The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater is the second book of The Raven Cycle series. After reading The Raven Boys in August I immediately put a hold on the second book at the library. This is a fantastically written young adult fantasy series featuring a group of friends trying to find the Glendower, learning more about themselves and each other in the process.

Hardcover 439 pages

Published: September 2013 by Scholastic Press

If you have not read The Raven Boys DO NOT READ this review – consider yourself warned – there may be spoilers!

At the very beginning of The Dream Thieves we learn Ronan Lynch has a secret. He’s a dream thief. He can dream of an object and bring it back to real life when he wakes.

Ronan’s friend Adam has a secret too. It’s been one month since Adam sacrificed himself to Cabeswater in an attempt to wake the ley line which would lead them to the Glendower. Ever since that sacrifice he’s been feeling strange, and seeing weird images. “He had a strange, disconcerting feeling that he couldn’t trust his senses. Like he was tasting an image or smelling a feeling or touching a sound.” (p.67) Adam desperately wants to be the one to wake Glendower so he can ask the King to fix his life.

Adam’s girlfriend Blue also has a few secrets. Blue hasn’t told Adam the real reason why she won’t kiss him. It has been predicted that if she kisses her true love then her true love will die. She also hasn’t told their friend Gansey that the ghosts seen on St. Mark’s Eve will die within the next 12 months. Gansey’s spirit was seen that evening – it was the first and only time she’s ever seen a spirit. She wants to help Gansey find the Glendower in hopes that the King will save him.

Blue’s mother Maura has secrets too. She won’t tell Blue who her father is. She tells Blue she has potential, but never what that potential could mean.

Ronan, Adam, Blue, Gansey, and their dead friend Noah, team up with Blue’s mother Maura, Blue’s older cousin Orla, and Maura’s psychic best friends Persephone and Calla to try to find the ley lines so they can wake Glendower. They aren’t the only ones looking for magic in Henrietta, Virginia.

The Gray Man is a hitman hired by Dr. Colin Greenmantle to find the Greywaren, a relic that allows the owner to take objects out of dreams. “For quite a long time now, the Gray Man has been hunting for things that couldn’t be found, couldn’t be bought, couldn’t be acquired, and his instincts were telling him that the Greywaren was not a piece that was going to come quickly.”

Joseph Kavinsky is a fellow student with a horrible attitude problem. He loves to push Ronan’s buttons and is constantly harassing Ronan and his crew, flaunting his money and drag racing his seemingly never-ending identical Mitsubishi cars. What is his problem? Why is he obsessed with Ronan?

My favorite character is Persephone…she was also my fav in the first book The Raven Boys. I would love to read more about her past, her childhood, her future. I think she’s fascinating.

I love the chapter length and flow from one chapter to the next. The character development is outstanding. I’m emotionally attached to many of the main characters, and if anything happens to them I WILL CRY. The pace is perfect, naturally speeding up as we go along, helping to build up to the climax. There were times I had to remind myself to breathe.

Let’s talk about prologues. Sometimes prologues are great, and necessary. Sometimes prologues are not necessary. I feel like the prologue in The Dream Thieves falls into the second group. It didn’t supply anything important that the reader needed to know upfront. It could have easily been included within the story and not have interrupted the flow.

There are some scenes, and even characters, in this story which could have been completely left out. I won’t name anything in particular – Spoilers – just throwing it out there to explain why I didn’t give this read five stars.

For me The Dream Thieves is almost the perfect YA novel. It’s so very, very, very close. I’m looking forward to reading the third book Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

My Rating 4.5/5

 

 

About the Author

“New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.

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.”

 

Check out the Author’s Website