Waiting on Wednesday: The Raven Boys

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming novels we can't wait to read. This week’s choice is:

Title: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publish Date: Sept. 18, 2012
Genre: Paranormal

Goodreads Summary: Filled with mystery, romance, and the supernatural, The Raven Boys introduces readers to Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III and Blue Sargent. Gansey has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on the hunt to find Glendower, a vanished Welsh king. Legend has it that the first person to find him will be granted a wish—either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.
Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there—known as Raven Boys—can only mean trouble. When Gansey and his Raven Boy friends come into her life, Blue realizes how true this is. She never thought her fortune would be a problem. But she was wrong.

Why am I waiting on The Raven Boys? Tons of reasons! It has mystery, romance and supernatural elements, a bit of history and it’s by Maggie Stiefvater (love her writing!). I also love that the girl's name is Blue, which in addition to being very popular right now, is a cool name for a fictional character. This book sounds awesome and has me looking forward to the fall.

What books are you waiting on?

Review of Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater

Release Date: October 1, 2009
Publisher: Flux
Pages: 352 pages
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 3 stars
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary: In this 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.

Review: Let me start by saying I love Maggie Stievater’s writing. I am a fan of her Wolves of Mercy Falls series and really enjoyed Lament, so I was excited to read the sequel and see what happened with the characters.

In Lament, we met Dierdre, or Dee, had the unfortunate distinction of being a cloverhand, one who can see faeries, and this earned her a spot on the faerie queen’s hit list at the hand of Luke, the queen’s assassin. A bit of a love triangle developed with Dee, Luke and James, Dee’s best friend who had been in love with her. I loved Dee’s character in Lament. She was strong, resourceful and grew so much throughout the story. James was an awesome character, handsome, smart, snarky and totally deserving of his own story, especially since (SPOILER) he did not get the girl at the end of the first book.

Ballad is James’ story and it’s great to hear from him. I still love him but I just could not connect with his love interest Nuala or their romance. Dee was virtually unrecognizable, floating through the story every now and again, heartbroken and depressed, her butt-kicking days somewhere behind her.

Stiefvater’s storytelling and knowledge of Celtic lore are solid. Her descriptions of the faeries, the music and the poetry are beautiful. I really do feel like this series needs a third book to redeem Dee and develop Nuala’s character, but I am not sure if another book is in the works.

Content: Language, violence, sexual content, a character is assaulted (I am still not sure if she was raped or not)