Sonder 🌕Moon Marked🌕

Blue Sargent: The FMC, raised in an all-women family of psychics (300 Fox Way), lower middle class (this comes back!!) “Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she'd been told that she would kill her true love.” Richard “Gansey” Campbell Gansey III: (the actual LOML) wealthy, rich, it-girl, super charismatic, all great words to describe Gansey. He is obsessed with his quest to find Glendower (a dead Welsh king) and is destined to die sometime in the next 12 months. "I heard a voice. It was a whisper. I won't forget what it said” (this will come back!) Adam Parrish (<333): POOR. He got into Aglionby Academy (the school all the boys go to) on a scholarship and struggles deeply with both his financial situation and his home life. His father is abusive and annoying, and his mom won't STAND up. Adam is so smart and I love him, but he can be so annoying. “He was a magpie of possibilities, a hoarder of potential.” Ronan Lynch: Emo. His dad was killed a few years ago (like 2ish?) and Ronan was the one who found the body (!!?). I think what you might imagine that doing to a person definitely happened. He's kinda violent, school skipper, hard metal listener, got a buzzcut. Ronan is a Dreamer (Graywaren), which means that he has the ability to pull things out of his dreams! “If it has a Social Security number, Ronan had fought with it.” Noah Czerny: An unproblematic icon (for now!) described as quiet and observant, smudgly, and “ghost-like” (I wonder why!?) “I’ve been dead for seven years, that’s as warm as they get.” The book starts with Blue. We learn that she is from a family of psychics but doesn't possess any powers herself. She is, however, an “amplifier” where she can make other people's powers stronger/more clear. We open up the prologue on St. Mark's Eve, which is a holiday where Blue and her mother, Maura, usually go to this abandoned church (?? building) and take names of the spirits walking by (must be noted, the spirits there are of people that were both born in Henrietta, Virginia, and are going to die in the next 12 months). This year is different because Blue is going with her recently arrived step-aunt, Neeve. Typically, Blue cannot see the spirits walking by; she is just there to talk names and amplify others' powers. However, this year she saw a boy in an Aglionby uniform. She asked his name, and he said “Gansey.” She asked if that was it, and he said, “That's all there is.” After St. Mark's, Blue goes home and asks why she was able to see Gansey. She was told, “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.” This fits perfectly with the prophecy she has been told her entire life: that she would kill her true love when she kissed them. Skip to the boys. Gansey has this old, bright orange Camaro that breaks down all the time and is super loud, affectionately called “the pig.” The pig broke down on the side of the road, and Gansey had to call Ronan to bring Adam to come look at it (Adam works part-time as a mechanic, so he's good at this stuff). When Ronan and Adam arrive, Adam is on the phone with Declan (Ronan’s older brother) (because Ronan hates phone bro; he will not pick up!). Declan wants to meet up at Nino at 5 tonight (a pizza place). Gansey has a tape recording from the event of St. Mark's Eve. He said he was traveling along the path, hadn't said anything all night, yet when he relistened to the tape, he could hear Blue and Gansey's interaction from the night very slightly. Adam gets out of the car and hands Gansey the food and says, “‘Ronan got it,’ Adam said. In matters of money, he was quick to assign credit or blame.” You'll never guess who works at Nino’sthat’s right! BLUE! Anyways, the boys (Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah) all go to Nino’s, and this is where everyone meets! Gansey is on the phone while he walks up to the register and gestures to Blue that there were 4 people in his party rather than letting someone else speak or getting off the phone for a second. This really rubs Blue the wrong way; she already doesn't like Aglionby/Raven (the mascot) boys because they are all rich and entitled and just kind of the scum of the earth. So Gansey literally just being Gansey isn't helping his case. Sometime throughout their dinner, Adam mentions that he thinks Blue is cute. Gansey encourages him to go talk to her, but he is not about that. Gansey ends up getting up to talk to Blue for Adam, and he asks her to join them for dinner. She replies that she is working and therefore could not. Gansey then says that he would pay her what she would be making to join them, which leads Blue to yell out, and I quote, “I’M NOT A PROSTITUTE.” So yeah, that didn't go very well. Declan gets there with his new girlfriend, Ashley. One thing leads to another, and Declan and Ronan are outside physically fighting each other: like pouches were thrown, people were thrown, not very pretty, not