Review: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4)
by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the fourth and final installment in The Raven Cycle series, and I’m so sad that it’s over! One of my favorite things about this book was how much Stiefvater left open for interpretation. Seriously, there is so much left to your imagination. 

It’s always hard for authors to wrap up a series, and I think Stiefvater did an excellent job. Nothing felt rushed or stretched. It all flowed very naturally.

In case you haven’t read any of the books yet, here is a little summary. The series follows the story of Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah as they try to find an old Welsh king named Glendower and deal with tons of crazy supernatural stuff. Also I am warning you, chapters 18 and 19 will give you all the feels. It was borderline painful, I actually had to stop reading for a few minutes and just breathe. 

Another thing about this series that I really enjoyed was that even though this takes place in the modern day, the main characters weren’t super annoying. In some contemporary books, like one I’m trying to read now, characters use modern day slang and talk like ‘Whaaaaaaaat. Oh my gosh I’m dying I’m so giddy right now’. It’s like the author is trying to be super current and up to date on what ‘kids’ are doing these days, but I just find it unrealistic and kind of unintelligent. In my experience, no one really talks that way. I think that’s the main reason I don’t like many contemporary novels; because of the cringe-worthy way teenagers are portrayed. Rainbow Rowell is one of the few contemporary authors I can stand to read. Anyways, back to The Raven Cycle. Even though its not fully a contemporary series, it does still center around modern day teenagers, but Stiefvater wrote them in an intelligent and realistic way and I really enjoyed reading that.

I gave this book 5/5 stars, and I will recommend it to anyone on any day. 

Maggie Stiefvater’s Official Website
The Raven Cycle Official Website
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Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

This book follows the story of the non-psychic Blue Sargent, a sixteen year old girl, and her four raven boys. Her raven boys, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, all attend Algionby, a private boys boarding school. Together, they go on the search for Glendower, a long lost Welsh King, with the help of Blue’s psychic family.

I had been meaning to read this book for a while now ever since I saw it on Goodreads. I have never seen a negative review of this series, so I just had to try it sooner rather than later. The Fountain Bookstore, located in Richmond, has signed copies of lots of Maggie’s books. I walked down there one day and picked up the first three books, which started my obsession over yet another series.

This is one of those books where I find myself actually laughing and smiling while I’m reading it. I love all the characters and their relationships with each other. I also really enjoy Maggie’s writing style. It’s hard to describe, but she focuses more on the plot and the overall big picture than on the small little details. She doesn’t spend two paragraphs explaining what the main character is wearing that day, if you get my drift. The storyline is also pretty unique, I mean how many books have you read about Welsh kings before?

I gave this book 5/5 stars, and currently I’m reading the second book in the series, The Dream Thieves.

Maggie’s Website
The Raven Cycle Official Site
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Review: The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Published March 2016

I received this book in one of my OwlCrate boxes, I believe it was the March Box. After I read the summary of the book, I was hesitant to read it because I couldn’t tell what it was really about, and it was contemporary, and normally I don’t read contemporary because I find it boring. I’m much more of a fantasy girl.

But then I finished reading Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, and I only had a few books in my dorm room, so I decided to try this one, and I am so glad I did!

This book is a wonderful story about three teenagers who live in Tennessee and are all getting ready for their lives after college. This book talked about many themes that I think are very relevant in teens lives nowadays, and it did it in a very realistic way. If anyone is feeling sad or confused about what the heck they are supposed to do after high school or even college, I would recommend reading this. If you enjoy Rainbow Rowell, or John Green then you will definitely like this book. Although Zentner did pull some John Green-esque moves that made me want to cry. That’s all the warning you get.

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads, and added it to my favorites shelf. It’s definitely a book I will be rereading sometime in the future. Also, I started posting more pictures of what I’m reading and my OwlCrate unboxing on my Instagram.

Find Jeff here: http://www.jeffzentnerbooks.com

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Review: Obsidian and Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux Beginnings 
by Jenner L. Armentrout

Yesterday I finished reading the Lux Beginnings book, which contains the first two novels from the series, and oh my gosh I loved it.

The first book in the series, Obsidian, is about a girl names Katy Black who moves from Florida to West Virginia with her mom, and moves into a house next to a boy named Daemon. Then all sorts of crazy goes down. Spoiler. He’s an alien.

The second book, Onyx, continues to follow Katy and Daemon’s story.

There’s not really anything I didn’t enjoy about this book. I liked the writing, and despite all the aliens, the characters seemed real. In most YA novels where boy meets girl, the girl can be a pushover and written to seem all weak-kneed as soon as she sees the boy. Granted that happens in real life, but I just found Katy to be much more real about it and the way she acts doesn’t seem very far-fetched.

Some people think this book is pretty similar to the Twilight Series, probably because its about a girl meeting a supernatural boy, but really that’s where the similarities end. Lux has much more action, and the storyline follows more than the two main characters romance. But if you did like the Twilight books, or The Mortal Instruments, or anything like that, then definitely read this series.

Today I started reading Lux Consequences, which contains books three and four of the series Opal and Origin. Make sure to follow my Goodreads to hear my thoughts as I read! My links are below.

Jennifer L. Armentrout’s website

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Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I decided to read this book after my younger brother read the book, loved it, then forced me to see the movie with him. I absolutely loved the first and second movies, so I gave the book a shot. 

I really enjoyed reading this, and I can’t wait to read the next books in the series. I was nervous going in that because I saw the movie before I read the book, I might find the book boring and predictable. The Maze Runner was not boring at all, and I couldn’t put it down! The second half of the book was high speed and intense, which was a good change after the slightly slower paced first half.  

I thought that the boys’ reactions and attitudes to being stuck in such a situation was very accurate. It was also very interesting for me to see how a large group of boys would function together. As a female, I can kind of picture how a large group of women and girls trying to work together would be, so it was interesting to see how the boys worked through the situation and dealt with each other. 

I also enjoyed Dashner’s writing style, even though he did repeat some things a few too many times. This was probably to emphasis certain points, and ultimately it did not really impact my reading of the book. 

I would highly recommend this book to people who are fans of The Hunger Games, and books set in a dystopian, dangerous world.

✽ ✽ ✽

Buy the book with free shipping through Book Depository.
Check out James Dashner’s website.

✽ ✽ ✽

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