Raven Boys review

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.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
  
My thoughts: The kind of authors I enjoy are ones that either stick to similar themes but have a creative way of telling them or have drastically different stories with some familiar thread running through them. Maggie represents the latter, and after reading and loving Scorpio Races, I couldn’t wait to see what new adventure she would design. And this one a very different, filled with lay lines, sacrifices, and nature settings that have a fondness for Latin.

            Raven Boys almost seems to start with an ending (a good way to start if you do it right, according to my cinema teacher). Blue knows that if she kisses her true love, that person will die. But she and we don’t know who and when. And you think it will go one way as characters are introduced (mainly Gansey), but it doesn’t. As things continue to be revealed, there are some secrets that have been "hidden," out in the open the whole time.  And there are some things that you wouldn’t expect until it actually happens.

       Raven Boys initially seems like a romance. But once you get to know all the characters and see the complexity of their fate, it is shown that there is more to this story. Not just with Blue and “the boys,” but also with her mother and her psychic friends.

     The one thing I didn’ t like was how things got wrapped up. I know this book has to help setup the series, but after building and developing the story, it seemed to end too soon.  Not in the sense that I needed more pages, just that something seemed missing. Other than that, it was a good story that has set me on my own quest to learn more about a certain welsh king. At least until the next book comes out.

The Scorpio Races review

Description: It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

My thoughts: I have to stop saying I’ve found my favorite book of 2011 before I actually finish my last book of the year, because it keeps changing. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was amazing. Then I read Divergent. And now it’s Scorpio Races. So I’m just keeping the poker face until the last week of December.

I have to admit something. I don’t remember what I said in my reviews of Lament or Shiver, but those books were just ok. They weren’t horrible but I felt indifferent about both of them, like I could take them or leave them. But there was just something about Maggie Stiefvater (other than our birthdays being on the same day) that makes me want to read what she writes. She’s such a talent in general and her writing is so lyrical that she’s one of those authors I just want to read no matter what. For me, Ballad was great, and it gave me the encouragement to read any upcoming books from her. Which is funny because I needed no encouragement to read Scorpio Races. It just sounded like my kind of book from the very beginning. It sounded like an adventure, and it was, though it was like nothing I’d ever imagined. It was better.

There’s the setting, which you can feel, as if you were there among the racers, on the beach avoiding the capaill uisce’s teeth. And regardless of all the things that should have made me leery of this place, every new description just made me want to be there in person.

Then there’s the story. Two actually, emerging throughout the book until they become one. That’s also the way Id like to think of Sean and Puck personally. Something was pulling them towards each other, but there was no supernatural aspects making them want to be together after 48 hours of being near each other (or whatever). Their feelings grew, and it was fantastic. Just having their personal stories in the mist of the bigger story made everything better. Because Puck needs to win this race, but Sean also needs to win this race (I can feel the fangirl in me coming out already). And that’s obviously going to cause a little bit of difficulty.

And last but not least, there’s Cor, who you don’t need to physically see to know how beautiful and majestic he really is. Or see him in person to know how fast he could run.  But I still just wanted to sit on the beach as the Scorpio Races took place, and capture one of the most basic aspects of Thisby (the island).

Additional note: No book is for everyone, but just go read it. PLEASE. Because I want this to be the book that everyone likes (I know I just contradicted myself. Whatever.).

Book Teaser: The Scorpio Races

The red stallion circles, halfway to a hungry creature of the sea, but he does as I asked: He does not eat the thing that was my father. Instead, the stallion climbs back into the water. Nothing is as red as the sea that day. 
I don't think often on my father's body strung through the reddening surf. Instead, I remember him as he was before the race: afraid. 
      I won't make the same mistake.

Ballad Review

Description: In this mesmerizing sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James' musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives.

My Thoughts: I was very cautious about starting Ballad. Lament was ok, but I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. When I won Ballad, I decided I would give it a try because my favorite parts about Lament had something to do with James. I also really wanted to like Maggie Stiefvater’s writing.

I’m glad I read Ballad because I loved it! Although I could never call any book perfect, I have no complaints about this book (no big ones at least). It was everything I’d hoped Lament would be.
Dark (funny) sarcastic characters always attract so it made sense that I’d fall hard for him. I hated Dee in this book (you’ll see if (I mean when) you read Ballad). I’m very fond of the new characters, including Nuala, and a teacher at Thorking-Ash school of music.

The story was clear this time. In Lament I was sort of lost in certain scenes; it was confusing when it came to figuring out what was happening with the characters in relations to the big problem in the story. Everything flowed; it never felt awkward to me, like if the author had forced scenes together to get to the middle or end of the story. I am now in love with Maggie’s writing, and hope to read more of her books very soon (as in Shiver).

Ballad

This book sounds really good. I recently bought Lament and I''m determined to get Shiver (whenever I can get to a B&N)

Here's the teaser:

He turned towards me. For a long moment, he stood facing me. I was held, anchored to the ground – not by his music, which still called and pushed against the music already in my head and said grow rise follow – but by his strangeness. By his fingers, spread over the ground, holding something into the earth, by his shoulders, squared in a way that spoke of strength and unknowability, and most of all, by the great, thorny antlers that grew from his head, spanning the sky like branches.

Then he was gone, and I missed his going in the instant that the sun fell off the edge of the hill, abandoning the world to twilight.

Amazon Link here

Barnes & Nobles Buy

I went to Barnes & Nobles for the first time in months on Sunday! I didn't even know how much I missed it until I had like four books in my hands. I was sad because I only bought Lament (though happy I bought it). My mom said she would buy me The Dust Of 100 Dogs. I'm trying to get my Dad to buy Shiver but he all ready thinks I read to much, which is bull (you'd think he'd like that I read a lot... oh well :( ) But anyway here is a summary of Lament

From Booklist*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan, a gifted harpist who regularly plays for weddings and other events, has the kind of stage fright that makes her physically ill before a performance, which is an inauspicious way to start a romance; but while vomiting before a competition she meets a gorgeous boy who comes into the restroom to hold her hair. He is Luke Dillon, a flautist who proceeds to accompany her in a truly stellar performance. As four-leaf clovers start appearing everywhere, Deirdre develops telekinetic powers and encounters strange, unworldly people who seem to bear her ill will. Her best friend, James, also a talented musician; her beloved grandmother; and her mother all are in danger, as Deirdre is targeted by the queen of Faerie. Deirdre eventually discovers that she is a cloverhand, a person who can see the denizens of faerie, and Luke, not the only immortal who has her in his sights, is a gallowglass, an assassin assigned by the queen of Faerie to kill Deirdre but who falls in love with her instead. This beautiful and out-of-the-ordinary debut novel, with its authentic depiction of Celtic Faerie lore and dangerous forbidden love in a contemporary American setting, will appeal to readers of Nancy Werlin’s Impossible (2008) and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Illustrations by Jeffrey are fitting. Grades 9-12. --Diana Tixier Herald