Review: The Dream Thieves

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date ~ September 17, 2013
Scholastic
ISBN13: 9780545424943
Hardcover personally purchased

Goodreads 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...

The first thing I did after finishing The Raven Boys? I made a trip to the nearest bookstore to pick up The Dream Thieves, of course! The Raven Cycle is a very special series, one that I'm still kicking myself for waiting so long to read. And importantly, The Dream Thieves lived up to my (very high) expectations for a sequel to that fantastic read.

1. A seamless sequel:
   
   The Dream Thieves is a great example of a perfect transition from the first book to its sequel. The transition here was so fluid, it truly felt like a continuation of the same story. The Raven Boys was a very strong start to a series and The Dream Thieves simply builds on that foundation. The plot, world, and the characters are further developed and as a result, the reader is completely immersed in the story.
   
2. Particular attention is paid to Ronan:
   
   Ronan Lynch was introduced as one of the Raven Boys in the first book, but he was more of a background character. The Dream Thieves pays a significant amount of attention to both Ronan's back story and his present struggles. I appreciated the fact that characters aside from Blue and Gansey are given the attention they deserve and treated like people rather than plot devices and Ronan is a perfect example of this in The Dream Thieves.
   
3. One of the most romantic scenes ever:
   
   Romance isn't a must-have for me in a book, but I appreciate a great love story as much as any other reader! The love story in The Raven Cycle hasn't been at all what I expected prior to starting the series, but I'm so pleased with it. For readers who love gradual, swoon-worthy love stories with ever-mounting tension The Dream Thieves captures this story flawlessly. 

Admittedly, there were a couple subplots which I had a harder time trying to fit into the overall story (such as The Gray Man and Kavinsky) which felt somewhat out of place and forced compared to the remainder of the book. That being said, this was fairly minor for me and didn't detract from my overall reading experience.

I love the magic in this series, and I was absolutely blown away by how great of a sequel The Dream Thieves is compared to The Raven Boys as an introduction to The Raven Cycle. Maggie Stiefvater's writing is magical in and of itself, but the world she created here is incredibly intoxicating!