Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Dream Thieves

If you know me, you know I'm super fussy with audiobook narrators and if it doesn't sit right with me, I can't get on with in.
Well not a problem with this series, I *really* enjoyed this and I think a lot of that is to do with Will Patton as the narrator who just oozes southern charm. He manages to make all the characters sound separate and without the women sounding like cheesy parodies (ok so I still think his voice for Persephone makes her sound like Family Guy's Consuela, but then at some point it is mentioned that she can appear both old and young at the same time, so maybe quite appropriate somehow?).
We saw quite a bit of growth in several of the boys and some interesting new characters, however this book is essentially Ronan's story, how he turned out like he did.
Without adding spoilers the finale involving Ronan's mum was just the icing on the cake.
Can we also mention the fact that the author makes some amazing music that is so perfect for the mood and is included at the end of the audio book? Just *chef's kiss*

Content Warnings

rookeatsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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sally___'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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atomicrobin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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trintrin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I genuinely don't think I can put my love for this book into words. So here's a list of all the things that made me go insane:

- Best boy Noah being fascinated by a snow globe, my hearttt
- Ronan throwing Noah out of the window AHAHAHAH
- Every Ronan/Noah interaction actually. Those two are comedy gold. Something about the way Ronan treats Noah like he would treat any other makes my insides tingle
- Chainsaw being so adorable :(( I really really hope they don't kill Chainsaw off just because it would be a tearjerker, I will actually kill myself
- Gansey being the bestest best friend you could ever ask for. The things I would do to have an irl Gansey.
- Like when he thought his car was wrecked and was so nervous he couldn't even bring himself to glance at the car. But then he saw Ronan smiling and just melted???
- "His face went somber for half a second, and then it dissolved into an absolutely wonderful and fearless laugh. The old Ronan Lynch’s laugh. No, it was better than that one, because this new one had just a hint of darkness beneath it. This Ronan knew there was crap in the world, but he was laughing anyway." KILL ME RN
- The Blue and Noah kissing scene just broke my heart
- The Blue and Gansey not-quite-kissing scene broke my heart as well
- The Blue and Adam no-kisses-for-you scene broke my heart way too much
- Ronan and Gansey casually flirting ("Am I in your dreams?" "Oh, yes, baby", "While I'm gone, dream me the world. Something new for every night." etc)
- Ronan and Gansey being canonically shipped together but Ronan seeing Gansey as more of a brother than Declan
- Ronan having erotic dreams about Adam??????????????????
- Ronan and Adam mask dream vs. irl scene ooooooof
- Ronan's many secrets and him struggling to admit everything to himself
- Ronan's conversation with Kavinsky helping him figure everything out. "You didn't say you don't swing that way" "No, I didn't"
- Just Ronan in general. His powers, his character, his humour, he's the absolute best part of the book. I thought he's gonna be one of those overdone bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold trope, but he's genuinely the best of them all.
- Blue's family made a lot more appearances and I'm happy. Calla and Persephone are amazing, I hope they never experience a tinge of sadness in their lives. Orla ("i'M fLeXiBLe") jkhadfs ~~me too~~.
- Ronan's childhood? For some reason I expected him to like hate his childhood or whatever but I'm so so glad we got to see him be that vulnerable. "Softly, just for Gansey, he asked, “Can I go and see Mom?”
- I still don't understand what's the issue with Declan. Matthew is adorable though. Protect him.
- Mr. Gray's character development ("I'm not a kidnapper"), his convo with those other thugs, him killing off his brother like a savage, his adoration for Maura (same, bestie)
- Adam running off like that. Adam being insecure. Adam thinking he's turning into his parents. Adam just not knowing what to do. Adam forgetting Gansey's phone number. Adam getting angry at everything. Adam not being with the others that much at all for the entire book. "Do you think you’re a train wreck?" "That would mean I was on the tracks to start with"
- Adam and Persephone working together in the end. That was very much needed
- Blue's pink switchblade. "They were a good pair. Both incapable of opening up without cutting someone."
- I loved Blue even more in this one. The way she's dealing with all this mess is quite mature for her age. I love how she takes absolutely no shits, be it from Adam or Ronan or Gansey (not Noah, ofc. My wittle Noah would never harm anyone)
- Wild!Gansey, Wild!Gansey, Wild!Gansey, Wild!Gansey, Wild!Gansey, Wild!Gansey
- Blue and Gansey's casual back and forth, the late night phone calls, the long drive together
- The casual banter between all of them in general. And the character dynamics. It's all so well done, literally every character (including the side characters) already made their way up my top characters of all time list
- The foreshadowing??? From the first book??? The way it all pays off???? So many things that I never caught on despite it being literally right. there.
- THE EPILOGUE!! I'm generally not a fan of epilogues but this one was beautiful??? I would even say it's the best part of the book

