The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater - Raven Cycle #2

*Warning: contains spoilers for The Raven Boys, Book 1 in The Raven Cycle Series*

The Dream Thieves
By Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle #2
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Rated: ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
5 out of 5 Stars
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Related Reviews: | The Raven Boys | Blue Lily, Lily Blue |
Categories: Supernatural, Ghosts, Treasure Hunt, ESP

Synopsis

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...

This installment of The Raven Cycle focuses more on Ronan's character. The last line in The Raven Boys states that Ronan pulled his pet Raven from his dreams. The reader also gets to see the relationship between Gansey and Blue develop. I am beyond respectful of Miss Maggie for throwing the concept of insta-love out the door. She basically knows that he is her true love, yet she doesn't let that rule her feelings. The whole concept of love at first sight is disheartening and ridiculously unrealistic. It sets young women up for disappointment in their own lives, and I just despise the whole idea. So thank you Miss Maggie Stiefvater for the realistic relationship. Blue is able to witness Gansey's growth as a character and as a young man. His obsession and desperation to find Glendower is changing him; from the confident, privileged boy into an almost broken man. His guilt for escaping his own death is beginning to wear on him, and the reader gets to learn the full back story of what his life was like before he came back to Virginia. The voice that he heard while he was dying told him that on the ley line, another boy is dying so that Gansey can live, for Glendower. The longer that Gansey remains in Henrietta, the stronger his obsession becomes, and the more he detests his old life. Congress, old Virginia money, and shmoozing powerful government men seems pointless to him now. I just love Gansey's character, honestly. He is complex, sexy, broken, and intelligent as hell. The perfect combination!

We get to learn a lot more about all of the boys, as well as Blue's character. I found myself falling in love with all of them again. I wasn't a huge fan of Miss Stiefvater's previous novels; The Shiver Series always felt like it was lacking something. But she nailed this one perfectly! I love the world that she creates; I'm a huge history nerd and the research done about the Welsh King, the ley lines, and Virginia in general was superb. I am so caught up in this story, and I have no idea how she is going to pull it all off in the end. I know that the author claimed,

Did I not PROMISE to kill Gansey in book one? You're asking me to break my promises? To be ignoble? To perjure myself? To synonym for lie?

— Maggie Stiefvater (@mstiefvater) September 30, 2014

Sigh. Why Maggie, why? He really doesn't have to die; in fact, I have this theory that he's going to end up being Glendower. So, I mean, he can't really die, right?! Ronan is the Greywaren, Adam is the sacrifice, Noah is the reason Gansey is alive, Gansey is probably Glendower; where the hell does Blue fit into this? I've been paying close attention to all of the small hints that the author drops, but I still can't figure out who Blue is. I keep thinking it has something to do with the name that Gansey calls her: Jane, but I haven't put it all together yet, dammit! The only other book that made me question everything like this is The Da Vinci Code, and I didn't have to wait for the sequel to find out the answers. It's driving me insane! If any of you wonderful readers out there have any insight, I would love to fangirl speak about this with anyone who loves these books as much as I do! To wrap up this fangirl review, read these books.. seriously! They are phenomenal.

"And then there is the third kind of secret, the most hidden kind. A secret no one knows about. Perhaps it was known once, but was taken to the grave. Or maybe it is a useless mystery, arcane and lonely, unfound because no one ever looked for it. Sometimes, some rare times, a secret stays undiscovered because it is something too big for the mind to hold. It is too strange, too vast, too terrifying to contemplate." -Ronan

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

"“I am being perfectly fucking civil.”" -Ronan

"The Gray Man stood in the doorway behind Maura, his gray suitcase in one hand and a gray jacket slung over the other. He set them both down and straightened. There was that heavy silence that sometimes happens when a hit man enters the room."

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Related Reviews
| The Raven Boys | Blue Lily, Lily Blue |

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