[1] The Raven Cycle follows the story of teenagers Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, and Noah, taking place in the fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia.

Gansey and his “Raven Boys” show up to Blue’s house for a psychic reading and to ask for more insight about the magical Ley Lines.

She nevertheless befriends the group, showing an interest in Adam, a Henrietta boy at Aglionby on a full-ride scholarship who lives with his abusive parents in a trailer park.

Ronan lives with Gansey in a former factory called Monmouth Manufacturing, unable to return to his childhood home after his father was murdered and his mother fell into a coma.

Blue joins the boys as they attempt to find the Welsh king Owain Glendower, who is thought to be buried on the Corpse Road, also called the ley line, of Henrietta.

In their search, the group discovers a mysterious forest along the ley line called Cabeswater that seems to exist outside of the structures of time and speaks to them in Latin.

Out exploring on their own, Gansey and Blue discover a human skeleton in the forest with a wallet containing a driver's license belonging to a Noah Czerny.

The group of teens and the psychics try to determine how to prevent Whelk from taking control of the ley line, fearing they are running out of time.

Amidst the chaos, Adam breaks off from the group and decides to sacrifice his free will to the ley line, becoming the hands and eyes of Cabeswater.

As this is happening a stampede of mysterious creatures barrels through the forest, narrowly missing Blue, Ronan, and Gansey, and killing Whelk.

The teens try to move forward with their search for Glendower and the mysteries of Cabeswater and the ley line, and Ronan reveals that he can take things out of his dreams.

Much of the story takes place in the fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia, which sits directly on top of a powerful ley line.

Adam, Ronan, Blue, Noah, and Gansey repeatedly return to the mysterious Cabeswater, a forest which exists out of its own time and can speak to the group in Latin.

Monmouth Manufacturing is the abandoned and gutted warehouse, owned by Gansey, in which he, Ronan, and Noah reside, as well as the place where Malory and his service dog stay during their visit.

Some of the story takes place in the caves that are underneath Cabeswater where Glendower is supposedly sleeping, based on the Luray Caverns.

She falls in love with the Gray Man, and later disappears underground, supposedly in search of Artemus, Blue's biological father.

Described as "dangerous as a shark and about as friendly,"[3] Ronan Lynch is a gay Catholic farmer with a drinking problem and the ability to take things out of his dreams.

Ronan is the central character in a companion series called The Dreamer Trilogy, which takes places after the events of The Raven King and Opal.

His favorite past times include defenestrating his close friend Noah Czerny and (in book 2) street racing with Kavinsky.

Calla is prickly and shows a general disdain for those around her, but is a good person Orla is Jimi's daughter and Maura Sargent's niece.

An Aglionby student of Korean and Chinese descent who is friends with Gansey and later befriends Blue, while Adam and Ronan don't seem fond of him.

A minor character, Jesse Dittley's name is on the list of people that Neeve saw at the beginning of the story in the graveyard indicating his death within twelve months.

Publishers Weekly gave The Raven Boys a favorable review, calling it "a tour de force of characterization, and while there is no lack of event or mystery, it is the way Stiefvater's people live in the reader's imagination that makes this such a memorable read.

"[4] A reviewer writing for The Guardian commended the novel's characters as unique in comparison to "the collection of stereotypes we now see often in YA books.

"[5] The New York Times' Anna Holmes complimented the novel's pacing and wrote that, "Stiefvater, who has an assured and entertaining way with language, doesn't talk down to her readers, and she ably blends the mystical and the earthly, the primitive and the contemporary in a way that brings to mind the work of John Bellairs, J. K. Rowling, Lois Duncan and Stephenie Meyer.

"[6] However, Holmes criticized a perceived lack of coherence in the storytelling, and wrote that, "Perhaps most glaringly, the book's one true antagonist is never fully fleshed out, which undermines the stakes Stiefvater has worked so hard to raise.

"[6] The Dream Thieves also received a favorable review from Publishers Weekly, which concluded that, "While Stiefvater's offbeat, acutely observed characters continue to grow, they have shifted from developing a group interaction to reacting against one another, making this installment more tense and foreboding than its predecessor—and every bit as gripping.

"[7] Tara Creel of the Deseret News praised The Dream Thieves for its "intricate plot, dimensional characters and beautiful, lyrical writing".

"[9] In a review of The Raven King, Publishers Weekly summated: "The playful, imaginative force of Stiefvater's writing works its magic once again, and most readers will finish this saga not with regret or disappointment but with hope.

"[11] On April 10, 2017, it was announced that a TV adaptation of the series was in production, with Catherine Hardwicke attached to direct and produce, and Andrew Miller as its showrunner.