The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)

by Maggie Stiefvater

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
The Dream Thieves is a darkly beautiful story, with intricate, full-grown characters who continue to grow and evolve throughout the various plot-lines.

As always, when reading a Stiefvater novel, I was immediately transported to another world, with vivid characters, a dark but promising story, a mystery and plot-lines that slowly but surely got weaved together to make a whole picture. I couldn't even say what's my favorite part of her writing - I love that the characters are so well developed, and that they keep evolving and changing as the story and the plot is moved forward. The Dream Thieves is both character driven and plot-driven, both are important, and play together to show the complexity of all that is going on.

Another thing I really love in this series is that most of the characters have parents. Not ever-present, but still guidance from adults, and they have been loved, so they have that confidence that comes from feeling cherished - all except Adam have this certainty and it makes them more real in my eyes. The Dream Thieves delved deeper into the mystery of Henrietta, and that of Ronan Lynch. It was amazing how things unfolded, and as a reader, I learned what the characters learned, and while some aspects could have been guessed, I definitely didn't guess anything much in advance, it was as if Blue and her friends took me by the hand and brought me with them on their adventures.

Written in third person perspective, past tense, and with an omniscient narrator, we follow all of the important characters on parts of their quest - on others, we get what is being shared with the other characters, and that way, the readers perspective is switching as well - sometimes, I knew more than one character, but less than another, and this made me even more eager to continue reading to get to the center of it all. If you haven't started reading this series yet, I can only ask you: Why not?!? Pick it up! Let yourself be transported and slightly transformed by the epic story-telling and multi-faceted universe Stiefvater has created for our pleasure.

"And you, Ronan," Niall said. He always said Ronan differently from other words. As if he had meant to say another word entirely - something like knife or poison or revenge - and then swapped it out for Ronan's name at the last moment.

Gansey added, "I would've thought you had more muscles. Don't feminists have big muscles?" Decidedly not in love with him. "Smiling when you say that doesn't make it funny," Blue said.

The Gray Man clucked in disapproval. A locked door wouldn't have kept him out, of course, but it was the thought that counted. Actually, the Gray Man wasn't certain he believed that. It was the deed that counted.