Review: The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel

Review: The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel by Stephanie Williams, Maggie Stiefvater, Sas Milledge

This past week the graphic novel adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater released into the world, and I am sure it will reach a whole new readership. Check out my thoughts below and remember it is available now!

Thank you Penguin Random House for sending me an advance copy which in no way influences my review. #PenguinTeenPartner

The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel (The Raven Cycle: The Graphic Novels, #1)

by Stephanie Williams, Maggie Stiefvater, Sas Milledge
Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
on July 29, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, Mythology/Folklore, Young Adult
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The first book in Maggie Stiefvater's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Raven Cycle, now gorgeously illustrated as a graphic novel!

Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics. Only, she has never had the same clairvoyant abilities they had and has always felt too ordinary within the magic that surrounded her. Enter Gansey, a rich student from Aglionby, the town’s all-boys private school teeming with wealth, privilege, and trouble. Blue's always made it a point to stay away from its students, the Raven Boys.

But when Gansey asks her to join him and three other Raven Boys on his quest to find a long-forgotten Welsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of their quiet Virginia town, Blue doesn’t hesitate. She jumps at the chance to finally be a part of something real and full of magic, a world she was born into yet one that always stood just out of reach. Soon enough, she’s swept into a strange and shifting world woven into theirs, one far more dangerous than anything they could have dreamt up.

Now reimagined as a stunning full-color graphic novel adapted by Stephanie Williams and illustrated by Sas Milledge, The Raven Boys unravels a thrilling plot around a cast of characters impossible to forget.

ARC Review

I personally love graphic novels so I was 100% on board when I saw the adaption and knew I was going to read this series again and now I am going to do that entire reread in graphic novel format. I loved this adaptation. It really made this book more digestible and a much quicker read than the novel. Yes, you will lose some of the small details when adapting, but the story is here and I loved it just the same.

I think the adaption will make the story more accessible to readers, not only finding a new readers, but also others who may have shied away from the series knowing the writing can lean more towards fantasy and the folklore aspects may be too heavy for some non-fantasy readers. It really is a contemporary setting and I think the graphic novel leans more on the real world than fantasy. So what I am saying is I hope more readers find themselves in this story that I love. The non-fantasy readers and people who can get into a graphic novel more than a big prose novel, this shortened condensed version will definitely break that barrier. Do I wish the adaption was longer, yeah I do, but again, I think a shortened version is important.

The graphic novel is lush and beautifully crafted. It shortens the plot in all the right places to the most important and impactful moments. The craft of cutting a novel into an adaptation must be so hard, I commend all the authors on this project, especially knowing the fanbase is a little fanatical.

The visual art is just so gripping. I loved the style and the feeling of richness and life brought to the scene and characters. Absolutely stunning work, full of color and the use was so aesthetically pleasing. I really enjoyed reading and experiencing the visual art and bringing this awesome story into full color and to a wider audience as well as a new way to enjoy it for the die-hard fans. To see what our minds create, versus what an illustrator creates is such a fun way of reading it, and for the new fans, it gives a really good handle on the characters, settings, and the magic of it all. It was a blast to revisit these places that lived in my mind, and knowing now just how to envision them.

Cannot wait for the next book adaptations and I really hope we get just a bit more of the iconic banter that the characters are known for when the story really starts to take off, but the visuals make up for all of that. Seeing Aglionby Academy gates, the inside of Gansey’s journal, Blue’s outfits and expressions and the ladies of 300 Fox Way, Adam working on cars, the loft at Monmouth, oh and how the color shifts when in Cabeswater!

I loved it all, I can feel the magic again, and now enthusiastically awaiting the next 3 books!

ps. The Dream Thieves adaptation is coming in 2026!