56 pages • 1 hour read
Maggie StiefvaterThe Raven Boys
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Series Context: The Raven Cycle
The Raven Boys is the first installment of the Raven Cycle series, followed by The Dream Thieves (2013), Blue Lily, Lily Blue (2014), and The Raven King (2016). As the introduction to the world and story, The Raven Boys brings the titular boys into contact with the supernatural world via Blue and the ley line, and elements such as the prophecy surrounding Blue’s kiss and the search for King Glendower are continued through the rest of the books. The love triangle between Blue, Gansey, and Adam is also explored, backdropped by the consequences Blue’s kiss will bring. Secondary characters in The Raven Boys, such as Blue’s mother, Calla, and Persephone, play larger roles as the series continues, and the supernatural elements become a larger force against which the group must work.
While The Raven Boys focuses primarily on Blue and her new role amid the Aglionby boys, the other books follow different characters along their unfolding journeys. The Dream Thieves centers around Ronan and the secret that killed his father—that he could make objects from dreams real, an ability that Ronan shares. The second installment sees this ability nearly destroying the ley line and helps Ronan overcome his self-loathing to set magic right again. It also builds up the role Blue’s mother and the other psychics play so that they may be brought into greater prominence in Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Rather than a continuous tale with an overarching plotline, the third installment reads more like vignettes with different characters experiencing conflicts (internal or external) that help them grow and overcome obstacles. Many new characters are introduced, and the novel ends with several questions left to be answered in The Raven King. In the fourth installment, dreams and reality converge as the group searches for Glendower and fights to save the ley line. Romances between Blue and Gansey and Ronan and Adam blossom as Adam loses himself since he’s connected to the ley line after his sacrifice in The Raven Boys. Books one and four of the series are primarily concerned with Glendower, and the middle two installments offer roadblocks on the group’s journey to wake the king.
Historical Context: Welsh Mythology and History
The Raven Boys draws from both Welsh myth and history as the backdrop for the search for Glendower. Owen Glendower—an Anglicized version of Owain Glyndwr, c. 1354-1451—was a Welsh soldier who led a revolt to end English rule in Wales. After rising to Prince of Wales and later being dethroned, Glendower went into hiding, where the circumstances around his death remain uncertain. His followers believed he would rise again when he was needed, thus immortalizing him as a sleeping king, much like the tale of King Arthur. The Raven Boys uses this mythological basis to bring Glendower’s story into the modern day. Maggie Stiefvater has Glendower’s grave moved along ley lines to the United States, where he was again laid to rest until he is needed. She created the concept of Glendower granting a wish to whoever wakes him, thus motivating Gansey, Adam, and other characters to find his grave.
The Raven Boys also incorporates Welsh magic. Ley lines are lines of spiritual power that were believed to have connected structures of historical importance across Britain. The theory of ley lines was first presented in 1846 and gained different levels of traction throughout the 1900s. Despite the popularity of ley lines, though, many of their theories rely on linking structures that were built at different points in history, meaning it is unlikely that the structures were intentionally placed along lines of importance. Stiefvater has the ley line in the story run through a church, as ley lines in Britain were believed to do, but puts more focus on the ley line properties rather than what it might connect. She also links the ley line to Glendower through depictions of ravens, the bird associated with Glendower in myth.
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