The Dream Thieves ~ Maggie Stiefvater (earc) review

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
Scholastic Press
September 17, 2013
448 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

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 is one book where I needed to use the publisher's synopsis because, with the way the plot progressed, I couldn't figure out one of my own. At least, not one that wouldn't be spoilery in some way.

I remembered really enjoying the first Raven Cycle book, The Raven Boys when I read it last year, but knew I'd forgotten some things. Thankfully, the first book was one of the titles SYNC offered for download this summer so I listened to it again before starting Book 2 and I'm really glad I did. There were some smaller things, both plot and character-wise that I'd forgotten and knowing/remembering made The Dream Thieves better. The more of The Raven Boys you know, remember the better but having read it at all is almost necessary. (Check out a recap here.)

The Dream Thieves is definitely a second book in a series. Things from the first book are built on, without those things always being revisited enough for someone unfamiliar with them to understand the significance.

I expected more of the Cabeswater search to unfold in The Dream Thieves than did. While, what did happen, will likely impact Gansey and the others' search in the next book(s), it felt almost removed here. There were sections where it was as consuming for Gansey as it was in The Raven Boys but the story involving other characters, including new characters, was more of the tale this time.

I did love that we learned so much more about the different characters, Ronan in particular. They didn't just stay secondary characters to Gansey and Blue and her family They became fuller characters in this novel, with information about not only their past but more about their present and what it s that makes them special.

One new character, who was a pretty big part of the story, fit in a bit oddly with the other characters. I think I was expecting something more on the part of the other characters who he told who he was, or at least what he did.

Though it's easy to point out several big events that happened, I think I was expecting more progress in the Cabeswater search. Possibly, with so much transpiring in the first novel, it felt more stagnant here. Despite that, it was obvious that everything that did occur, needed to and will also make the rest of the series better.

The Dream Thieves was more of a character book than an action book and while I was expecting more action or, possibly, more results, I really enjoyed this story. It set things up very well for the rest of The Raven Cycle.


Rating: 8/10



thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my egalley for review