I am often a little weary of books in the Young Adult category, because endlessly reading about teenagers and their romantic drama tends to get a little old once you have outgrown the age to be it’s intended audience. While the books of The Raven Cycle definitely fall in this category, I still found myself enjoying them a lot more than I expected going in. The main characters are well-written and all have their own stuff going on apart from the main plot of the books, which allows for an impressive amount of character growth. One character whom I did not care for at all in the beginning even managed to become my favourite by the end of the series. The paranormal events which play a large role in the books give the series a very mysterious, slightly ominous atmosphere which I really enjoyed.

The four books in the series are a continuation of the same story, so they cannot really be read on their own. While I enjoyed the first book, the story does get better and picks up speed as you get to know the characters and get deeper into the plot. The books are also relatively short compared to most fantasy books, so reading all four is not the massive time investment it might seem. If you can overlook a bit of teenage drama, I would recommend this series even for a more mature audience. I also especially recommend listening to the audiobooks performed by Will Patton.