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September 23, 2013

Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)
Title: The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher:
 Scholastic Press
Publication date: September 17, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult (Supernatural/Fantasy)
Source: Publisher (Scholastic Canada)
Format: ARC
Pages: 448
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...
The Dream Thieves is the much awaited sequel to The Raven Boys, one of my favorite debut novels of 2012, as well as one of my all time favorite books. While The Dream Thieves did not reach the level of love I have for The Raven Boys, it was still a pretty darn good book. The Dream Thieves blew my mind so many times that I tried to stop being surprised and shocked every time but I failed. I know many readers doubt Stiefvater's story telling because of the overly romantic The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, however The Raven Cycle series barely has romance and that allowed the author, and the readers, to really hone in on the amazingness of this plot. 
Unfortunately for me, The Dream Thieves focuses mostly on Ronan, one of Gansey's friends, if not the closest one. I personally had nothing against Ronan but through my one year wait all I could think about is that I'll finally get back into Gansey's head because of his fascinating way of thinking, as well as his budding... ok fine.. barely there, romance with Blue. After my initial disappointment, I can't lie, I was disappointed, I was quickly immersed in Ronan's story. Initially everything was confusing because I didn't remember everything from The Raven Boys but Ronan's story in itself is screwed up in the best way so I went along with it. In all honesty, the word beautiful disaster describes this whole series perfectly. Ronan had a fantastic inner voice; I did wonder, when I was reading The Raven Boys, about him and I'm glad that I did end up finding out so much about his history, secrets, and his "abilities", for lack of a better word. I still love the relationship between him and Gansey, as well as how tense it is with Adam. I just never understood how Gansey could be so forgiving of Adam (if you've read The Raven Boys, you'll understand what I mean), and was glad that not everything was swiped under the carpet, the way Gansey does it to try and keep the peace between them. 
To not get confused, this book isn't only told from Ronan's POV; It is the type of book with many alternative POVs. We see chapters dedicated to Gansey (yeay!), Blue, some new characters we meet, as well as Adam. Blue and Gansey… I ship those two so unbelievably hard… I know most of you are wondering about this relationship and all I am saying is that it does progress.. but in the slowest possible way. I do enjoy a bit of romance in my non contemporary books, but not when it is the prevailing plot. I like that Stiefvater did a 180 degree flip with this series because you can definitely see the difference from The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. All I can say is that the concept, the writing, and the progression of plot for The Dream Thieves was as brilliant as it was in The Raven Boys. Heck, I probably didn't understand everything that went on in The Dream Thieves but I loved every single minute of it. Readers who are looking for stories that keep you on the edge, as well as always feeling like you're two steps behind, i.e: never a dull moment, should definitely pick up this series and read both The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. 
        Other books by Maggie stiefvater:
        Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)
        Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #2)

10 comments:

  1. That sucks. While I haven't dive in to this series yet, the favorable response is simply overwhelming. I hate when you loved the first book so much because of a couple of characters then to find out that they're barely there in the sequel. Boo.

    I hope the third one's better!

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  2. I am reading this book over the weekend and I can't wait! I loved the first book and Maggie S. writes so beautifully. Great review!

    Kate @ Ex Libris

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  3. I haven't read The Dream Thieves yet but I am dying to! Ronan is my favourite character (I tend to like the misunderstood troubled characters) so I'm so happy The Dream Thieves focuses on him more. Great review and as usual, I am now dying to read the Dream Thieves 10 times more! :)

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  4. I really liked Ronan in this, he was a lot more interesting than I thought he would be. I am looking forward to the next book. Great review.

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  5. Yay :) Glad you enjoyed it. <3 Sigh, I loved it so so much. I actually loved it more than The Raven Boys :) But so heartbreaking as well. Sigh. Gansey was AWESOME. <3 Love him :) Thank you for sharing <3 (Psst, you asked me a few weeks ago about The Beginning of Everything. I tried to read it weeks ago, but did not like it :\ but I will try it again sometime ;p)

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  6. Raven Boys was a WONDERFUL wonderful read - I am so with you that TDT didn't *quite* reach the level of love I have for TRB but yes, still a wonderful sequel. Yes, sometimes I see people judging Maggie Stiefvater and not wanting this series because of the Wolves trilogy, but the general feel of both books is so different. So much less romance here; so much more character-oriented plot and amped up levels of magical realism.

    Hahah yep, me too on Ronan. Gansey is one of my characters in YA fiction I think, and I did like Ronan and his story (beautiful disaster is very true), but I did wish for other focus. Gansey and Adam? Well I think the forgiveness is wishful thinking on G's part, but I think we'll see more of that in the third book (I'm thinking the next book has got to be Adam's and the last is Gansey's).

    BLUE & GANSEY. Me too. I ship them, yet don't because hey, he's going to die!!! WHUT. "I do enjoy a bit of romance in my non contemporary books, but not when it is the prevailing plot." <-- <--- Me too (to both things) --> "Heck, I probably didn't understand everything that went on in The Dream Thieves but I loved every single minute of it."

    WOOT. So looking forward to the third book! (And am so curious about the title. How do you beat the titles of TRB & TDT? Those are already too awesome.)

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  7. I definitely loved TDT MORE than TRB. Like Christina, I've loved Gansey from the first book, but I didn't mind all the time spent on Ronan, because a) I just loved the crazy storyline and b) I have a feeling there will be a lot of Gansey in a later book and that it will be worth the wait. (I also agree with Christina that we will probably have to wait until book four.)

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  8. Thanks for the great review. I read The Raven Boys a while back and it was good. I never wrote my review, so I need to review it. I hope to get to this one eventually.

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  9. Got the first book on my iPad. Have been dying to read the second. Thanks for the great review.

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  10. I don't know..I really REALLY wanted to love The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves, but it's just not my cup of tea. I had to drop TDT because I just could not get into the writing style and story. I was just confused throughout the book. I'm sorry you were a bit disappointed :( Hopefully the 3rd book is a lot better. I'm still debating whether to continue or not, but I'm more on the 'not' part...

    -leigh

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