The Dream Thieves

I enjoyed this book so much more than The Raven Boys. I feel like in this book, I really got to know each of the characters more and I really got to start making predictions about what is to come.

While I have made a few small predictions, I still have no idea where this story as a whole is headed. I know I am only halfway through the series so there is a lot of story left, but I'm still very unsure of the overall direction.

This book started and ended with secrets and I really, really liked that. It was great parallelism that tied the book together. That being said, there was also quite the cliffhanger at the end and I'm very curious to where this leads us for Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

This was much better than the first for a couple of reasons, namely I find Ronan an infinitely more interesting character than the other 3 (living) leads. There was also a lot more action and less Blue being a typical YA girl even though she's so ~weird~ and has such a ~weird~ life. I also liked the larger role of Persephone and Maura.
Making the magic of dream control and real world manifestation more complicated by adding additional “Greywarens” (or at least allowing other regular Joes to have the same abilities without the control) seems unnecessarily complicated - the rules of the world in the Raven Cycle books are already pretty iffy and this is only book 2. I would like Stiefvater to give more explanation of these rules instead of just adding more and more elements that make things confusing.
The family drama of Mr. Grey's was also weird and went unexplained. If he could have just shot his brother so easily, why didn't he do so years ago? How can the encouragement of a near stranger (Maura) suddenly make him “brave” enough to finally do it, and then it's just so easy? If his brother was so cunning and sociopathic, he wouldn't have just followed in a car and put himself in a vulnerable position, even if he was grossly underestimating Grey. It was a silly subplot that added nothing to the book, though the Mr. Grey character himself was interesting.
In conclusion, Chapter 56 is the best chapter.

Oh, to be wild in the summertime. To eat magic for breakfast and possibility for dessert. To taste immortality at the bottom of a bottle or the tip of a pill. To be seated on top of a roaring engine, to have a bank account like a bottomless pit, to have a well of dreams to build castles for your friends and a prison for yourself.

What it would be, to be a magical teenage boy.

Now that we've set the mood, how about some tunes? Barring actually listening to a symphony of rubber tearing over asphalt, I recommend Kavinsky's OutRun album (preferably “Deadcruiser” or “Testarossa Autodrive,” though Stiefvater slants towards “Blizzard” according to her Tumblr), and we're good to go.

So, Ronan Lynch. This kid's got issues. Still reeling from the horribly violent death of his father and the mandate in the will that's kept him from his childhood home, one of his close friends is a ghost, another made a deal with a magical forest, and the last is revolving around a tenuous future that banks on the location of a centuries dead Welsh King. Meanwhile, Ronan's dreams are becoming reality, many of which are pretty ugly. When he isn't venting his anger through lashing out at his friends and slamming car doors, he's balling his rage into a duel of sexual frustration and combustion engines with Aglionby's resident Buglarian gangster brat, (the aptly named) Joseph Fucking Kavinsky.

Kavinsky and Ronan stalk each other like vultures hungry for each other's meat. Their confusion about themselves becomes a relationship of competition and self-destruction, and even a competition of self-destruction. One second Kavinsky is despicable in Ronan's eyes, the next he's got shoulders as “beautiful as a corpse.” The feeling is clearly mutual. They are two angry lonely boys, but one is much lonelier and angrier than the other, and slowly, with Stiefvater's careful don't-call-it-a-plot-but-I'll-be-damned-if-it-isn't-a-climax pacing, emerges one exhilaratingly obnoxious teenage villain. You don't know whether you want to spit on him, hug him or cheer him on when he throws Molotov cocktails at his own car.

How do you chase death and destruction and be simultaneously convinced that you're invincible? Ronan is realizing his life was nothing but vapor, that he was raised in a house built on dream things, and he keeps falling in love with things that want to eat him. Adam and Gansey are both recognizing the futility of their missions in life, that they may never get what they truly want, but they don't know how to stop. And Blue, the smartest of the bunch, begins to understand that even if her inevitable love story is a tragic one, it's still a love story, one made of magic, wonder and her impossible boys.

