The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

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…

The love for Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series is so intense that it made me nervous to start it. I really didn't want to end up being the odd one out, that one person who didn't like it. So I ended up putting off reading the first book for years. Thankfully, I thoroughly enjoyed The Raven Boys and was excited to try the rest of the series and see where this ridiculously strange story was going. I'm sad to say that I didn't enjoy The Dream Thieves anywhere near as much as the first book. If you're interested in my thoughts on The Raven Boys, you can read my review here.

Me reading this... *yawn*

My biggest issues with this book was the pacing of it and the complete lack of actual plot. I am highly aware of the fact that I go on about pacing all the frigging time, but that is because I feel it is so vital to a good story. Good narrative pacing is vital to good storytelling. Unfortunately, this book suffered from very poor narrative pacing, nothing really happens until the last 50 pages or so. Which brings me along nicely to the fact that this book seemed to have a distinct lack of plot. There honestly wasn't much happening in this book, and it was utterly frustrating to me whilst reading. Much of the book seemed wasted on really pointless street racing, dull dream thieving and very little else until the last fifty pages.

This series utterly confused me at times, with the lack of explanations and weird actions of our characters. There were times when I felt a little lost while reading. I feel the best way for me to review this book is to go through and look at my thoughts on the individual characters.

Blue: I really, really liked Blue in The Raven Boys. She is strong and has confidence in herself and who she is, although she does have her struggles. Nothing really happens with Blue in this book, as it focuses very heavily on Ronan. I actually missed Blue in this book, so I can only hope that the next book shines the spotlight more on her. There was one scene in this book between Blue and Noah that seemed to come completely out of the blue, pardon the pun, which was just really weird and perplexed me. If you have read it, then you know what I am referring to. I missed Blue in this, I really hope the next book focuses on her - I would hope so, given the name is Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

Adam: Oh Adam, sometimes I love you and then other times I want to knock some sense into you. Adam is like the walking embodiment of pride, and makes it obvious why that is seen as a deadly sin. He was so frustrating at times, and it makes his character hard to deal with. He never wants to accept help, ever, even when it is needed. At times, his need to do everything for himself seems admirable, at other times it just seems that he allows his pride to get in his way. He wasn't very likeable in this book.

Basically me every time Adam refused much needed help!

Gansey: I can't help but love Gansey. I hadn't warmed to him by the end of The Raven Boys, he's rich, entitled and could be down right rude without ever seeming to realise it. His obsession with Glendower sometimes borders on the completely insane. But, he's also very funny and charming, and I just came to love his character over the course of this book. I was surprised to see his search for Glendower be so easily put to the side, while he was off wasting time helping his mother in her political pursuits.

Noah: Oh dear, poor Noah. The cats finally out the bag about the whole being dead thing. So I had thought that Noah might finally be able to gain a personality and not just kind of be there in the background. Nope, he still has zero personality and doesn't really seem to have a reason to be here, except for that really awkward scene with Blue. At this point, I've given up hoping for him to become a more fleshed out character.

Ronan: When I read The Raven Boys, I felt like Ronan was the most fascinating character and that is most definitely true. Even more so now we know he can bring things out of his dreams. This book is Ronan's book, the story centres completely on him. Sadly, I felt there just wasn't much of a real plot there. He just takes part in some street racing, and then learns how to dream thieve better. That is it. It isn't exactly the most riveting stuff. To me that isn't a plot, it gets old real fast. He also drove me absolutely crazy with the amount of completely stupid decisions he made throughout this book. The only fascinating development here is how absolutely in love/lust he is with Gansey, the boy wants the d so bad.

Kavinsky: Kavinsky shows up again in this book. He is the stereotypical bad boy from every 90s teen flick ever - The 'I'm so tough, I sell drugs and street race' act just does not work. My eyes were rolling so hard every time that guy opened his mouth. He felt far too much like a cardboard character at first, I was happy to see that there was more to his character, it just took a while to find it. We do actually get to see his motivations as the book went on. He turned out to be a much more complex character than I had first thought. He's a very angry man, probably because he is soooooooooooo sexually repressed and afraid of his own feelings - it made him a rather bitter person. He was quite fascinating, but not the greatest antagonist.

The Grey Man: This book sees the arrival of the Grey Man, a hit man who is on a job in Henrietta, searching for something called the Greywarren. I have to admit to being unbelievably confused by how others reacted to his character. Everyone acted as though they were totally okay with the fact he is a hit man, who essentially kills people for a living. No one seemed to think that was a big deal or acts even slightly put off by it. On the contrary, they strike up friendships with the guy or go one dates with him?!? What the actual fuck? That is not how sane, rational human beings behave. I also hated the insta-love storyline he was involved in.

Who goes on a date with a hit man? Seriously?

Most of my issues with this book are summed up in my feelings for the characters themselves. My biggest issues were the lack of plot and the poor pacing, I can't get over it. I wish a lot more had been happening in this book. The problem here is that it was just a build up to the next book, it's not a story in its own right with a clear plot. It just seems to be there to lay the groundwork for what is coming next and, honestly, it was boring. I really hope the next book is better, if not then I am going to be calling bullshit on this series' hype.

I do know that so many of you love this series, and I'd love to know what you thought of this instalment. Did you love it? Did you appreciate it more after reading the next book? Which is your favourite book and least favourite book in this series? And, most importantly, did you think that Blue Lily, Lily Blue was better than this book? Should I continue?

2/5 Butterflies