Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

 

Series: The Raven Cycle (Book 2)

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Genre: Paranormal

Date of Publication: September 17, 2013

 

My Rating: 3 out of 4

Synopsis:

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys - a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface - changing everything in its wake.

Review:

I hate to say it, but the second book in The Raven Boys series fell flat for me. I am so disappointed, because I really wanted to love this book. It took me two months to read it--which is really saying something because I read the first book in about three days.

I would argue that more than half of this book could be removed and the reader would still know what's going on. The unnecessary filler and "character building" didn't serve it's purpose. For the majority of the novel it felt as though the plot were at a stand-still. It was such a struggle for me to finish it. If I had not already bought the third book, I would have put it down and been done with it.

My love for the characters and the story is the only thing that really kept me going. There were moments that I enjoyed and moments I didn't, but I can't rate this one higher due to the drop in momentum.

Oh, and there were so many F-bombs I lost count. That is something else that annoys me. I know we are talking about high school boys here, but it took away from the beauty of the work.

I hope the third book redeems the series.


Check out my review of The Raven Boys

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