Stiefvater has a gift for the impossible, making the intangible feel as real as shit. Her words let you taste the Henrietta air, smoking with magic the way lightning singes the atmosphere. You can feel the ley lines as distinctly as Adam does, you can smell the ammonia in Ronan's dreams. There are freaking psychics running around consulting their tarot cards and turning over stones in people's back yards, while a hit man drives around in a champagne-colored rental car and takes Blue's mother out on a date. Like I said in my Raven Boys review – real and unreal.

I think it should be obvious by now that I absolutely love this book. It's explosive in a way that The Raven Boys wasn't, which suits its primary protagonist, and instead of meandering happily the way the first book did, it barrels forward. Where is it going? Hard to say, this is Stiefvater we're talking about. If you're looking for a refined, organized plot you will never get one from her. She's all about the journey, the ride, fuel burning up in the engine. My advice? Get in the damn car.

it's always nice when you grow to like a character that was previously lacklustre. this happened with Ronan with me in this book. excited to see what happens next.
there were so many scenes i highlighted being like... is this Ronan being gay or is this the author making a point about homoerotic masculinity?? i think it could be both

Blue whispered furiously, “Don't be un — un —”“Couth? Uncouth?”“Disrespectful! My grandmothers are both dead.”“Well, Jesus. What did they die of?”“Mom always said ‘meddling.' ”

Ohhh this did not end well, at all.
Overall, the book was lovely. There were a lot of stupidly cool dialogues in this book that I bookmarked. I had to use Google Translate a loooot while reading this book. Also, give Adam a break already. Jesus!

I've also found a superb line to use at my colleagues at office when they don't make any sense (which is 99% of the time),

“No, you used nouns and verbs together in a pleasing but illogical format.”

Who's heard of second book syndrome?? Not The Dream Thieves, I can tell ya that much. So so so good!!! I am so invested in these characters. I swear I'm seeing things everywhere that remind me of these books. I saw a person the other day in front of an ice cream shop that looked exactly the way I picture Richard Campbell Gansey III. I love the way Ronan's character is progressing, and really how all the the characters are developing. I was living for the angst of Blue and Gansey's suppressed feelings for each other, and Adams rejection was painful but necessary. I love the dynamic between Maura, Calla, and Persephone. It's always a treat when we get to spend time with the adults of the story. And what a surprise the Gray Man was. Who knew a hit man could be so strangely wholesome. As far as villains go, Kavinsky was not my cup of tea. He was super annoying though, so I guess job well done. The villains so far have been a little weak, imo, but that doesn't really matter to me. This is a character heavy series and I'm loving it so far. Can't wait to start the next one. It's been so long since I've read a series, let alone one that I really loved.

So I've surpassed my good reads target for 2017 and now I'm trying really hard to continue on with series I've started this year trying where I can to progress them and keep myself engaged before too much time passes and I lose touch with the characters and plotlines. I read The Raven Boys a few months ago and having heard really good things about the second book in the series it made sense to delve into The Dream Thieves and spend some more time with Blue and her Aglionby boys.

Book 2 is a direct continuation from The Raven Boys and picks up immediately from where we left our characters but what becomes clear about this book is that it is going to be focused on Ronan Lynch, the darkest and most dangerous of the group of Raven Boys. With the reveal at the end of The Raven Boys that Ronan was able to take things from his dreams and bring them into the real world, we were left wondering just how this would link into the story of Gansey's search for Glendower the lost Welsh King.

To be honest this book didn't progress Gansey's search for Glendower by much. This book is really about Ronan exposing his secret to his friends and then exploring how it links to his past and his father's death and coming to terms with how to use and control the power that he has. All of this is done against the ticking timebomb of people who are trying to find the mysterious Greywarren an object which is allegedly linked to the gift Ronan has.

Initially, I struggled to gel with the book, for the first few chapters I considered putting it down and coming back to it later but slowly I kept going and then bit by bit I realised I was working my way through it and actually fairly quickly. I became more engaged by Ronan's story and actually one of the characters I probably wasn't meant to like became my saviour, Kavinsky. Kavinsky was like a breath of fresh air. He was a little bit dangerous, lurking around on the sidelines and then suddenly he became a vital part of this book and any chapters which featured Ronan and Kavinsky shone for me. I am sure I was not meant to like him quite so much but against the lack of plot movement in this book he was a shaft of light.

