David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion

Storm, Rose, and I are starting a buddy read of The Raven Boys on July 23rd!

Everyone is welcome to join. Remember, there is no set number of pages or chapters per day, so you can read at your own pace. People who have already read it can feel free to chime in with your thoughts!

Ohhh, I think I'm reading this sometime this week! I'll definitely post my thoughts :)

Yay @Harlee! So excited for this buddy read @Storm @Daniel!!!

If I can, I may do a reread of this! :)

Maggie portrays characters like a champ. Y'all are in for a treat :)

I'm in!

Yay @Karen!

Yay @Katelyn! Glad to have another reader joining us!

I absolutely love this series! Hope you guys have fun and enjoy it as much as i do!

Starting this today (I'm a slow reader, thought I'd get a bit of a head start).
Page 34.
I wish the author would tell us what all the characters look like. I'm having a tough time visualizing them in my head.
I'm also a bit confused about the world-building, I have a lot of questions.

@Daniel Ohhh, I hate not getting good enough character descriptions. Hopefully it's provided soon!

Harlee wrote: "@Daniel Ohhh, I hate not getting good enough character descriptions. Hopefully it's provided soon!"

It's coming now, Harlee.

I'm still a bit confused- this is a strange book.
Having difficulty getting immersed in the world.

Daniel wrote: "I'm still a bit confused- this is a strange book.
Having difficulty getting immersed in the world."

It is strange, and honestly only get's stranger. The pace of the book also feels just a bit slow throughout. It took me a while to get into it, but by the end it was an easy 5-star for me. Absolutely loved it.

That's not to say I think you'll love it as much as I did, only that it is a different, imo, refreshing kind of read and I think you'll end up appreciating it by the end :)

Tommy wrote: "Daniel wrote: "I'm still a bit confused- this is a strange book.
Having difficulty getting immersed in the world."

It is strange, and honestly only get's stranger. The pace of the book also feels ..."

I hope it's strange in the good way. :)

Daniel wrote: "I hope it's strange in the good way. :)"

To me, yes, it was an absolutely good and welcome strange haha. And I like the next book even more :0D

Page 157.
I've got a good idea of what the characters look like now, but I'm still very much confused at the setting and plot...
Hopefully they answer some of my questions soon.

Love this series! I get what you mean, Daniel––the plot is a little confusing. I had to re-read the first book after reading the second one (and then I also re-read the second one, haha) and I think it all makes a bit more sense when you have a broader scope of the story. There are a few little things I still don't quite understand, though. Mostly I just love the characters a lot. :D

I haven't started yet, had stuff to take care of during the weekend and part of the week. Just felt too tired to read. Gonna try to start it today.

I definitely agree about it being confusing -- I find this entire series to be maddeningly vague, like I'm looking through fogged glass or something, and then the end comes and Maggie pulls a killer cliffhanger and I'm just *grabby hands* for the next one. She makes me such a sucker lol.

Halfway through the book, and it's still a little blah for me, just because it's so vague and confusing. I'm the type of reader who likes to know at least something, so this book is tough for me.
There's potential in the characters, but I'm not hooked yet.

Ashley *Hufflepuff Kitten* wrote: "I definitely agree about it being confusing -- I find this entire series to be maddeningly vague, like I'm looking through fogged glass or something, and then the end comes and Maggie pulls a kille..."

That's kind of the same feeling I have right now.
I've been so confused throughout the book, but now, about 90% through, I'm really hooked and want to know what happens. Can't wait to finish and go to the next one.

I think I like it now because (view spoiler)[ the book has a good direction- I can finally see where it's going to take us. Also, the characters are getting easier to root for- the scene with Adam and his dad just broke me. (hide spoiler)]

I'm just now having some time to get further into it. I'm only on page 19 so far haha

Harlee wrote: "I'm just now having some time to get further into it. I'm only on page 19 so far haha"

Hope you can get into it some more soon!

I'm getting ready to keep reading, I'm really getting into it! I'm so curious about so many things!

I think I'll finish tonight.
Harlee, it's definitely a book that poses a lot of questions.

I got into the book from the jump, but my GF, who was more excited for it initially, took well over half the book. By the end she loved it. Even though I didn't experience that, I can see how it would happen. It's not a book that grabs you by the throat and demands your attention, but god, I love the characters so much.

I'm curious to see your guys' thoughts on book 2 already, so far my favorite in the series.

I'm at 174 now. I am literally full of questions but not in a bad way. I'm surprised I've gotten so hooked on this so quickly. I've been reading it pretty much all day!

Tommy wrote: "I got into the book from the jump, but my GF, who was more excited for it initially, took well over half the book. By the end she loved it. Even though I didn't experience that, I can see how it wo..."

Tommy, it took me a long while to really get used to the setting and to like the characters.
(view spoiler)[ But I think now I do.
Adam is amazing- he's quickly becoming my favourite character in the book. So brave, sweet, and I admire his desire to be independent.
Ronan is quite a character, and he has his ups and downs, but when he came back to save Adam from his dad, I got choked up.
Gansey weirded me out at first with his infatuation with the search, but I love his loyalty to his friends.
Noah... Well, I don't know what to feel about him now that I know he's a ghost. LOL
To be honest, Blue is kind of meh to me. The boys are what make this book very interesting. (hide spoiler)]

Harlee wrote: "I'm at 174 now. I am literally full of questions but not in a bad way. I'm surprised I've gotten so hooked on this so quickly. I've been reading it pretty much all day!"