Other thoughts:

- There wasn't that much chemistry between Gansey and Blue in the last book, but I feel like it kinda improved with this one. It's still not the best (even Ronan and Kavinsky had better chemistry), but it's better ig? I can already tell it's only going to get better from here on. And I'm glad they're taking it slow.
- Adam slowly eroding my heart with the way he treats those who care about him. I'm glad he got a character development in the end cuz I don't think I could've continued reading with him staying that way. It's worse because I completely understand where he is coming from, but I wish it didn't have to be that way
- Mr. Gray?? Where did he even come from? Why the sudden change in character after years of being a hitman. Him and Maura getting that close that fast? I hope we get to see more of him in the next one cuz I need answers
- Considering I didn't care much for Glendower, I really like the plot of this book hehehe
- Kavinsky?? He got such an abrupt conclusion, I don't know what to make of him, but ok. He was interesting at the very least ig
- This book could've done well with some diversity but I'm not really complaining
- Except the internalised misogyny in the Orla scene made me so uncomfortable. Blue, all she's doing is wearing a bikini on a boat, is that so wrong? I understand why the boys were acting that way but Blue?? The feminist Blue who takes no shits from anyone?? The one that wears shredded t-shirts and has an unevenly chopped hair just to stand out??
- NOT ENOUGH NOAH. GIVE ME MORE NOAH
- Seriously though, I really wish Noah could be a solid part of the Raven squad now. Hopefully that is the case from the next book onwards. Since the ley line is fixed, there is absolutely no reason for Noah to stay out of all this

Overall, this book had fantastic characters and a fantastic plot. It might even rival with Crooked Kingdom on being my all time favourite book, and that's saying a lot!

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aztlan's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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girlgetsbook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Maggie Stiefvater has such a unique prose and way of structuring a story, nothing is too obvious and the story unravels itself slowly, like a secret (to use metaphors present in the book). Ronan's story is an example of this, it was so perfectly crafted in this book, the clues were there but nothing was revealed before its time. Another amazing thing about her writing is how much she's able to make us care about the characters, I'll admit Ronan wasn't super pleasant in book one and part of this book even, but the way I grew so attached to him by the end is insane and a testament to her ability to make sympathizing and complex characters. Speaking of complex characters, the Gray Man was a surprising addition to the cast of characters and I was shocked to see how well crafted he was and how he fit really well into the narrative (I much preferred his POV than the Latin teacher's, that's for sure).

I think I've said this about book one and I'll say this as well, if I was just a bit younger this would be my favorite series of all time, I just love the mixture of normal, daily life, it's ups and downs and struggles with some casual magic.

The major thing that took .75 star from my rating was probably a more personal thing for me. Though I appreciate Maggie for her exploration on the cycle of abuse, boy rage, toxic masculinity and ptsd – especially in Ronan and Kavinsky's characters and their relationship, and the intense representation of their emotions and their psyche through dreams, that beautifully crafted, and not something I've ever seen before – I still thought that in some moments those displays of anger and violence were directed towards the only female central character, Blue, which I guess makes it realistic since someone who is used to being the victim will try to intimidate someone who is more fragile than them, but I think the narrative would stand strong on this own without this (I also felt that this anger at times was maybe a product of a low-key character assassination? The way it was very purposeful how this one particular character seemed to target these two other characters maybe to push them closer to each other?).

I think maybe this is why I'm reluctant to put this series in my favorites, it is very much boy-centric, and very much outside of my comfort zone in that sense, I'm just used to female main characters or at least more than one if it's an assembly, I think if I had a teenage boy in my family I'd definitely recommend this series to him.

Another thing that made me like this book a bit less was the lack of Noah and the metamorphosis of Adam, but I understand that this was time to focus on other characters and I hope on future books they have a bigger role. My favorites are definitely Noah, Blue and Adam, in this order.

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