I am still struggling a little with Adam's character as the books progress, he has gone from being quite a stand up trustworthy guy to being dark and a little isolated from the other boys. His ongoing need to do everything alone and to raise himself from the circumstances of his birth is beginning to grate a little. Yes he does work towards redemption towards the end of this book but I found I didn't enjoy reading about him as much this time around.

I am still in love with Gansey, he didn't feature as strongly in this book as the search for Glendower took a back seat but he is still the father figure, the one watching out for everyone and I love that he and Blue are starting to draw together and any time they were together on the page was lovely. But can we just take a moment to talk about Noah, and that kiss! That was one of the really standout moments in this book for me.

I enjoyed this book but I couldn't give it a 5 star rating because for me Ronan's story was almost a standalone book that could have been read apart from the Glendower story. I'm hoping that book number 3 will return to the central story and will allow our characters to be more evenly featured in the narrative.

I think I'm falling in love with Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle series. The Dream Thieves is book 2 in this series and it takes off from where the first left off. Blue, self-proclaimed anti-psychic, lives in a world of magic. Where she and her friends from an all boy school are on the hunt for the grave of a long lost king.

In this second tome, the book focuses on Ronan, the self-destructive one of the bunch, and the shy but changed Adam. The two boys are growing into their powers and seem to be tied to the Cabeswater area. They learn how to use their powers for good (and some bad) and in the end, they grow stronger in their abilities to help the group.

Like I said, I love this series. Stiefvater's language is magic and so is the world of Henrietta. I love that this story combines a hero's journey with tarot and magic. As a tarot reader, it pleases me to see the cards used correctly. It's also fun to sneak peeks into Blue's family house and watch their banter together.

The only thing I'm disappointed in is that it's going to be a bit of a wait for the next book.

Bottom line: if you love stories filled with magic, hope, tarot, and adventure buy this book.

Second read:
I'm not sure why I was confused or sad the first time, but I'm so excited to continue my reread/continuation of this series! I'm picking up so much more this time around.

First read:
I burst down the Goodreads door, screamingI can't believe I've just finished this book! I am extremely glad to be back in this world (

I couldn't put this book down. I really enjoyed it but wow! So many F words. I almost quit after a few chapters, but the storyline and characters kept me reading. It would have been such a great book if Ronan and Kazinsky would have stuck with speaking English and Latin and not used so much bad language.

muitos nadas acontecem durante o livro inteiro (mas melhora no fim).
Até parece que é o segundo livro de uma trilogia (inclusive medo do próximo livro ser só mais uma combinação de nadas que acontece).

Eu entendo que é um livro sobre evolução de personagens. É um livro pra você entender motivações e personalidades de cada um, mas sinto que a história praticamente não avançou de um livro pro outro e senti muita falta disso!

Também não curti muito o que a autora parece estar fazendo com o Noah. Como a história dele é meio que contada no primeiro livro, ele (até então) perdeu um pouco da sua utilidade. A impressão que eu tenho é que agora o Noah mais parece um mascote do grupo do que de fato um personagem com personalidade própria e sentimentos.

Vamos ver o que o terceiro livro me reserva.

The Dream Thieves is a sequel to The Raven Boys, which is something I (to be honest, surprisingly) enjoyed. In this one the focus is set more on Ronan Lynch, who is one of the “Raven boys” who didn't get as much attention in the last one.

Sequels are very good at making you realize what you do or do not like about a certain book, and in this one I realized it's basically just the kids I sort of care about. There's lots of fun in here with interpersonal relationships and conflicts and certain events that happen, but it didn't really excite me as much I thought it would and unfortunately I think that means I'm going to leave this series here. I still think it's good and enjoyable and maybe I'll get curious about it again someday and pick it up again, but not right now.

quite possibly the most queercoded book i've ever read. “i know what you are.” , “ronan lynch lived with every sort of secret.” I COULD GO ON !!! okay but to find out that ronan is canonically not straight is the best thing that has ever happened to me i'm so happy. I liked Kavinsky. There I said it. he was annoying as shit and borderline obsessed with ronan but it was CUTE ok ?!!?! i really liked him :'( anyway the whole thing going on with blue and gansey like WHAT IS THIS !!! JUST GET TOGETHER !!! also we all know adam is gay maggie literally spelling it out for us