The Raven Boys

Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics and has been told all her life that if she kisses her true love, he will die. At the St. Mark's Eve vigil, she sees the spirit of Gansey, an Aglionby Academy student, a sign he will die within the year or is her true love. Blue joins Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah in hunting for Glendower, a Welsh king buried on a ley line near Henrietta. They find Cabeswater, a magic forest outside of time, and learn that Noah is a ghost, murdered seven years earlier by their teacher Whelk. Whelk attempts a ritual and ends up dead. Adam, beaten by his father, offers himself to Cabeswater. At the end, Ronan reveals he can take things out of his dreams.

1. Behind the scenesTen years in a drawer

   Stiefvater wrote the first draft at 19 and called it a disaster. She said she sat on that draft for a decade before going back to it.

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2. Behind the scenesFrom Wales to Virginia

   She wanted the Welsh legend of sleeping kings in a Virginia story. She checked a map and found a ley line running from Wales to Virginia.

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3. Behind the scenesThe Pig is real

   Gansey's orange 1973 Camaro, the Pig, is based on the author's own vintage Camaro.

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4. ReferenceThe show that never happened

   A TV series with Catherine Hardwicke directing was announced in 2017. The author wrote the pilot in 2019, but said in 2020 that production had stopped. In 2025 the book became a graphic novel.

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5. SetupAll planned out

   Stiefvater had all four titles and plots before she sold the first book. She says she leaves little clues along the way. Watch the details.

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