The Raven Boys

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. 2012. 408p. ISBN 978-0-545-42492-9. FIC STI on the library shelves.

Unlike the other members of her family, Blue does not have psychic abilities. Her talent is to enhance the energy connection between the psychic and their targets. Ever since she was born she has been told that she cannot kiss anyone for her true love will die after she kisses him.

Blue is thus surprised when, on St. Mark’s Eve, she sees the outline of a spirit walking the Corpse Road. Every year, she and her mother have come to this little ruin of a church to meet those who will be dead within a year, and though Blue has felt them she has never seen them, until now.

The spirit reveals that his name is Gansey, and Blue can tell that he’s an Aglionby boy, one of the rich elite students at the local private school. Blue is instantly drawn to him, and despite entreaties from her mother, intertwines her fate with Gansey’s as well as that of his three friends, Ronan, Adam, and Noah.

Gansey is on a quest for the lay line that will lead him to an ancient Welsh king, Glendower. But others seek the lay line as well, and everything is not quite as it seems in the little town of Henrietta. When Blue gets involved, she sets in motion events that will lead to someone’s violent death, but also redeeming love and self-discovery.

The story of Gansey and his friends continue in the Dream Thieves.