The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater, 2012
Fantasy Young adultRomanceHorror
A girl from a family of psychics falls in with four prep-school boys hunting a dead Welsh king in the Virginia woods. Witty, headlong and a little haunted, full of back-road Virginia atmosphere and a longing that catches you off guard between jokes.
Feels like wonder and longing. About friendship, love and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy friend groups that bicker and bind, psychic families treated matter-of-factly, and magic that arrives in glimpses rather than fireworks. Be warned that the hunt for the Welsh king unspools slowly and leaves much unresolved, since this is only the first of four books.
Why read it
Read it for the company: four boys, one girl, and a search that gives the ordinary woods a charge. It is a good place to start if you want atmosphere and friendship more than battle scenes.
A page from the book
Why the fullest love can feel, from the inside, like grief.
She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness. Maggie Stiefvater.Stiefvater lives in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley; Henrietta's kudzu, back roads and church signs are drawn from the landscape around her.
Books that feel like this
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- Is The Raven Boys for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy friend groups that bicker and bind, psychic families treated matter-of-factly, and magic that arrives in glimpses rather than fireworks. Be warned that the hunt for the Welsh king unspools slowly and leaves much unresolved, since this is only the first of four books.
- What is The Raven Boys like?
- Witty, headlong and a little haunted, full of back-road Virginia atmosphere and a longing that catches you off guard between jokes. Feels like wonder and longing. About friendship, love and freedom.
- What should I read after The Raven Boys?
- If you liked The Raven Boys, try Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling), House of Flame and Shadow (Sarah J. Maas) and Happy Place (Emily Henry).
A taste of the feed
The courage nobody applauds is the kind you spend on a friend.
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone · J.K. Rowling
What would you promise if this life were not the last one?
I love you. I fell in love with you in the depths of my soul, and it’s my soul that will find yours again in the next life.
House of Flame and Shadow · Sarah J. Maas
How a friendship quietly becomes the person you can't unlove.
He’s become my best friend the way the others did. Bit by bit, sand passing through an hour glass so slowly, it’s impossible to pin down the moment it happens. When suddenly, more of my heart belongs to him than doesn’t, and I know I’ll never get a single grain back.
Happy Place · Emily Henry
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed