Reviews

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

byvermillion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 UGGHH it gets better! Stiefvater feeds us crumbs and they are as satisfying as a feast. 

 

We get deeper into the world of Cabeswater, a forest of spirits and dreams on the leyline that runs through Blue’s town. We follow the Raven Boys in there, honestly, while also noticing how right it all feels to speak latin to the trees and try to unravel the mystery of Gansey’s obsession, the dead king Glendower. 

 

I forgot to mention the beautiful, dreadful hook that runs through all these books. Blue, our many crochet dresses and pizza slanging heroine, has a psychic prediction hanging over her head… she’ll kiss her true love and then he’ll die. Whether its her kiss that does it is yet to be seen. And with the deadly promise of Cabeswater on everyone’s doorstep, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that she won’t be able to resist, either the magical forest or her own fate. 

 

The Dream Thieves is chock full of otherworldly adventure. It drags on the hook that The Raven Boys got in our throat and pulls us to shore. There’s a hitman. There’s a new found magician of dreams. There’s a woman lost in a mirror. This club’s got it all. 

raven666999's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

andeaclark's review against another edition

4.0

Stiefvater is such a good storyteller. Her writing is so rich and detailed, but not verbose. I really enjoyed this second part of this series. It is mystical and magical, but it is rooted in reality, so it doesn't seem silly or unbelievable. I highly recommend this series and author to anyone who likes YA lit.

Great to reread this book! Just as good as the first time around. I even picked up some new things!

emmaladams's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. What is it about Maggie Stiefvater’s writing that makes it so hard to write a review? The second book in the Raven Cycle is just as indescribably brilliant as the first, picking up where The Raven Boys left off. Blue and the Raven Boys continue their quest to find Glendower – a Welsh king buried beneath their town, who is believed to grant a favour upon awakening. With the ley lines around Henrietta awakened, the different members of the group react in different ways. Ronan becomes the central character, as the story revolves around his ability to pull objects from dreams – an ability inherited from his father, whose murder still haunts him. But other, sinister entities start to follow him out of the dream world, and two antagonists, fellow Aglionby student Kavinsky and the sinisterly ordinary-seeming Gray Man, both want his powers for their own reasons.

The characterisation is superb. All the characters feel like real people, complicated and three-dimensional. Maggie Stiefvater builds layers upon layers, delivering more jaw-dropping twists even than in the previous book. Despite the modern setting, the depth of the story makes the impossible seem real. The writing has both subtle humour and poignancy. This is YA paranormal that manages to be totally unique, and I’ll be first in line for the next book!

jaz_loves_books's review against another edition

Oct 31, 2017: This is the second novel in The Raven Cycle quartet, which is about a group of friends searching for a long lost king in the hopes of waking him up. Except I don’t even know if that’s what this story is about anymore because it honestly didn’t feel very relevant until around the last page of the book. Then again, it does seem that Steifvater wanted to shift the focus of the plot to Ronan’s ability to bring things from his dreams into reality. That’s fine. I picked up this sequel because the first book left me curious enough to continue and there’s such high praise for this series, but I honestly felt rather bored reading this. I suppose I didn’t really have much interest in the plot or characters, and I felt like for a book as long as it was, it should have progressed the story more in the context of the series as a whole. I probably won’t be reading the next one.

frijol's review against another edition

5.0

How did you not see the homoerotic undertones, I marked 15 of them!

naarcizse's review against another edition

5.0

Loved to meet up with the team once again; I missed them! It was such a great second book, I really like it !

bookdragonism's review against another edition

5.0

This book blurred the lines between dreams and reality, good and bad, dragons and dream horrors, and broccoli and bacon which goes to say that The Dream Thieves was a VERY DELIGHTFUL READ.

Hands down to the witty dialogues and the exquisite character developments. I DEVOURED EVERY BLUE AND GANSEY MOMENT. I LOVE HOW RONAN SEEMS TO BE A SLYTHERIN AND A HUFFLEPUFF. I LIKE HOW ADAM EVOLVED FROM ANNOYING TO TOLERABLE. MY HEART ACHED FOR NOAH. AND THE GRAY MAN WAS SO GRAY OH GODS. This book made me laugh, scream (soundlessly), bite my nails, and shout "DRAGONS" because what else will a bookdragon do?

Some things I loved in this book: (warning: spoilers ahead)
-BLUE AND GANSEY WAAAAH
-Ronan being a very good mom to Chainsaw (is Ronan gay???)
-The Gray Man being physically and morally gray
-Blue finally dumping Adam
-Blue finally falling in love with Gansey
-My heart popping everytime I read "Gansey"
-The plot bomb called Joseph Kavinsky
-DRAGONS
-RAVENS
-DRAGONS AND RAVENS

I can't get enough of the Raven Cycle. Too much feels. FEELS. FEELS. FEELS. Bye. I'm going to keep screaming soundlessly here.

-R

xavierprice's review against another edition

5.0

I must be stopped.....

Must take a break before reading BLLB....

Bump that

proteinscollide's review against another edition

3.0

This might be my favourite of the series so far with the evocative, lovely writing of Ronan's dreams, which is a story idea that I do love and am fascinated by. PS I 100% would like one character not to have died here because I ship Ronan and that person something fierce.