History Literature / TheRavenCycle

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The series is written by Creator/MaggieStiefvater and is four books long. The first book in the series, ''The Raven Boys'', was released September 18, 2012. The second book, ''The Dream Thieves'', was released September 17, 2013. The third, ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue'', was released October 21, 2014. The fourth, ''The Raven King'', was originally scheduled to be released on September 29, 2015, [[ReleaseDateChange but was pushed back to April 26, 2016]] in order to give Maggie Stiefvater more time to edit. The series is being adapted into a television show produced by Catherine Hardwicke, and a sequel trilogy focused primarily on Ronan is currently being written, although no publication date has been announced.

The series is written by Maggie Stiefvater and is four books long. The first book in the series, ''The Raven Boys'', was released September 18, 2012. The second book, ''The Dream Thieves'', was released September 17, 2013. The third, ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue'', was released October 21, 2014. The fourth, ''The Raven King'', was originally scheduled to be released on September 29, 2015, [[ReleaseDateChange but was pushed back to April 26, 2016]] in order to give Maggie Stiefvater more time to edit. The series is being adapted into a television show produced by Catherine Hardwicke, and a sequel trilogy focused primarily on Ronan is currently being written, although no publication date has been announced.

* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Adam and Ronan are the Cynics, Blue is the Optimist, Gansey is the Realist, and Noah is the Conflicted. And in ''The Raven King'', Henry and [[spoiler: Orphan Girl]] serve as the Apathetic.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Whenever Ronan is calm/quiet for longer than a few minutes, it becomes concerning.

* ShoutOut: Besides the obvious raven motif, Ronan's dream of Adam wearing the mask in ''The Dream Thieves'' is reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death.

* InsistedAppellation: Gansey just ''likes'' to call Blue "Jane", which soon turns into an AffectionateNickname. It also becomes an AppropriatedAppellation on Blue's part when she introduces herself to Roger Malory, who apparently considers "Blue" too ridiculous a name to be her name at all.

* CreepyCrows: Some of the motifs in the books. Also Ronan's night horrors, though they're described as monstrous crow-men rather than just giant crows.

* EvilTeacher: Whelk,and later, Colin Greenmantle.

The series is written by Maggie Stiefvater and is four books long. The first book in the series, ''The Raven Boys'', was released September 18, 2012. The second book, ''The Dream Thieves'', was released September 17, 2013. The third, ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue'', was released October 21, 2014. The fourth, ''The Raven King'', was originally scheduled to be released in September 29, 2015, [[ReleaseDateChange but was pushed back to April 26, 2016]] in order to give Maggie Stiefvater more time to edit. The series is being adapted into a television show produced by Catherine Hardwicke, and a sequel trilogy focused primarily on Ronan is currently being written, although no publication date has been announced.

** Being surrounded by psychics your whole life can give a person mixed feelings on destiny.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her [[{{Seers}} clairvoyant]] mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Gansey is different. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been told by her psychic family that she will kill her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

* MeaningfulName: Ronan's mother is named [[spoiler: Aurora, like the princess in Sleeping Beauty. In ''The Dream Thieves'', it's revealed that Aurora Lynch was created by Ronan's father, and became catatonic after his death. She is "asleep" unless in Cabeswater.]]

* NonPOVProtagonist: For being part of the main crew, Noah is absent for much of the series and conspicuously lacks a [=POV=] chapter. [[spoiler:At least, until the antepenultimate chapter of ''The Raven King''.]]

* SwitchingPOV: While written in third-person, each chapter centers around a specific character's thoughts and experiences. The first three books alternate between Blue, Gansey, Adam, Ronan[[labelnote:*]]only in ''The Dream Thieves''[[/labelnote]] and the antagonist-of-the-book, while ''The Raven King'' contains no less than ''eighteen'' different [=POVs=].

** In ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue,'' the Gray Man is afraid of [[spoiler: Blue getting hurt or killed, as he's come to care for her like his own daughter.]]
* TheAllegedCar: The "Hondayota" that Gansey's family [[spoiler: buys for Adam]] in ''The Dream Thieves''. It's apparently made up of parts from at least three different cars, all of them different colors and, judging by the name, probably different makers too.

* AliensInCardiff: Ancient dead Welsh king in Henrietta, Virginia

** Although, [[spoiler: In "The Raven King" Gansey figures out he can magically command certain things to happen.]]

* BeeAfraid: In Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the gang goes in an very dark, very deep cave. The atmosphere is clostrophobic and anxiety inducing enough, but Gansey, who is deathly allergic to bees (he even died as a child because of hornet stungs and suffers PTSD after his death), hears and feels hornets way too close to him for comfort.

** The real BilingualBonus is that ''he sucks''. Stiefvater has mentioned that only two characters in the series actually speak good Latin. [[spoiler:Turns out that the bad Latin is actually [[{{Foreshadowing}} a way to tell who and what has been dreamed up by Ronan, and thus speaks it as badly as he does]].]]
* BiTheWay: [[spoiler: Adam, and possibly Kavinsky.]]

