right into the fray after him and they’ll get me to.

And Malec—well, Malec will probably live. Because he’s most likely running the opposite direction.

***

Or maybe he just really wants to run into a twenty foot wall. That looks to be his plan.

My plan isn’t much better, because I follow him. He’s right. I do trust him. Despite all of his warnings not to, I trust him to get me to Matt, to get us through whatever fight this is, and then to get us home. I don’t know if I’d exactly call it the bonds of friendship, but I definitely think he’s too clever and arrogant to let anything bad happen.

He’s about three steps from the wall now. I slow up just enough to see if he’s going to smack into it, or if we’re going full blown Harry Potter.

***

Their voices all meld together in agitated white noise as I study both directions of the corridor. Matt’s right. We can’t just wander around and expect to accidentally find our way through this labyrinth. I’ve seen that movie. This trumps anything 1986 cinema could concoct, and there’s a disappointing lack of rock star goblin kings belting out catchy soundtracks. No, we’re not going to stumble our way to the castle on accident.

***

I glance in the direction of the castle, obscured by hedge upon hedge. “I’m not as cute as a Seeing Eye dog, but I’ll have to do.”

***

The sign says “This Way” with arrows pointing both directions. If I do make it to the castle I’m going to wring Avian’s skinny neck for her twisted sense of humor.

Technically the castle lays to our left. But who is to say that the left is going to lead us through? It’s just as likely it leads to a dead end, and the right path winds around to the castle.

But maybe that’s exactly what I’m supposed to think. Maybe the left is actually the right way. Or maybe that’s what I’m supposed to think … it’s really no wonder Malec is insane.

“Left or right?” I glance at Matt.

He shrugs. “I was born and raised a republican. We’re going right wing.”

Because that’s exactly the kind of logic you use to find your way around a magical maze in a faerie world.