The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

9 October, 2013 / / 5 Birds, Maggie Stiefvater, Review, Scholastic, Young Adult / 30 comments Share:

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie StiefvaterThe Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Published by Scholastic on September 17, 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
five-stars

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

As soon as the ley line was woken up once again, things started to change almost immediately.  Blue and “her Raven boys” started feeling the effects and seeing the consequences of their efforts.  The missing piece of the Cabeswater puzzle is the center of this book and, of course, Gansey isn’t the only one looking.  Most interesting, though, is the person that is sent to look for it and how he gets tangled up in Blue’s family.  The house full of female psychics was probably my favorite thing about The Raven Boys and while they aren’t in the book quite as much, their influence certainly is.  I was also really pleased that I got to meet Gansey’s family, which provided a new side to him that we didn’t see as much in book one.  In fact, I think we got to see more of everyone, but from a different angle, which would explain my feeling that all of the characters grew in their own way.

The writing in this book was just beautiful.  Things that would normally be bland were made rich and colorful through the descriptive writing.  This also made the interactions between the these boys even more interesting.  Whereas the first book gave me a sense of the action of the search for the ley line and Cabeswater, The Dream Thieves seemed to focus more on relationships.  Adam’s world is being held together by sheer will, Gansey longs for someone he feels he can’t have, and Ronan…..well Ronan has perhaps the heaviest burden.  I can’t say that I really felt drawn to Ronan in the first book, although he obviously has a lot to do with what is going on.  However, in The Dream Thieves, I felt like I really got to know him and empathize with his burdens; his fear, his sense of responsibility to his family, and his feelings about his parents all form this sort of storm cloud that follows him wherever he goes.  Some of what we find in Ronan’s dreams was truly terrifying and really creative in its horror.  In fact, the he way that each character is changed by the events in book one was really well done.  Gansey and Adam’s friendships hits some big rocks, for reasons that I won’t spoil here, and Blue’s confusing feelings combined with what she learned on the corpse road made for some extremely painful and extremely romantic interactions.

If you haven’t yet picked up this series, I highly recommend it.  Not only is the story complex and well executed, but the writing is some of the most beautiful that I’ve read in a long time.

 

 

five-stars

About Maggie Stiefvater

All of Maggie Stiefvater’s life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you’re a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she’s tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She’s made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Kate

Related Posts

30 responses to “The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater”

  1. JennRenee

    Should be starting this one soon. Can’t wait. I am really excited to learn more about the boys. I am happy to hear this one is more about relationships.

    Reply
  3. Bonnie

    I was so impressed with this follow-up novel. The Raven Boys was solid but this expanded the storyline perfectly. I agree with you completely about Ronan though. He wasn’t a standout character in TRB but he really shined in this one and the explanation for the way he acts the way he does was fantastic. Great review!

    Reply
  4. Sarah Mann (@twilightreader3)

    I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t get into it, follow it etc.. It just seemed to jump around a lot. I just loved the Shiver series and The Scorpio Races!!!

    Reply
  5. Pili

    I absolutely adored this book! The writing, the progression of the characters and their relationships… What a series and what a book!
    Great review and totally spoiler free!

    Reply
  20. affiliate tracking

    internet advertising…

    I believe technologies just can make it worse. Now there’s a channel to by no means treatment, now there would not be considered a chance for them to find out….

    Reply

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.