Harlee, I'm glad you like it already! It took me ages to get hooked.

Daniel wrote: "Harlee wrote: "I'm at 174 now. I am literally full of questions but not in a bad way. I'm surprised I've gotten so hooked on this so quickly. I've been reading it pretty much all day!"

Harlee, I'm..."

(view spoiler)[It was the boys for me as well That Noah part got me like WHUH? haha. The Ronan/Adam part was absolutely awesome. I think that's where I went from liking it to loving it. (hide spoiler)]

Hi everyone! I'm a huge fan of this series.

In the first book, I also was in love with the boys, and just thought Blue was meh also. I didn't get her importance to the whole thing. And Adam was my fave character in the first one, followed by Noah.

The second book, I didn't like Adam quite as much, but I really started to see the appeal of Gansey, and WOW Ronan completely blindsided me, and he's now easily my fave character of the group.

By the end of the 3rd book, Ronan, Gansey, and Blue are my fave characters of the group. SO MUCH happens in books 2 & 3, you won't even believe it!!

Interesting, Jenny.
I'll have to see if my opinions on the characters change if I read the sequel.

I don't agree with Jenny's order of favorites, but yeah, my character preference jumped around a lot. It's my favorite thing about the series, honestly.

The characters are my fave part of the series, too. I also love the setting, the mysteries, and mystical, and the plot twists.

Page 277- *GASP* (view spoiler)[ I suspected that the skeleton they found was Czerny and I've been thinking Noah is some kind of ghost this whole time but I definitely didn't think they were the SAME PERSON. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

I know right, Harlee?? SHOCKER!

I'm stopping for tonight on page 310. I started this book on chapter one and in ONE DAY I've read 300 pages! :D

Harlee wrote: "I'm stopping for tonight on page 310. I started this book on chapter one and in ONE DAY I've read 300 pages! :D"

That's awesome Harlee.
I'm going to try and finish this now.

I'll definitely finish this sometime today.

I finished this last night- 2.5 stars for me.
I liked it a lot when I knew what was going on and saw the direction of the book.
But unfortunately, I was way too confused most of the time about what was going on to enjoy it. The beginning and the end of the book were really confusing for me.
There's a lot of potential with the characters, though, so I may read the second one.
Full review coming eventually.

I just finished it now. I flew through reading it and I really enjoyed the characters, but the end was a bit lackluster to me. Well, I mean besides the last sentence. Ronan just casually throwing that crazy tidbit of information out there.

Harlee wrote: "I just finished it now. I flew through reading it and I really enjoyed the characters, but the end was a bit lackluster to me. Well, I mean besides the last sentence. Ronan just casually throwing t..."

I didn't enjoy the end either, I thought it was too strange and hard to understand. (That's what I felt about the whole book)

Alright I haven't started this one... I feel bad but I've been in kind of a slump lately. XD; I haven't really wanted to start anything past what I already got started.

Daniel wrote: "Harlee wrote: "I just finished it now. I flew through reading it and I really enjoyed the characters, but the end was a bit lackluster to me. Well, I mean besides the last sentence. Ronan just casu..."

Surprisingly I wasn't too confused by the book. I was more curious than anything else. I kind of just went along for the ride. I'm conflicted on how I feel about it though. I thought I was loving it but while writing my review I realized I don't feel a deep connection to it. I'm kind of empty after finishing it, and not in that completely blown away and emotional kind of way.

I'm sorry this book wasn't for you guys what it was for me. I will say if you enjoyed it at all and are considering the second book, do pick it up. That's where the series peaked for me and if you feel this way after that one, it might be worth just dropping the series. But Dream Thieves is one of my favorite books I've ever read.

Storm wrote: "Alright I haven't started this one... I feel bad but I've been in kind of a slump lately. XD; I haven't really wanted to start anything past what I already got started."

That's ok Storm, no rush.

Harlee wrote: "Daniel wrote: "Harlee wrote: "I just finished it now. I flew through reading it and I really enjoyed the characters, but the end was a bit lackluster to me. Well, I mean besides the last sentence. ..."

Interesting. Is there a possible reason for the lack of connection? I only felt that way because I was confused for the majority of the book, but I wonder what caused that for you.

Tommy wrote: "I'm sorry this book wasn't for you guys what it was for me. I will say if you enjoyed it at all and are considering the second book, do pick it up. That's where the series peaked for me and if you ..."

I'll think about it, Tommy. I've heard good things about the second one.

I don't know! I think I need a bit more time to process it. I'm definitely going to read the next one though. I've heard it really focuses on Ronan and he was my favorite character! :)

Each book so far, while very "ensemble", to me, felt like a different person's. The first was Adam's, the second was Ronan's(and it really changed my viewpoint on him), and then next was Blue's. I'm taking a leap and assuming the next and last book will be mostly Gansey's.