The Dream Thieves | Maggie Stiefvater

I received this book for free from BookExpo in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Published by Scholastic on September 17, 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 439
Format: ARC
Also in this series: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Also by this author: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

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…

Oh my darlings, if there is one book that I was anticipating this year with the most FERVOR, it might’ve been THE DREAM THIEVES, book 2 in the brilliant Maggie Stiefvater’s atmospheric, creepy Raven Cycle series. The story of a group of prep school boys on the search for an ancient, mystical king in the Virginia mountains, accompanied by a young girl with her own mystical properties who is the daughter of a psychic. There are so many layers to this series, and THE DREAM THIEVES adds some, changes others, and deepens the intensity by focusing on the amazingly gruff and broken Ronan Lynch. Friends, I really liked THE RAVEN BOYS. THE DREAM THIEVES is even better. The mystery and the mythology expands in really twisty ways.

To recap: Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Blue are on the hunt to find the ancient Welsh king, Glendower. They found a location in the Virginia woods called Cabeswater by following a mystical (that word is all over the place in this review) things called ley lines. Those lines were formerly dormant, but now they are awake, and crazy things are happening in Henrietta. Adam, as the one who woke the lines, is changing and not always for the better; Gansey is as determined and confident as ever; Blue remains her no-nonsense, unique self; and Ronan? We learn so much about Ronan and his family in THE DREAM THIEVES and virtually all of it is mind-blowing. He is still dark and troubled, and his dreams are leaking out of his head into the real world. *eyes bugging out of head* Also, new people in Henrietta make their search for Glendower more urgent and dangerous. DUN DUN DUNNNN.

I don’t know where to start with my love of THE DREAM THIEVES, so perhaps I’ll just begin with the part that struck me the most, and that would be one RONAN MOTHER-FUCKING LYNCH. Yes, that’s right. Capslock swearing. I adore him. He’s so MESSED UP, and as we learn more about the Lynch family, we see that being messed up is basically the Lynch family MO, perhaps minus one exception. Knowing this only makes me want to hug him even more, even though his bruised, brash heart would probably tell me to go screw myself. SIGH. He’s such a complicated character full of deep feelings that he hates to show.

But Ronan and his family and his dreams all play very large to ENORMOUS roles in THE DREAM THIEVES, and Maggie Stiefvater weaves these two things together in heartbreaking, chilling ways. Niall Lynch has always been a mysterious character, but the more we get to know him here, the less we seem to understand. There are some reveals, but little in the way of things that make sense. This isn’t a bad thing, by the way. If anything, by the time I read the end of THE DREAM THIEVES, my curiosity was fully and irrevocably piqued.

There was one thing about Ronan that I totally didn’t see coming and it threw me a little bit. I love him endlessly, but I wasn’t anticipating this little reveal, and I’m really curious how it will play out going forward, if it even matters at all. (Which is just as awesome.)

Of course, Ronan isn’t the only character with things going on in THE DREAM THIEVES. Gansey and Blue, as we know from THE RAVEN BOYS, seem prophesied to be together. I always liked their friendship, but it begins evolving here. Blue’s “no kissing” rule keeps things interesting, but even so, they still manage to have a swoony moment.

Also, I just LOVE how slowly Maggie Stiefvater is taking it with them! The triangle between Blue, Gansey, and Adam is so perfectly done. Because it is a triangle in that there are three of them, but also NOT because they aren’t all in this big, messy thing at the same time. It’s like Blue and Gansey are together only in the future, and Adam and Blue are together now; Blue is firmly with one or the other, not hemming and hawing over both. I don’t know if I’m describing it in the best way, but it works. REALLY WELL.

And speaking of Adam, he’s dealing with some major baggage after what happens at the end of THE RAVEN BOYS and it’s not manifesting itself in the most flattering ways. He’s continuing on a pretty dark path in THE DREAM THIEVES and it affects his relationships with Blue and Gansey. I liked him a great deal in book 1, but I didn’t always like him here. I did, though, always feel for him, which is part of Maggie Stiefvater’s magic. Even when her characters do things that make me rage, I see their motives and they break my heart a little bit. The end involves him in a pretty big way (again) and it was equal parts awesome and confusing and I LOVED IT.

I also mentioned some new people coming to Henrietta up top there. This is mainly one person, the creeptastic Gray Man (like seriously. That’s his name). His boss has hired him to look for something that is very closely tied to Gansey’s investigation into Glendower, and he’s basically an assassin, but his name is PERFECT. He is gray. His angle of the story is woven tightly with Maura’s, Blue’s mom. I have to say, Maggie Stiefvater is doing stuff with the adults that most YA books don’t: she’s actually including them in the story. Like, they do things that AFFECT THE ACTION in ways other than grounding the main character, or reprimanding them when they do something wrong, or being horrible. Maura has her own role and her own storyline, and it’s pretty amazing, and important.

Friends, I have barely touched the surface of what goes on in THE DREAM THIEVES. It’s so packed with both subtleties and big reveals. There’s more mysticism, more danger, and more creeps. Maggie Stiefvater is really hitting her stride with this series and is peeling back layers slowly and at the perfect moments. Her books have long been insta-reads for me and she just keeps reinforcing that role in my mind with each book she writes.