The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel

Gr 7 Up–Blue Sargent can amplify the psychic powers of those around her but cannot see into the future herself, which, in a family of clairvoyants, leaves her feeling overlooked. But when Blue unexpectedly sees the spirit of a boy named Gansey, who is fated to die within the next year, her aunt tells her this means Gansey is either her true love or that she is destined to kill him. When the living Gansey shows up to Blue’s house for a psychic reading, Blue is inexorably drawn into his orbit of friends from the posh all-boys Aglionby Academy. Intrigued by Gansey’s hunt for a long-lost Welsh king, whom he believes is waiting to be awakened within the forest, Blue aids the group with her knowledge of the ley lines that run through town. As the plot deepens, the group encounters trees that communicate in Latin, birds that manifest from dreams, and forests that can stop time, and they begin to unravel the secrets hidden within their community. Full-color illustrations beautifully capture the magic and mystery of the storyline, which is an adaptation of Stiefvater’s 2012 novel of the same name. Blue and her family are drawn with brown skin, while the boys from Aglionby Academy are white. The condensed format means that some of the characters’ back stories are rushed or occasionally confusing.