very healthy, smh. Idk, Blue ends up walking home from work and kinda runs into Adam, and he just seems different from the other Raven boys, more human, down to earth. Anyways, Blue goes home and talks with her mom (Maura), Calla, and Persephone. They are super anti-Blue being involved with the Raven boys, which kinda makes her want to do it more. Gansey is falling deep into his Glendower era; he's obsessed, multiple notebooks stuffed, maps, murder-board type level of commitment. Anywho, Gansey invites Blue to go on one of their hunts/adventure things, right? And a lot happens here: Gansey's sister (Helen) just casually has a helicopter and a flying license. We get the famous “Safe as life” quote. Blue asks if the helicopter was safe, and Gansey replies, “Safe as life.” Beautiful!! Amazing! Gansey refuses to call Blue “Blue” (which is her legal name, btw), instead choosing to call her Jane. Kinda weird, actually. Blue’s not a big fan and is like, “You can't just change people’s names because you don't like them.” His only response is that there is nothing wrong with the name Blue, and he never said he didn't like it. So yeah? Last but super not least, they are fighting/talking/bickering about something, and Gansey (who is still in the front seat) is speaking over the headsets to Adam and Ronan. He said, “I need you to be straight with me” (or something like that). Ronan replied, “I'm always straight,” and Adam said, and I quote, “Oh man, that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told.” Gold, actually. One of the best scenes ever. So much happened, so little happened. I think time might have stopped for a little bit here, not super sure. This happens a lot (like actual linear time, yeah, Cabeswater’s just like that). Cabeswater is the name of the magic/ley line, forest-place thing. "Cabeswater isn’t just a forest, it’s a magical place where time and reality don’t always behave normally, and it subtly affects anyone who enters." Drama! So this Glendower thing is like Gansey’s, right? Adam and Ronan (and Noah and Blue) are kinda just along for the ride, a little reluctantly (they are all without fathers). During their time here visiting Cabeswater, Adam goes into a tree and sees Gansey dying. He is convinced that this is a glimpse into the future. This idea then leads him to start kinda making the Glendower thing HIS thing. It is said that when you find and wake Glendower, he will owe you a favor. Adam wants to find him so he can wish back Gansey's life. Idk, he doesn't want him to die. But yeah, dynamics and drama and stuff. Also, Blue and Adam are kinda dating-ish. Gansey’s actually not loving this. Gansey just loves his boys so much, he doesn't like the change (not that he doesn't like Blue; he just doesn't want Blue and Adam together). There is a line that says, “If Adam was stupid about his pride, then Gansey was stupid about Adam,” and I really think that sums up a lot that is going on. Yeah, Gansey is stupid about Adam, and it shows. His platonic guy pal. Ok, we are jumping plot lines a bit here, and I'm going to introduce Barrington Whelk. He is 24 and the Latin teacher at Aglionby. We find out that he used to be super rich and cool and go to Aglionby. He was like the top of the top, you know, like rich kid stuff (idk). Anyways, then his dad was committing tax fraud or something, and he lost everything: his money, his reputation, friends, etc. Yeah, and during this time he only had one real friend that stayed by his side even after he lost everything, Noah. Whelk turned to Glendower. He was desperate for the wish he thought he was going to get. And there is something else I need to tell you: everything about the ley line is like give and get, you know? Everything has to be even and fair. And something that is recurring in our story here is a life for a life. (This is gonna get crazy, guys.) So Whelk takes his best friend Noah out to the woods (on the ley line, in Cabeswater) and smashes his head in with a skateboard!! (Hello!?! This is more crazy when you (re)read because Noah is LITERALLY all that he has.) Ok, this is where we connect back to the boys: 7 years ago, Gansey was playing hide and seek in the woods (ON THE LEY LINE!!) when he stepped on a hornet's nest and was stung to death. Then he claimed to hear a voice: "I heard a voice. It was a whisper. I won't forget what it said” (I told you). It said, “You will live because of Glendower. Someone else on the ley line is dying when they should not, and so you will live when you should not.” He came back to life with only the memory of this whisper in his ear. (Omg, the way he described getting stung to death was actually one of the worst things ever. He was like, “They were in my hair. They were in my ears, Blue.” Actually horrific.) But yeah! Killing Noah didn’t work (waking up the ley line). I really don’t think anything came from that; he is still a washed-up, broke loser, who is