...should be best friends. And here's why:
1. She lives in Virginia, I live in Virginia.
2. She writes brilliant books, I like to read brilliant books.
3. She is quirky as evidenced by her author's note at the end of the audiobook of The Scorpio Races; I am quirky as evidenced by my everyday behavior.
Despite my desire to be best buds with a writer whom I admire, Maggie might be out of my reach despite the Virginia connection. But at least I have her writing to keep me happy. I just finished The Raven Boys, at the traffic lights on my way to work this morning, a practice I neither condone nor engage in except in very rare desperate situations. I actually did not finish, but instead had to wait until I got to work where everyone in the world came in to see me first thing this morning....but finally I finished.
WHAT A BOOK! I loved it. It reminded me a bit of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which not surprisingly is on Steifvater's Goodreads list of loved books. (The Secret History is a book that disturbed me, which in turn confused me into not know whether I really liked it or not.) Oh, of course I am talking about The Raven Boys, the first in The Raven Cycle, which I hope means more than a trilogy. The worst part is I have read this great book and will have to wait agonizingly for the next. Stiefvater should not be out on a book tour, she should be home....writing.
Anyway the story has all the elements I love: some fantasy connected to a "once and future king" (not THE once and future king, but one nonetheless), magical ley lines and psychic abilities, a ghost, a love story with some teen angst, but not too much for the adult reader, a Greek chorus of aunts and friends, beautiful atmospheric writing, and a fabulous cast of main characters all of whom I like and want to know more about. I was sad when she switched away from one character to visit another who I was happy to see again. It was non-stop intriguing and fantastical, and I cannot wait to find out more.
