The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle, #2
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: September 17, 2013

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...

Ronan Lynch lived with every sort of secret. His first secret was himself. He was brother to a liar and brother to an angel, son of a dream and son of a dreamer.

The Raven Boys was one of my favorite reads of 2012 - but for some reason, I was just dragging butt on this one. I had it, but I was waiting until I was "in the mood" for it. Thanks to Nitzan from Drugs Called Books, I read this much sooner than I would have if left to my own devices, because she made me re-read the end of The Raven Boys. So thanks for that, girly!

I don't know if y'all know this, but The Dream Thieves is told through Ronan's point of view, with select chapters from other characters. I quite enjoyed Ronan, because A) I have a huge book crush on him, and B) I can relate to a lot of the things that he does, even if I can't relate to others. He can do something totally awesome, *hint hint dreams* and he actually does care for people behind that tough facade. He may seem like a jerk, but trust me he's not. Really.

Adam was still kind of closed off and slightly awkward in this one - I don't really think that he truly understands what he's done via the ley line. (To tell you the truth, I only just figured it out myself!) I feel that maybe Adam was a little stifled - they're all watching him very closely, so they can make sure that nothing bad happens to him.

Noah wasn't in this one as much as he was in the first book. I'm not sure why, but in the long run it didn't really bother me, because whenever he was there he was welcomed. He does something so sweet and hilariously cute, though. You don't even know! I laughed. But it was still so cute!

Blue stayed as complicated as she was in the first book, but I think that there was some development on her part - she kind of seems sweeter and more light to me? I'm not sure why. I do sometimes think that she's awfully dense, though. Hopefully there's a future for her and Gansey, because I just really want them to be together.

Speaking of Gansey, I still have a crush on him. He's such a nerd, but I think that we would get along. How is it that someone so quirky can survive with a political mother, though? I would think that his creativity would have died long ago...

The character relationships were pretty much amazing. I love everyone's interactions together, and I especially love the fact that in the alternating points of view, they think about each other. It's not like they ignore their existence when they're away - they think of each other even then. They think of how things will impact their group, and even if they make the mistake of doing it anyway... well, they thought about it, and I'm proud of that development in them all.

This is kind of off-subject, but I sometimes wonder if Blue's family is a representation of the three fates from Greek mythology, or maybe just based off of them? Because that would be so cool! (And weird! But mostly cool!)

There are several twist to this new installment of The Raven Cycle, but I can't reveal them because of spoilers! Just know that I'm proud of Blue and I'm also proud of Ronan. I never saw a lot of those twists coming, and they handled them well. All in all, I really enjoyed this one. I have high hopes for the next read in this series!