Friday Finds

A map of children's literature

SUCH a great letter about permission slips

Book covers, book covers, book covers

The Girl Phenomenon. Titles with the word 'girl' in them.

Sarah Rees Brennan heartbreakingly writes about how she found out that she has cancer

National Stationary Week

It's National Stationary Week! I am a major sucker for some stationary, particularly a bit of book themed stationary.

Book Lover Pencils

I really want these pencils. Maybe this week is a good excuse to go for it.

REVIEW: The Raven Boys (and and and...)

Title: Gemina; The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 9781407134611

UNSPOILED: 

I'm a little late on the train for this one, since The Raven Boys was originally published in 2012, but I've read all four books in the series this year, and I am on the Stiefvater train.

I'll be honest, I didn't read this for so long, because the blurb seemed very 'girl from wrong side of tracks simultaneously falls in love with four rich boys also magic', which is not technically incorrect, but I'm a big fan of the podcast The Worst Bestsellers and they recommend The Raven Cycle ALL THE TIME.

Thankfully... It's not as schmoopy as I thought it would be. In fact the opposite. Blue, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks in question, is sassy and stubborn, and while one of the plot points in the series involves a prophesy that her true love will die if she kisses him (see tagline), she doesn't spend TONS of time moping about it. A bit of moping, but I guess she's entitled to that. Then she gets on with rocking at life.

Blue is the only non-psychic in a house filled with psychic women, and I loved the details of the house, and the variety of large, full women that surround her. The boys were also each endearing, and although they start off seeming fairly interchangeable they all peel away their layers to reveal detailed and individual personalities. They all, and Blue, have their own needs and purposes that do not solely involve being a love interest to another person, which shouldn't be refreshing, but really was. There's also a really involved plot about finding a buried/sleeping king and getting a magical favour and it's very solid, but the real draw for me was hanging out with these characters. The books are not the paciest reads, but I genuinely didn't mind.

SPOILED:
I really need to talk about Adam. I loved Adam. Adam is my fav. Adam turns out to have been dead for 7 years. I LOVED this twist. Throughout the first book occasionally when they're at school teachers refer to the 'three boys that hang out' and I vaguely was a bit 'oh there are four does one of them not hang out at school is this a typo' and it turns out that Adam is a ghost and a lot of people can't see him at all. This was revealed SO WELL, and the progression of Adam's fading character throughout the next three novels was amazing and heartbreaking. Loved it. 

RANDOM BITS

• THIS is the king that Gansey is obsessed with waking up. Thank you Wikipedia.
• The rest of the series: The Dream Thieves; Blue Lily, Lily Blue; The Raven King.