Early Review – The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, Book 2) by Maggie Stiefvater (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 416 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: September 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0545424943
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Raven Cycle
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Raven Cycle by Stiefvater. I got a copy of it from NetGalley(dot)com for review. It was a very good book. It again switches between many viewpoints, but that seems to work well for these books.

In the last book our characters awoke the ley lines of Cabeswater and now they are dealing with the consequences. Adam has changed and is struggling with these changes. Ronan is having dreams that come alive. Gansey is just as obsessed as ever with unraveling the mysteries of the ley lines. Blue is stuck between the three of them, drawn to the mystery and worried about the future that’s been foretold for her. Now a Grey Man has come to Cabeswater and the Raven Boys will never be the same.

This is another interesting book by Stiefvater, her books always have a bit of a dreamlike quality to them. We spend a lot of time following the characters around in their day to day lives and watching the mystery slowly unravel.

This is really Ronan’s book. Most of it is about him dreaming and taking things out of his dreams and making them real. It’s about the impact his dreaming has on the world and what it means.

I am curious as to Blue’s role in things. In this book she was definitely in the sidelines. She was kind of a sidekick, she helped out some. Aside from her curse about the first boy she loves and kisses dying, she didn’t have a whole lot more background added.

As I mentioned above, the story bounces a lot between characters, sometimes with multiple viewpoints in a chapter. This got confusing a couple of times, but actually worked fairly well for the story. Having all these POVs did let us see into all the characters thoughts which was intriguing. Unfortunately all these POVs also slow down the story. It has also made it so it takes a long time to engage with the characters.

The story is an interesting one involving ley lines and magic. As with all of Stiefvater’s books it moves very slowly for the majority of the book and then everything happens all at once at the end.

Overall it was a good read. I enjoy the dreamy style of Stiefvater’s writing and am really starting to enjoy the characters as well. I am curious as to where this story is going. I will definitely read future books in this series because it is an intriguing story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Young Adult Reading Challenge