The Raven Cycle — Reading Order

Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle is one of the most beautifully written YA fantasy series of the past decade. Set in the fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia, the story follows Blue Sargent — the only non-psychic member of a psychic family — and her involvement with four students from the elite Aglionby Academy (the "raven boys") as they search for the tomb of a Welsh king rumored to grant a wish to whoever finds him.

Read the four books in order: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue, and The Raven King. Stiefvater also wrote Call Down the Hawk, a sequel trilogy following some of the same characters.

Stiefvater's prose is lyrical and atmospheric — she writes about the Virginia countryside with a poet's eye and creates a mood that is dreamy, unsettling, and deeply romantic. The four raven boys — Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah — are vividly drawn, and their friendship is the series' beating heart. The Raven Cycle blends Arthurian legend, ley line mythology, and southern Gothic elements into something wholly original. The magic system is intuitive rather than systematic, which gives the series an organic, mysterious quality.