Step Into Fiction: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater Review + Giveaway

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
(The Raven Cycle #2)
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press; 448 pages

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...

Warning there will be slight spoilers for The Raven Boys in this review. If you have not read The Raven Boys, please proceed with caution.

The Raven Boys was hands down one of my top 5 favorite books last year. The story filled with psychics and a possibly undead Welsh King captivated me. And Blue Sargent is definitely a force to be reckoned with. So when I went to BEA earlier this year, I made sure I hit up the Scholastic booth to pick up a copy of the sequel.

I think I have mentioned this before when I first started blogging. I don't like to read the inside flap of a book. Especially for a series that I have already started. I prefer to just dive right in without knowing anything. So when I got about 100 pages into The Dream Thieves, I thought "Wow. There sure is a lot of Ronan in this book." Ronan is one of Gansey's best friends. He's rich, and he pretty much says whatever is on his mind because he does not lie. And he also was my least favorite character in The Raven Boys.

I tried to keep an open mind while reading, but it's so difficult for me to read a book when I don't like the main character. And that's what makes writing this review so hard. Because The Dream Thieves IS a good book. In fact, it's a very good book. The writing is amazing. Maggie Stiefvater is excellent at foreshadowing. And I highly doubt this series will end with any plot holes. Also Ronan's story is very important to the story line. It's something that had to be told, and not something that you can just throw in a 50 page novella. The Dream Thieves is part of the Raven Cycle.

But I just missed Blue so much. And it's not that Blue isn't in the story, she definitely is. But she clearly takes a back burner in this one. But there was one character, that I was happy to see how much he has grown since the last book. Since Adam made his sacrifice in The Raven Boys, there definitely has been a change in him. I sympathize with Adam. There were many times while reading both books that I just wanted to give him a hug. But Adam being Adam, he'd probably just push me away and tell me that he wouldn't want my pity. I'd like to think that in the Dream Thieves, he learned to accept help. And that's one of the hardest things for anyone to learn.

One of the things I really did enjoy seeing in The Dream Thieves was Gansey and Ronan's friendship. I really do like Gansey. I would love to sit down with him for about an hour, and try to pick his brain. Ronan and Gansey both feed off of each other. They are such opposites, but they have a genuine friendship. Gansey can sometimes bring out a side of Ronan that made me want to like Ronan. Even though in the end I still don't.

If Ronan's story reminded me of one thing, it's how great of a story teller Maggie Stiefvater is. That even if something isn't really your cup of tea, it's still a well written story. And that's what I left the Dream Thieves thinking. That even if it wasn't a favorite of mine, I can appreciate for what it was and I know others will too.