If a story about an orphaned boy, the soul survivor of a mass murder, being raised by the residents of a haunted graveyard sounds ghoulish, well, it is. But would you also believe it's charming?

Appropriately called The Graveyard Book, this 2008 novel is by English author Neil Gaiman who's best known for his macabre masterpiece, Coraline (2002). The Graveyard Book was his first full length novel after Coraline and it shares some of the same grim themes.

The story begins on the night of the murder when the young protagonist manages to free himself from his crib and wander out into the night just as a shadowy killer called "the man Jack" is doing in his mother, father and older sister. The tot ends up at the gates of the cemetery at the top of the hill, where the ghostly residents gather to debate his fate. When "the man Jack" shows up a few minutes later, it becomes all too obvious the child is alone and utterly vulnerable. The ghosts agree to protect him. A childless couple volunteer to act as his parents; and they appoint Silas – who may or may not be a vampire – to be his guardian as he can leave the cemetery and bring back food and other supplies for the boy. They name the toddler Nobody – "Bod" for short – and the graveyard becomes his permanent home. 

In many ways, the cemetery is the book's central character. Lavishly detailed by Gaiman, the reader comes to know every nook and cranny of the place, and appreciate it not just as a domicile for spooks, but as a refuge for the living. Bestowed with "the freedom of the graveyard," Bod is able to move about its confines safely, interacting with both the dead and the various types of wildlife which inhabit its wooded hills.

Life here is idyllic in many ways. Bod forms friendly, even loving attachments to many of the spirits who share his sprawling backyard, some of whom date back to England's prehistory. They play with him, teach him, occasionally fight with him. But it's never quite the same as having living, breathing people around. So Bod is particularly excited when he befriends a girl named Scarlett who lives in the nearby village and comes to the graveyard to play. Scarlett's parents are convinced their daughter's friend is a harmless figment of her imagination, but this changes when Bod takes her to see the most unique feature of the cemetery: an ancient Celtic crypt. The crypt was never used by the chieftain for whom it was built, but that doesn't mean the space is unoccupied. A serpent-like creature who calls itself "The Sleer" guards the place and does its best to terrify the two children. After Scarlett describes her adventure to her parents, she's not allowed to return to the cemetery and soon moves away.

His brief friendship with Scarlett makes Bod long even more to explore the outside world. But Silas is quick to remind him "the man Jack" who killed his parents is still at large and still hunting him. To help protect him against this lingering threat, the graveyard residents instruct Bod in a variety of supernatural skills. He learns how to manifest himself in other people's dreams, slip in and out of the shadows and vanish from sight the instant someone's attention is turned. Eventually, he's allowed to attend the local school, but when he uses these special powers to intimidate some bullies, his academic career is cut short.

The book culminates with "the man Jack's" elaborate attempt to draw the now teenaged Bod out of the graveyard, using Scarlett as bait. But details behind why "the man Jack" is so interested in the youth may be The Graveyard Book's weakest point. When the final reveal comes, it's like a whodunnit novel where vital clues were withheld from the reader. I enjoyed the ambiguous nature of "the man Jack" and the murderous fraternal order to which he belongs, but I wanted to understand why he was particularly interested in Bod. In the end, the explanation seemed vague and the book's central mystery wasn't as satisfying as many of its sub-plots.

Regardless, The Graveyard Book is a compelling, often touching novel with themes and characters young adults will gobble up. Gaiman is particularly adept at constructing compelling dialogue and historical dialects. In fact, if I can bestow a high compliment, he's the best I've found at this since I read Robert Louis Stevenson as a teenager.

The Graveyard Book won numerous awards – including a Hugo, Newbery, and Carnegie Medal – and deserved every one of them. It's the first title I've read by Gaiman. It won't be the last.

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MY ORIGINAL REVIEW OF THE NOVEL:

Within the first paragraph of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, I was worried I had made a mistake. After all, the first things Maggie tells us about her female protagonist, Blue Sargent, is that she comes from a long line of psychics and that it's been foretold by said psychics that she'll eventually kill her true love with a kiss. Poor Blue has grown up with this grim specter and it's become even more frightful now that she's 18 and seriously interested in boys. At this point, I admit that my cynicism for young adult fiction took over. 

Ah shit, I thought, I just spent money for another tedious YA paranormal romance. There will be nothing for me in this novel but a rising sense of irritation.

Fortunately, I was dead wrong. 

