More than a year ago it was announced that the beloved Raven Cycle series would be made into a TV show, which led to the fans freaking out. It even surprised the author herself, who did not know that this big secret was ready to be shared with the world. The show will air on the US network, Syfy, and UCP will produce the series—the same team who work on The Magicians. The pilot episode will be directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who is best known for directing the first Twilight movie.
I thought this was still a secret, but I GUESS NOT ANYMORE. https://t.co/TTbPVGdu3Y
— Maggie Stiefvater (@mstiefvater) April 10, 2017
RT if you’re psyched about the Raven Cycle TV show on @SYFY
— Maggie Stiefvater (@mstiefvater) September 22, 2017
Since then, no information was given and the world is waiting for casting announcements, first set pictures, and so on. That being said, the series is definitely still in the works with Stiefvater constantly being asked questions about the series on her social media. You may be asking, what is the story about and why should you read and later watch it? Read on and you will learn why you definitely should!
I’ve been told by psychics my whole life that if I kiss my true love, I’ll kill him.
The Raven Cycle, or often called The Raven Boys by fans, is a book series of four books written by Maggie Stiefvater. The series introduces you to Blue Sargent, a 17-year-old daughter of a psychic mother, and she lives in a house with her two psychic aunts, but has no similar power herself. One day four boys from the all-boys private school called Aglionby Academy, also known as The Raven Boys, walk into Nino’s, the restaurant Blue works in as a waitress to earn money for college.
Blue cannot believe it. One of the boys is destined to die soon. Why does Blue know that? Because she saw his ghost on her latest ghost watch with her aunt. Driven by this, she befriends them and finds out that the group wants to find the sleeping Welsh king Glendower, who they believe is hidden in the magical forest that surrounds their hometown.
The Raven Boys is the first book in the contemporary fantasy series, which was published in 2012. Followed by The Dream Thieves in 2013, Blue Lily, Lily Blue in 2014, and the series finished with The Raven King in 2016.
On March 1st 2018, Stiefvater released an e-book short story about Ronan, one of the boys, and it has been announced that a spin-off trilogy is in the making, which will focus on him.
What makes the books special and unique is the way Stiefvater tells it alongside the placement of the characters. She intertwines myths and creates intriguing characters that I have personally not seen in another stories as of yet.
Let’s take a closer look at the characters!
Fate is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast.
Blue has never had it easy. Being born into a psychic family and having no powers of her own is not easy to handle. But after seeing a boy’s ghost in the cemetery, she does not understand anything anymore. Through helping the boys with their task, Blue finds out that she can amplify the energy of other psychics and supernatural beings. At first she sees all the boys as her friends, but later finds more feelings in her heart for Gansey. But, she cannot ever love him, because she is destined to kill the boy she loves the moment she kisses him.
Wanting to live, but accepting death to save others: that was courage. That was to be Gansey’s greatness.
Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey III, or just Gansey, comes from a wealthy family and almost died seven years ago by a bee sting. After, he recovered from his near death experience he is obsessed with finding the sleeping Welsh King Glendower, who he believes saved his life and who can grant a wish. He is the leader of the Raven Boys and has a big heart for his friends. He cares for each and every one of them and would do anything for them. Among those he loves is also his old Camaro he calles Pig.
I took Chainsaw out of my dreams.
Ronan Lynch is the opposite of Gansey. He has his whole back is covered in tattoos and he is more of an introvert. He didn’t have an easy childhood with his mother in a coma and without a loving father. After his father’s murder, he and his brothers were forbidden to ever enter the house again. Due to this, he can never visit his mother who still resides there. He is called Greywaren by the magical forest surrounding their hometown called Cabeswater. Greywaren describes a person who can take things out of their dreams and that is how he got his Raven Chainsaw. However, Ronan is a character with more than just one secret.
If you never saw the stars, candles were enough.
Adam Parrish is able to attend the private school thanks to a scholarship. He comes from a family with financial problems and lives in a trailer park with his mother and abusive father. Later in the story he is able to press charges against him and move out into an apartment above St. Agnes church. Adam sacrifices his free will to Cabeswater and promises to fix the ley lines and help restore them. Never has he experienced love through his family, but he later finds it when he least expects it.
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.
The last of the Boys, but not the least is Noah Czerny. Noah is the one who in a way needs the others the most, because Noah is dead. He died on the same day as Gansey, but he actually stayed dead. He was used as a sacrifice by his old latin professor to wake up the ley lines and Noah is stuck and needs to be near the ley lines to be seen by the others.
In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their Magic. Their Quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her Raven Boys.
A few spoilers ahead, but the first book obviously introduces all of our characters and gets the story into motion, while the second focuses on Ronan more and his ability. A hitman is after the Greywaren, which happens to be him. Ronans learns more about his family legacy and that he is not the only one who can take things out of his dreams. Because he is exhausts the power of the forest and it disappears. Adam successfully restores the ley lines and the forest comes back. However, they cannot celebrate that, because Blue’s mother disappears.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue focuses on finding Blue’s mother and brings her father into the picture and the final book is packed with one shocking scene after another and ultimately results in finding the Welsh King.
Maggie Stiefvater is the master of unique storytelling. She uses mythology that has not been used often or never and makes her own thing of it.
Cross your fingers that we will see soon the first pictures of an old brick stone warehouse with the name “Monmouth Manufacturing” on it, then you can expect to see diverse characters with realistic development with a deep complex history and sad stories. There are so many details in these four books that could fuel a TV show for a couple of seasons!
So let the stalking begin! Check out Maggie Stiefvater’s website and be sure to start following her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Um, did we read the same books? Ronan had a great childhood, he had a loving mother and father (even being described as his father’s favorite) and two brothers. Things only took a turn for the worst when he was a teenager and his father was murdered and his mother Aurora fell asleep due to her dreamer being dead. It was even emphasized by Gansey that Ronan never lacked love, by his family or friends, not to mention that Ronan genuinely missed living at the barns. Also Whelk wasn’t Noah’s latin teacher, they were both teenagers when Whelk murdered him. He was Gansey, Adam and Ronan’s teacher, not Noah’s. You got quite a few things wrong.
hey um maybe dont put spoilers for the later books… some of the descriptions of the boys are revealed later so why spoil the big secrets right now