The Dream Thieves

Surprisingly, I have been enjoying The Raven Cycle. I wasn't really drawn to this series or anything. I had it on my TBR pile, but I had other books by Maggie Stiefvater on my pile as well. I just knew that I wanted to try something by Stiefvater, and after some deliberation, this seemed like the best place for me to start. I jumped into this book a few days after reading the first book. I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy the second book as much as the first, but my fears were unfounded.

The Raven Boys ended on a huge note with a confession from the group's bad boy, Ronan Lynch, that he can pull objects from his dream, and I knew it wouldn't be long before I read the next book. I'm a sucker for dramatic cliffhangers. The Dream Thieves explores Ronan's abilities and gives readers a taste of the darker workings of Ronan's mind, which is understandable given he was the one who found his murdered father, a father who passed on this dream ability. Ronan isn't completely incapable of showing other emotions even if they are lined with barbed wire. While Ronan is a large focus of this novel, it doesn't forget to explore its other characters such as Adam Parrish who is trying to understand what his sacrifice to Cabeswater means while continuing to deal with what he feels is his own inadequacy, Blue Sargent who comes to terms with her feelings for Adam, and Gansey who isn't sure how to deal with Adam after the events in Cabeswater. This novel also brought Blue's psychic family to the forefront more, which was a welcomed treat.

Stiefvater's characters continue to be the high point of the book. Many books work hard to make you love their protagonists, but Stiefvater has created a cast of characters that feel "real." She certainly wants you to sympathize with her characters, but presenting characters with real flaws and strengths, characters that you may like one moment and loathe the next, trumps making her protagonists adored by the readers. However, I can't really say the same about the antagonists of her story. Once again, I'm only lukewarm toward her antagonists at best. They're one-dimensional, but this could just because of how the story is told. I think, for that reason, that her denouements where they're concerned often feel a bit fragile as if they're hanging on very tenuous threads. I don't much care for villainy for the sake of villainy if it doesn't feel like it connects to the overall story.

The search for Glendower feels secondary to the characters and their struggles. That's not necessarily a bad thing since I enjoy characters, but I am interested in seeing where this search leads the character and how it will continue to influence their friendship and decisions. Part of the reason I enjoyed the first book is because I enjoyed how the plot worked with the characters. In this book, that part of the story felt very stagnant and didn't make much forward progression. It's easy to overlook that the search didn't move very much because it's easy to be swept up in the various personal things that the characters are involved in and forget that they have this quest for something that's bigger than themselves. This still manages to be a very engaging story that will keep readers invested in these characters and their story.

Will Patton continues to be something of an anomaly for me as far as the narration goes for this story. I don't hate his narration, but I still teeter between thinking he's the best voice and thinking maybe he's not the best voice depending on the section he's reading. However, I can't dispute the emotion that he brings to the story with his reading, and for me, sometimes the passion a narrator uses for a story is more important than any other feeling I may have about the narration.

The Dream Thieves ends much like The Raven Boys with a cliffhanger that begs the reader to continue the story as soon as possible, and since it involves a character that this book made me love more than I thought possible, I'm already gearing up to read the next book.