Hi! A mutual friend told me to come ask you, if you don't mind: what do you like about the Raven Cycle and would you recommend it to someone who has little to no tolerance for teenage romance angst soap opera? Just curious since the boys sound intriguing, but Blue doesn't, if that makes sense. :D Thanks! I hope you're having a good day!
Hi there! I donāt mind at all! (I hope you donāt mind mepublishing this, I was rambling so I ended up chopping it up quite a bit but itwas still long!) Iāll do my best to put everything into words, since usually Iāmjust yelling the name of a character at my friend while she sends me sadheadcanons soā¦.. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
āWhat do you like about the Raven Cycle?ā
First, I didnāt think I was going to like thisbook/series when I picked it up. It just didnāt sound like anything I would beinterested in. I gave it a shot for the author though. Maggie Stiefvater hasthis amazing talent of making me incredibly invested in things I donāt think Iāmeven remotely interested in.
I love her way of writing, I love her way ofwriting characters, and I love her way of writing the relationships betweencharacters. And not just between a boy and a girl who are probable loveinterests, but a boy and a girl who are just friends, boys who are just friends,boys who arenāt just friends, a girl and her mother, a girl and other older andimportant female family members/friends/role models, and boys and older femalerole models. Maggie writes really great characters. And not perfect characters,and not all the same.
I love the way she writes about magic. I mean,there are times when Iām sitting there and I swear I can feel it through thebook.
I think Maggie does a great job with writingabout some aspects of mental health, socioeconomic status, and privilege, amongother things.
āWould you recommend it to someone who has little to notolerance for teenage romance angst soap opera?ā
YES. 100% I would and wholeheartedly DOrecommend this book to someone who has little to no tolerance for teenageromance angst soap opera. I found this series when I was so sick of readingstories about teenage romance, and honestly when I was sick of boys in general.(Yes, good Danielle, read a book called The Raven BOYS. Again, Maggie is reallygood at making me invested in her characters). Yes, this series talks about kissing(or lack thereof) and romantic relationships, but it really really really isnāt the main focus. And evenwhen it is, itās simply not a typical āteenage romance angst soap opera.ā This book is primarily about the relationship between these 5 teenagers all together, and the magic. Oh, I adore the magic of this series
(Ifyouāre coming from reading Maggieās āWolves of Mercy Fallsā series, theyārereally not comparable. That series was very much about teenage romance (andwerewolves, sort of). This one is very much not.) (Honestly though by the thirdbook of this series my cynical little heart had melted and I was/am dying forseveral people to get together, itās worse than Jake and Amy from Brooklyn NineNine tbh).
āJust curious sincethe boys sound intriguing, but Blue doesnāt, if that makes senseā
I get what youāre saying. I tend to getsick/bored of female characters in book series. (Itās always interesting andrevealing to think on why this is the case for me.) I thought Blue was going tobe another female character I was going to get sick of, but that wasnāt thecase. I canāt speak for everyone in the fandom, but I adore Blue. Iāve seenpeople criticize the books since Blueās story doesnāt really start until shemeets these 4 boys, but (as Maggie herself responded to this criticism), theboysā story didnāt really start either until they met Blue. They were essentiallystagnant until Blue came along as a catalyst. And thatās not the end of her asa useful and developing character.
I hope this helps and that I did a decent job of convincing you to give it a chance at least! (If anyone wants to reblog this with reasons they love TRC please feel free to do so!)
Itās hard for me to sum up why I love this series so much. Mostly,I love the responses it gets out of me and how it makes me feel, in general andabout the characters.
Iām gonna leave you with this line from the beginning of thesecond book of the series, because I still get chills every time I think aboutit:
āMagic was real, magic was real, magic was real.ā
TL;DR ā Maggie is incredible at writing, writing aboutincredible characters and their relationships with other incredible characters,writing about magic, and making me care about all of those things plus more.