Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Age Range: 13+
Publication Date: 17th September 2013
Pages: 439 pages (hardback)
Publisher: Scholastic
Summary:
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Blue and Gansey will be the same. Ronan is falling more and more deeply into his dreams ... and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Gansey is needed at home, and is struggling to stay in Aglionby. And Adam? He's made some new friends. Friends that are looking for some of the same pieces of the puzzle that Gansey, Blue, and Ronan are after. Great power is at stake, and someone must be willing to wield it.
Rating:
Review:
It's official; I am in love with The Raven Cycle series. The Raven Boys was mainly focused on world building and introducing us to the characters, but in The Dream Thieves it's full steam ahead with character development and thickening the plot. Honesty is one of my favourite things in books, authors who romanticise and sugar coat thoughts and feelings just end up with a book that feels fake. But Maggie Stiefvater does no such thing; all the internal monologues are brutally honest and often I find myself imaging thinking the exact same thing. She writes people so well; each character has their own charm and appeal but also their ugly secrets and not so pleasant attributes, but it's this kind of reality that makes them all so likeable. The whole cast of characters feels like they could really exist, their dynamics, their speech, their whole existence.
Ronan takes the spotlight in this book, which at first I wasn't too excited about as I wasn't a fan of him in The Raven Boys, but once we dug deeper into his story I actually started to like him. Without giving too much away I think it's safe to say that he's a lot more than the token bad boy. Although it we only get glimpses of it in this book it's easy to see how his individual character arc is going to tie into the overarching storyline. Gansey still remained my favourite in this book, I especially loved how his relationship with Adam and Blue shifted and that we got to see more of his home life. I've never been a fan of Noah, though I hope (like with Ronan) we get to know more about him (though I doubt it because of the whole you know...thing), and he feels kind of secondary compared to the other raven boys. I love Blue, she's so...well normal. And she hates it. And that's the best thing - that feeling of not quite belonging (similar to Adam) is something I connect with so well and Maggie executes it in a way so that it doesn't come off as self pitying.
In this book the plot deviates away from the Glendower arc a little, though it's always there in the background, and kind of comes back into it at the end. I enjoyed the change and the whole concept of dreams was so cool. I could imagine it would be quite hard to pull the weirdness of dreams off without it creeping into down right trippy territory but it was done so well. Admittedly at times I did get a little confused with everything linking in together and for pages at a time I was lost. It may have been the linking together of the two plots but in the end I was clear on what was happening, and I loved how the ending set up for the next book.
The only massive problem I had was the Grey Man. Honestly I just didn't get the point of him, apart from maybe adding a little dept to Ronan's story. But honestly it seemed like a needless diversion from the main character's points of view, and because the air of mystery is so key to him, his chapters didn't really help my connect or understand his character. I would've preferred the book without him I think, although I did like his relationship with Maura.
But overall I really did love this book, the complexity of the plot and the introduction of the Grey Man did ruin it a little for me which is why I can only give it four stars but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an intricately woven story where (almost) everything ties in so neatly. The hints at what are to come are so subtle yet I'm able to pick up on them mostly and the speculation which comes from them just makes it an even more interesting read. I cannot wait for the next one.
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