THE RAVEN BOYS
by Academy. While he can’t always escape the perception of being a condescending rich boy, Gansey, influenced by a near\u002Ddeath experience seven years earlier, throws himself fully into finding the sleeping king, Owain Glendower. Searching for ley lines that will lead them to Glendower, Gansey, Blue, and the others get swept up in a race to activate the lines before those with dark motives can seize the ancient magic for themselves. Though some of the illustrations don’t convey the full gravitas of some moments in the original, others adroitly capture the humor, dread, and camaraderie that made the novel so intriguing and endearing. Newcomers to the story may not catch the significance of certain developments, but other elements, like the town of Henrietta and Gansey’s journal, gain extra life and added dimensions thanks to Milledge’s expressive and nostalgic artwork, which is enhanced by Ko’s luminous colors. Blue has brown skin and dark curly hair, and the boys present as white. "
Based on 4,326 Goodreads ratings
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Blue Sargent is the one person in a household of psychics who has no visions of her own, just a standing prophecy that says she'll cause her true love to die, which makes her a strange match for the ...
Our Review
Blue Sargent is the one person in a household of psychics who has no visions of her own, just a standing prophecy that says she'll cause her true love to die, which makes her a strange match for the group of private-school boys from Aglionby Academy she gets pulled into, all of them chasing a legend about a sleeping Welsh king buried somewhere along an old ley line. The search itself moves through haunted forests and tangled family histories, and the book is more interested in the slow accumulation of atmosphere and relationships than in quick payoffs. Across 257 pages, it reads as a patient setup for a longer series rather than a self-contained story.
The ensemble is the real draw: a cast that's morally messier than typical YA fantasy protagonists, anchored by Gansey, whose fixation on finding the king drives most of the plot and most of the group's loyalty to him. Both the supernatural mystery and the romantic tension move at a deliberate pace, which suits a reader in the 12-to-18 range who wants to sit with characters and world-building rather than race through plot beats. It's an opening volume that ends without resolving much, so it's best handed to a reader ready to commit to what comes next. Goodreads has it at 4.38 across 4,326 ratings.
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