Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Boys #2)

Title: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Published: September 17^th, 2013 by Scholastic

Source: ARC from NetGalley

Format: eBook

Genre: Paranormal

Age group: Young adult

Challenge(s):

Grade rate: A

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…

My Review

Wow!  If you’re looking for a different paranormal series, look no further, The Raven Boys is as unique as they come (see my review here).  The first book took a little getting used to, but The Dream Thieves went from unique to something more. 

While The Raven Boys was an introduction to the Boys, to Blue and her family and to Gansey’s quest; The Dream Thieves is about getting to know each character more intimately, especially Ronan.  If you read the first book, the ending is a pretty good clue of what Ronan can do; of course, the title is a pretty good clue as well.  What Ronan can do is incredible, but unpredictable and very dangerous.  It gets him in trouble

It breaks my heart to see the rift between Adam and Gansey grow bigger, but I hope that can be mended as the series goes on.  Adam has so many issues with confidence, with accepting help, love and friendship from others, and with anger, I have faith that he will overcome all of these. 

Blue is quirky, easy to anger, easy to love and to help her boys.  Nothing much of the romantic nature happens in this book, but rather there is a markedly absence of progress and a change of affections that might bring more bad than good; I guess I’ll watch and see how it goes.  With the problems with the line, Noah is a bit more absent during this book, but still there and since now everyone knows his secret, he’s a lot more open about things. 

I think that the Gray Man deserves his own paragraph. Why you ask? Because only Stiefvater would make such an efficient killer, likeable.  The Gray Man had a horrible childhood that it’s hinted at, and thus he became efficient in killing, but to him, this is a job and he doesn’t enjoy it. It’s his profession (besides being a poet) and he describes himself as a ‘hit man’ and he doesn’t ever hide what he does or intends to do.  Take the following for example:

“… And this man was polite in a keen, questioning sort of way.  He was polite like tentacles were polite, testing the surface carefully, checking to see how it reacted to his presence. 

He was, Blue decided suddenly, very clever. Nothing to be trifled with….

“You’re the hit man”

Mr. Gray had the good grace to look efficiently startled. “Oh. And you’re the daughter. Blue”

“The one and only.” Blue fixed a penetrating gaze on him. “So, do you have a favorite weapon?”

Without missing a beat, he replied, “Opportunity.”

Why didn’t Ronan’s father bothered to put everything to rights and explain before he passed away?  It was all a big puzzle that created a lot of tension and heartache for the Lynch brothers.  I’m glad that Ronan was able to figure it out, even if Kavinsky had to help him.  Kavisky is plain crazy, sorry, but there’s no other way to put it. Well. Maybe I can add more: he’s crazy, mean, self-centered, selfish, and many other ugly adjectives.

The story is told in the third person, from many of the character’s points of view. This way we know what is going on at all times, we can be in more than one place at a time. What can I say about the writing that I haven’t said before? It’s beautiful, insightful, fluid, amazing.  The plot, the story itself, it’s as complicated as ever, but as I said before, now it’s familiar to me and I understand it a lot better.  I am looking forward to the next installment of The Raven Boys, still untitled and due to be published next year.

Some quotes for you:

“His eyes were frighteningly alive, the curve of his mouth savage and pleased. It suddenly didn't seem at all surprising that he should be able to pull things from his dreams.

In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys.”

“He danced on the knife’s edge between awareness and sleep. When he dreamt like this, he was a king. The world was his to bend. His to burn.”

“When Ronan thought of Gansey, he thought of moving into Monmouth Manufacturing, of nights spent in companionable insomnia, of a summer searching for a king, of Gansey asking the Gray Man for his life. Brothers.”

“Tears don't become us.”

Her mother wiped her eyes on the shoulder of Blue’s T-shirt. “You’re right. What becomes us?”

“Action.”

About the cover: That’s Ronan in the cover (we know by the haircut, or lack thereof), I like the ravens and all the things that seem to be coming from within him.  I like the font the ley line symbol over the title too. Beautiful.