highkey jealous of little boys. Whelk is meant to be this parallel of Gansey, but like evil and cruel and rotten almost. So yeah, Gansey LOVES to talk about Glendower and the ley line and whatnot, and Whelk happens to overhear (this did lead him to break into Gansey’s locker, like that is such a weird thing to do!!) and he gets desperate. He wants another shot at power, even though literally everyone can see this man should not be trusted with so much as a toaster. He tries to kidnap Blue to use her in a ritual (WEIRD), but the ley line is not here for him. Cabeswater basically says you tried it and sets a magical herd of ghostly creatures on him. Whelk gets trampled to death. Bye-bye, Mr. Whelk, no one will miss you! (It honestly just went too fast and was a little confusing for you to really form any positive opinion of him ) (OMG, he did like pull a gun on Gansey at one point!! Yeah, so like Gansey’s car broke down (WHO’S SHOCKED!?!) in the middle of the night on the side of the road, and guess who comes rolling down the road? His teacher. He’s like, “Hey!” A little awkward; I mean, how would you react to seeing your teacher in this situation?) Then Whelk pulls a gun on Gansey and forces him to give him his notebook (freaking weird man) (his Glendower notebook, to be clear), and then Gansey punches the gun out of his hand (breaks his own finger), then hides on the other side of his car. (Super weird scene, but it’s kinda fun, ya know?!) Great! Now I have one last little piece to give you and hopefully sum everything up and convince you to read this masterpiece! Neeve (remember her?) the weird psychic aunt. She was obsessed with the ley line’s power, wanting to use it for herself. That’s why she was always meddling, cryptic, and sneaking around (kinda just being an overall freak). And Whelk, who on the other hand, was desperate. After his failed attempt 7 years ago to make his sacrifice work (Noah :(( ), he lost everything: money, status, future (haha). He saw the ley line as his last chance to matter again (he wants to be Gansey so bad). Both Neeve and Whelk wanted the same thing, though for different reasons: Neeve wanted power and knowledge while Whelk wanted redemption and control. They end up meeting (idk how) and decide to try and wake the ley line together. I mean, the boys (+Blue) (and 300 Fox Way) know about someone’s attempts to wake the ley line. This is not good. This would severely disturb the balance of everything, so they are not big fans of the idea. But they have come to the conclusion that there is nothing they could do about it, just hope it doesn’t happen. But my pragmatic icon Adam Parrish doesn’t play that shit, man. He steals Gansey’s car (this does come back, and I love that for them) and pulls up to the ritual site. Neeve has Whelk all tied up (she turned on him!!). They need a sacrifice for the ritual to work, and since Whelk already lost his “murder virginity,” he can’t murder again, and it has to have the same effect, you need to be losing something (i.e., SACRIFICE?). Yeah, and Neeve knew this, which meant she was planning on turning on Whelk the whole time!! (Omg, she’s crazy, guys.) Ok, back to Adam (<33). He was feeling a little bit powerless compared to Gansey’s wealth, Blue’s family’s gifts, and Ronan’s dream magic. He wanted to have some control over his own fate. So he sacrifices himself to the ley line, not the same way as Whelk. Adam offers his free will, binding himself as the line’s hands and eyes. “On his terms, or not at all. I will be your hands, I will be your eyes.” Crazy stuff. During this (maybe a little before), everyone else shows up: Gansey, Ronan (idk about Noah?), Blue, 300 Fox Way women (<333), and they watch Adam sacrifice himself to Cabeswater/Ley Line. Neeve disappears, and Whelk totally dies. That’s pretty much it! Thank you for reading all that. It was super fun for me to see what I remembered from memory! The book truly is such a great time, I could never do it justice, I’m just trying to give the general plot breakdown. I hope this inspired you to read such great books!! Thank you again. Love you!! Overall, I would give this book (The Raven Boys) 3.5/5 stars. I really do love this book, but I had to read it twice to actually understand what was happening. This is a trend throughout this series, but the magic system will actually never make sense, and that is something we just have to live with. But overall, the plot is thick, the characters are great, and I really love the Raven boys <33 (Another note that doesn’t make sense without TDT: This book rushes through Adam’s character so much. I think when at the end we get his sacrifice and he is “changed,” I feel like we never actually knew him. I think that part is a little messy and could use some work, but really it’s so small and easy to move past, because after a while he “changes back” and goes back to the old Adam whom we know and love (ig?).)