The Raven Boys turned out to be a highly engaging novel which both surprised and pleased me by not indulging in the usual YA paranormal tropes about a demure girl with special powers who's loved by a contingent of dangerous, damaged bastards but is afraid to love them back. In fact, props to Stiefvater for not only providing authentic male characters, but also presenting young male culture as being both supportive and welcoming (because it can be, you know). 

The meat of the novel revolves around Blue's family gift and its connection to a mysterious energy corridor called a ley line which runs near her hometown of Henrietta, Virginia. Blue's not overtly clairvoyant  but when she visits the ley line on with her aunt on St. Mark's Eve — a night when the spirits of those who will die in the next year march by — she has a ghostly vision of a young man who identifies himself as "Gansey." As it turns out, "Gansey" is Richard "Dick" Campbell Gansey, III, a wealthy student at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The students at the all-male prep school are cumulatively known as "raven boys" by the Henrietta natives who view them with a mixture of intolerance and envy. Blue would normally eschew "raven boys," partly because of their reputation, partly because of that whole I-will-kill-you-with-a-kiss thing. Instead, she's drawn into Gansey's circle and his obsessive quest for a legendary Welsh king called Gwendower he swears is buried someone along the ley line. According to myth, anyone who awakens the sleeping king will be granted a supernatural favor. Gansey's Gwendower fixation and Blue's ominous vision of the boy eventually culminate in an uneasy partnership shared by three other Aglionby students and — unbeknownst to all of them — their unscrupulous Latin professor.

Stiefvater's prose is rich and highly atmospheric, sometimes straying close to poetry in a way reminiscent of Neil Gaiman. Her vision of the fictional Henrietta, a southern town curiously populated by powerful psychics and affluent schoolboys, becomes a fascinating backdrop for a variety of subplots. Stiefvater should also be complemented for tying up enough loose threads to make The Raven Boys a satisfying novel on its own while simultaneously leaving enough unresolved so the reader is craving the next book in the cycle.

​Check this one out!

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REVIEW OF THE RAVEN BOYS: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

The Raven Boys Graphic Novel, adapted by Stephanie Williams and illustrated by Sas Milledge, breathes visual life into Maggie Stiefvater's bestselling YA supernatural fantasy, The Raven Boys. Originally published in 2012, the novel embarked readers on a mesmerizing journey through The Raven Cycle, a four-book saga steeped in myth and mystery. This graphic novel adaptation, released in August 2025, seeks to capture the enchantment and suspense that endeared the original to countless fans.

Williams's adaptation is a testament to the power of storytelling through visuals. The necessity of condensing Stiefvater's intricate plot into a graphic format inevitably simplifies certain elements, akin to a book being translated into a film. As a result, some of rich complexities, especially the nuanced relationships between the Aglionby Academy students—Gansey, Noah, Ronan, and Adam—and Blue, the girl entwined in their quest, are somewhat diminished. Despite this, the core narrative remains intact: a slowburn quest to find the legendary Welsh King Glendower and the looming prophecy over Gansey's tragic fate.

Sas Milledge's artwork employs heavy ink work and a limited color palette, perfectly complementing the novel's dark supernatural plot mixed with subplots about abuse, grief, trauma and murder. While Milledge's artistic interpretations may diverge from what readers of the original novel might have imagined, this divergence adds a unique dimension to the story, offering fresh perspectives on beloved characters.

Notably, the graphic novel retains the suspense and surprising twists that captivated readers in Stiefvater's original work. Whether you're a first-time reader or a long-time fan, this adaptation promises an engaging experience, allowing you to rediscover the magic and mystery of The Raven Boys through a new lens.
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RELATED: Reviews of The Raven Boys (novel and graphic novel) |Review of The Dream Thieves: The Raven Cycle Book 2  |  Review of Blue Lily, Lily Blue: The Raven Cycle Book 3 | Review of The Raven King: The Raven Cycle Book 4  |  Supernatural Book Collection | Paranormal Book Collection

The graphic novel adaptation of the exciting final adventure of the New York Times best-selling Kane Chronicles trilogy!

He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now, Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of destroying him once and for all.

Unfortunately, the House of Life magicians are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for millennia.
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PURCHASE

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When the children of Archer's Peak — a sleepy town in the heart of America — begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless.

​Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories — impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see. Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does; she bears the cost because it must be done.

This is a multi volume series that is currently being adapted to a Netflix series.

​Volume 1  |  Volume 2  |  Volume 3  |  Volume 4  |  Volume 5  |  Volume 6  |  Volume 7  |  Volume 8

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