The Raven Boys

In March I went to the Tucson Festival of Books and it was super fun.  One of the panels I went to consisted of the following authors: Heather Brewer, Maggie Stiefvater, and Cinda Williams Chima.  I went to hear Chima speak since she has written some of the best fantasy books ever, but it turned out that I had also read the majority of the books by the other authors.  During the panel each other promoted her newest book.  Stiefvater promoted the Raven Boys, which is her new series.  It sounded like something I might want to try, so I did it.  It's recommended straight from the author to me to you. 

The Raven Boys is a little different from other books I read.  It has paranormal things and psychics and people with supernatural powers.  I am always a little wary of fiction books with these subjects since I don't believe in these special powers.  It's not the same as fantasy though: I know unicorns don't exist, but I want them to.  In any case, I decided to try it out anyway, and it was really worth it.  The book moved quickly and the action was pretty high paced.  The book chronicles the adventures of Gansey, Noah, Adam, Ronan, and Blue as they search for the ancient Welsh king Glendower, who has apparently been sleeping for hundreds of years in the rolling hills outside of their town.  The book takes place in a small town in the middle of nowhere but happens to have a rich man's prep school, Aglionby, where rich parents send their rich kids and caters to that stereotype that town kids are poor (which they are) and the Aglionby kids are rich (which they mostly are).  There are psychics, ghosts, coincidences that aren't coincidences, and even a time warp. 

Beware, there is language; Ronan is an especially caustic character and some other characters also use foul language.