In Maggie Stiefvater's (Shiver; The Scorpio Races) spellbinding novel, the first in a planned quartet, she once again carves out new territory. Sixteen-year-old Blue has been raised by Maura, her mother, and her chosen tribe of fellow psychics. They have all made the same prediction: "If Blue was to kiss her true love, he would die."
Blue cannot detect what the psychics can, but her presence makes their gifts stronger. Their hometown of Henrietta, Va., is situated on a ley line (a "supernatural energy path that connect[s] spiritual places"), also known as a "corpse road." Each year on April 25, St. Mark's Eve, Blue records the names of the "future dead" who travel the corpse road as her mother announces them. But this year, Maura's half-sister, Neeve, goes in Maura's place. For the first time, Blue can see one of the travelers: a "raven boy," a student at the ritzy all-boy Aglionby Academy. He tells Blue his name: "Gansey." When Blue asks Neeve why she can see him, Neeve answers, "Either you're his true love... or you killed him."
Stiefvater explores American striations of class and privilege in a psychologically complex novel. Gansey leads three other raven boys on a quest to find the Raven King, believed to be buried on the ley lines. Stiefvater mines the questions that will determine the adults they'll become. Her exquisite writing captures what it's like to believe in something greater than oneself, and she leaves enough questions to ensure readers' return. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness