The Dream Thieves No Spoiler Book Review
Hey lovelies!
Today I am going to be doing a book review for The Dream
Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater! This is the second book in The Raven Cycle, the
first being The Raven Boys. I highly suggest having read that before reading
this review because it may contain spoilers for the first book! (But not for
the second book!)
I had read The Raven Boys last month but wasn’t able to pick
up the rest of the series due to being distracted by other books BUT I finally
picked it up and although there were a few things I was a little confused and
lost on, it wasn’t very much!
If you have not read the first book in the series, I suggest not reading this as it will contain spoilers! I do however have a book review for the first book up on my blog if you are interested!
If you have not read the first book in the series, I suggest not reading this as it will contain spoilers! I do however have a book review for the first book up on my blog if you are interested!
But let’s just get started with the review!
About the book.
Series: The Raven Cycle (Book 2)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 488
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Synopsis: 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… (source)
Synopsis: 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… (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Magic Realism
Recommended for: Anyone 12+.
OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
My thoughts.
{ WRITING }
Okay, let me just begin by saying how much I adore Maggie
Stiefvater’s writing! It’s incredibly unique and flows so well and is so
descriptive! She can just transport me to another world with her unqiue prose.
The writing is also quite subtle and shows more than actually tells. Her
writing works so well with the style of the book and really enhances the
setting, characters and plot and is one of my favourite aspects of the book!
Also, can we talk about how freaking quotable she is? I
wanted to highlight and mark all these lines in the book because they were just
so fabulous and poetic and well expressed!
{ IDEA }
I don’t have a whole lot to say for idea because this is a
second book and it wasn’t very different to the idea of the first book, which I
discussed in the first no spoiler book review but this one is undoubtedly more
Ronan’s book.
He is on the front cover, on the synopsis and his ability is
what is the main subject of the book. But while we are on the topic of his
ability, let me just say how COOL IT IS! Being able to pull things out of
dreams is actually a concept I have NEVER heard of and it was brought to life
so well! (Even though I had some confusion about it but more of that in the
next section!)
I didn’t mind how it was more Ronan’s book but everyone on
booktube and bookstagram and any book blogger always talked about how this book
is what was going to make me fall in love with Ronan and unfortunately, I
didn’t feel it!
Yes the book was great and yes the character of Ronan is
great but I didn’t feel that much different towards Ronan than I did in the
first book (but I talk about that more in the characters section!)
{ PLOT }
The plot of this book wasn’t bad, but I feel it didn’t
progress much from the first book. There wasn’t much related to the overall
plot of the book about Glendower and focused more on Ronan and his troubles and
attitude and backstory, which I didn’t mind but it didn’t make me love the book
AS MUCH as I would have thought I would!
Also, with Maggie’s books, I feel like it’s very hard to
tell what’s real and what’s not so when I was reading The Dream Thieves, I was
doubting whether or not Ronan could actually steal from dreams and dream the
way he did dream and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not but it did leave
me a bit puzzled.
{ CHARACTERS }
I think characters are the strongest part of this series
overall. Yes, it focuses on the plot but it’s actually a very character driven
story and I felt a little disappointed by the characters because there wasn’t much
development for them!
I felt there could have been development and discovery which
would have added more interest to the book!
{ FINALLY }
This has been a very short review for my standards but fear
not, I’ve got reviews for the next two books on their way which is why I’ve
kept this one a little shorter than usual! I did overall enjoy this book but it
wasn’t AS GOOD as everyone said it was and definitely my least favourite out of
the series even though I gave it a higher rating than the first book (which I lowered
because of how confused I was at the start!)
I still do recommend you read it because it is fabulous and
the next two books get even better!
OVERALL BOOK RATING:
★★★★
10 happy thoughts
OOOh I am so glad that the next books get better! I liked the first book, but like you, I was kind of confused and didn't feel the overwhelming love that everyone else did. But still, 4 stars is a solid book, and the fact that the writing is so great and the characters are nice (albeit didn't have huge progress in this book!) is worth it- and honestly, the fact that you liked the next two AND felt the same as me about book 1 makes me want to continue! Thanks for the great review!
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOSH I AM SO GLAD TO HAVE FOUND ANOTHER SOUL WHO THINKS/FEELS THE SAME WAY! sO TRUEEE!!!
DeleteYay! Glad you finally read the next book! I totally feel like I understand Ronan better after reading this book, it still doesn't excuse his act and rudeness but I kinda know and connect with him better... But you're right, it doesn't make me fall in love with him. I guess the series as a whole doesn't progress much in plot.. I mean each book's plot is barely moving forward the story :D I feel like this is one of those character driven books, so everything depends on the characters :D
ReplyDeleteTasya // The Literary Huntress
YES I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! This book is so much more character driven than plot and unfortunately I didn't fall in love with Ronan the way everyone said I would!
DeleteI'm with you! I love Ronan, but he's not my fave even after this book. I have a veeery soft spot for Gansey, haha. And I agree with the confusion... the plot/world is just so complex that it's a bit hard to keep track of what's real and what's not. Glad to hear that overall you enjoyed it, though. <3
ReplyDeleteMy soft spot is for Adam for sure! And thanks for commenting! :)
DeleteYAAAAS her writing is so gorgeous, and the QUOTES. THE QUOTES I TELLS YA. I think The Dream Thieves is probably my favourite out of the series :)
ReplyDeleteALL HAIL MAGGIE STIEFVATER *bows down*
DeleteMaggie's writing is amazing! She's one of my autobuy authors because of it.
ReplyDeleteShame you didn't enjoy this as much as the rest of the series :( It was personally my favourite book of the four, but I did read it immediately upon release with minimal hype so that might have helped??
Either way I agree there was less Glendower mystery in this one, but you get a tonne of that in the next two books (which you may know if you've already read them haha). So many twists and turns to keep you guessing!!
YESS! And I totally wish I read it before all the hype bc hype just ruins books for me :/
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