What I Like About The Raven Cycle Is That The Romance Feels Casual. Most Ya Books (and Many Books In

what i like about the raven cycle is that the romance feels casual. most ya books (and many books in general) always have this profuse, gigantic focus and romance, which often weakens the plot and other elements of the story like character development or worldbuilding. but in trc, it fits right into the story as maggie stiefvater doesn't force it into the story, but lets it interact with the different aspects of the book and only distributes it healthy bits.

like, the characters have a life outside of their romance arc—they have their own motives, make their choices, pursue leisure activities and bond with other characters in a platonic way.

i personally really love that about the book because it shows how you can have romance subplots (plural!) without making the readers feel that there is nothing else in the book. we have the search for glendower, the pov characters' inner conflicts, the vanishing of maura, the appearance of the villains, family problems and mundane problems like school exercises and slightly eerie, old people that stay over at your house because they want to help you find a living corpse.

it's just that the book doesn't focus on one particular aspect (especially not the romance one, which is what the blurb unfortunately indicates) and i live for it.