Book Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: September 2013

439 pages, hardcover

Check out the synopsis on Goodreads.

I cannot fathom reading a series more powerful, magical, spellbinding, or beautiful as the Raven Cycle books. Diving into one of these books is a completely mesmerizing experience. These pages don’t want to let you go, and honestly, I don’t want them to either. It’s hard to put into words how absolutely amazing these books are. I love Maggie’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series too, but the Raven Cycle series perfectly fits her writing.

The prose (and book and characters and settings) feel otherworldly in a way that other books just don’t for me, even if they are about aliens or fantastical creatures. I said this in my review of The Raven Boys, but it’s as if you can feel the magic rubbing off the pages and settling onto your fingers. The experience of reading a Raven Cycle book is completely and utterly magical.

Okay, so I should probably talk about the plot, right? I don’t want to give too much away that could be potentially spoilery, so this review might just be super gushy about why I love everyone in this book. Ronan, who I think you’re meant to be uncertain about in the first novel, is the focus in this one. I really came to adore him throughout The Dream Thieves. I didn’t feel that warm and cuddly toward him in the first, but I just wanted to hug him a lot in this one. Also, Gansey. Oh, dear God, Gansey. I liked him in The Raven Boys, I think, in part, due to the fact that I could really relate to his passion, his need to find Glendower. But in The Dream Thieves, I fell in love with him. He’s so…swoon-worthy.

In The Dream Thieves, we get dream thieves. Shocking, I know. This is such an interesting idea! People who can pull things from their dreams. I loved that, even after we found out that sometimes it can be dangerous, especially when the ability is abused.

Like in my review of The Raven Boys, I want to give you a few examples of just how beautiful Maggie’s prose is. I reread these sentences a few times because they were…amazing (which feels like a completely inadequate word to describe this book).

“Anything that didn’t impale itself on the sharp line of the sleeping boy’s cruel mouth would be tangled in the merciless hooks of his tattoo, pulled beneath his skin to drown.” – 34

“It was a sort of ferocious, quiet beauty, the sort that wouldn’t let you admire it. The sort of beauty that always hurt.” – 364

“And Ronan did. Because Niall Lynch was a forest fire, a rising sea, a car crash, a closing curtain, a blistering symphony, a catalyst with planets inside him. And he had given all of that to his middle son.” – 370

I can’t tell you how many times throughout this book that I went, “Jesus. That’s good” or “Ugghhh. I will never write something as beautiful and lovely as this book.”

The bottom line: Read it. Do it for your soul.

Rating: 10 – Perfection. One of the best books I’ve ever read (one of the super rare 10s I give out on my blog)

Reading next: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. Thank goodness I had an e-ARC of this.

WWW Wednesday [October 1]

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three questions: (As always, all titles are linked to their corresponding Goodreads pages)

• What are you currently reading?

I am reading The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. I absolutely LOVED The Raven Boys so I’ve been looking forward to reading this one for a while, and since Blue Lily, Lily Blue comes out this month (and I have an e-ARC) I figured I should get on that. I’m only a few pages in so far and I’m already feeling the magic.

 

• What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer. I liked it, but it didn’t live up to being compared to The Devil Wears Prada. I’ll be doing a review of it over on WatchPlayRead, but what I will say for now is that it took a long time for things to happen and the ending was a bit too perfect.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

I’ll be reading an e-ARC of Oh Yeah, Audrey! and then The Night Circus (FINALLY!). I’m looking forward to both of these, but mostly The Night Circus because so many people have recommended it to me and told me that they loved it. Can’t wait! But I know I need to go in with a clear head and not all these expectations.

What about you? What are you reading? What did you just finish? And what’s next?

Teaser Tuesday: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. It’s super easy: open your current read to a random page and share two sentences from that page – but make sure you don’t spoil the book!

I thought this sounded like a lot of fun, so here we go!

My current read is Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. I opened it to a random page – 218 – and these are the sentences I’d like to tease you with:

But Ronan felt nothing but that fiery, empty cavern in his chest. He slid himself into the driver’s seat as Gansey shut the passenger door.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to read more. I’m just starting this one, so I’ve got those sentences to look forward to.

 

If you participate in Teaser Tuesday, link me up! Or if you don’t, tease me with your current read in the comments!