* CoolCar: Gansey's Camaro, Ronan's [[spoiler: father's dreamed]] shark-nosed BMW and Henry's electric Fisker. Kavinsky's Evo with the knife decal, and some of the cars driven by members of his "dream pack".

* CreepyCrows: Some of the motifs in the books. Also, the Night Terrors.

* DestructiveRomance: ZigZagged with Ronan and Kavinsky. While definitely written like a DomesticAbuse scenario, they're not actually in a relationship, both are closeted for most of ''The Dream Thieves'', and Ronan ultimately rejects Kavinsky. However, there's still a strong romantic/sexual undercurrent to their relationship, which is what makes Kavinsky's behavior escalate from drugging, stalking, and abuse to outright [[spoiler: kidnapping and attempted murder]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Grey Man is a remorseless professional killer, but he draws the line at [[spoiler: kidnapping a minor to be turned over for who-knows-what purposes- that could include killing or torture- as part of his HeelFaceTurn]].
* EvilTeacher: Whelk. [[spoiler: Later, Greenmantle.]]

* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Adam and Ronan are the Cynics, Blue is the Optimist, Gansey is the Realist, and Noah is the Conflicted. [[spoiler: And in ''The Raven King'', Henry and Opal serve as the Apathetic.]]

* LastNameBasis: Gansey. His full name--Richard Campbell Gansey III--is rather pretentious on it's own, but combined with the fact that in his name is shortened to "Dick", he has a good reason to insist on his last name.

* LeyLine: these play a key role in Gansey's search.
* LoveDodecahedron: Kavinsky is attracted to Ronan. Ronan is initially unattached, [[spoiler: but eventually realizes he likes Adam.]] Adam likes Blue, but also [[spoiler: returns Ronan's feelings]]. Blue initially likes Adam, but in ''The Dream Thieves'' reveals herself to be more fond of Gansey. Gansey is married to the search for Glendower, but is attracted to Blue as well. Blue also kisses Noah, who so far no one is interested in romantically.
** Kavinsky is also convinced [[spoiler: Ronan/Gansey is another point of the Dodecahedron.]]
* MeaningfulName: Ronan's mother is named [[spoiler: Aurora, like the princess in Sleeping Beauty. In The Dream Thieves, it's revealed that Aurora Lynch was created by Ronan's father, and became catatonic after his death. She is "asleep" unless in Cabeswater.]]
* MistakenForRomance: [[spoiler: Kavinsky thinks that Ronan's devotion to Gansey must be romantic (or at least sexual). In reality, Gansey [[LikeBrotherAndSister is like a brother to him]].]]

** To a lesser degree, Ronan in ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue''. He is seen primarily through Adam's point-of-view.

** Played straight with The Gray Man. [[spoiler: For the most part. Greenmantle]] learns his real name and reveals it to the readers, but none of the other characters know.

* {{Psychopomp}}: Orphan Girl

* RelationshipUpgrade: In ''The Dream Thieves'', Blue and Gansey have a miniature version of one when they finally admit that they like each other and start their tradition of romantic late night drives, which are basically secret, unofficial dates. Happens again in ''The Raven King'', when [[spoiler: they finally admit their relationship to Ronan and Adam and officially start dating, though Adam is angry that they never even gave him a chance to be okay with it and just assumed that he wouldn't be.]]
** [[spoiler: Ronan and Adam]] also go through this in ''The Raven King'', with [[spoiler: Ronan finally making an actual, non-mixtape-or-lotion move, and Adam coming to understand that he's in love with Ronan. The epilogue, set about 8 months later, establishes that they're still dating and, it's implied, are in a fairly serious relationship and may even be living together.]]

* ScrewDestiny: Blue tries to take this approach with her love life. [[spoiler: Key word here being ''tries''.]]

** Blue/Noah is also teased in ''The Dream Thieves'' when [[spoiler: they make out, after which Noah says he'd ask Blue out if he was alive and she says she would say yes.]]
* ShoutOut: Besides the obvious raven motif, Ronan's dream of Adam wearing the mask in TDT is reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death.

* StraightGay: In the second book [[spoiler: we find out Ronan Lynch is gay.]] It's implied that [[spoiler: Kavinsky is queer as well.]]

* TeamPet: Chainsaw.
* TheTeamBenefactor: Gansey, duh.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Adam in ''The Dream Thieves'', as a result of the trauma from his father's abuse and [[spoiler: his sacrifice at the end of ''The Raven Boys'']]. He gets nicer again by the end of the book.

** Blue herself has this reaction in ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue'' when she finds out that [[spoiler: her aura is blue. She wonders if it's like naming a dog Spot.]]

** Ronan rarely calls Adam by his first name [[spoiler: outside of his dreams]], and when he does it's typically at a pivotal moment.

* SwitchingPOV: While written in third-person, each chapter centers around a specific character's thoughts and experiences. The first three books alternate between Blue, Gansey, Adam, Ronan[[labelnote:*]]except in ''Blue Lily, Lily Blue''[[/labelnote]] and the antagonist-of-the-book, while ''The Raven King'' contains no less than ''eighteen'' different [=POVs=].