Book Review: Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: September 2013
Pages: 416
Source: e-book from Library
For: Fun
Series: Raven Cycle, Book 2

Summary from goodreads: *Spoilers are inevitable for the first book*

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...

Things I Liked:
This is kind of a strange and unique story.  I love how fascinating it is to see the different characters, all of whom are very detailed and real.  They have interesting interactions and they make decisions that seem in character and they deal with the real consequences.  But also, there's magic and it is woven very neatly into the real world.  Very well written and compelling in its ideas.  I'll read more.

Things I Didn't Like:
I have to admit, I didn't much care for anyone in the story this time.  I do like Gansey more than I did before and I felt real compassion for Adam and all he dealt with.  I still hate Ronan and didn't much care for Blue either.  I felt like there was a lot of really vague stuff going on in this one.  Nothing seemed clear or made much sense.  A lot of weird things happened and I kept waiting for Stiefvater to explain, but I was left pretty much wanting.  I don't know if it's my distracted reading, but I thought it was not clear enough for me.  I don't quite grasp how the magic works in her world.  I want to, though.  Also, there was just a touch too much f-bomb dropping for my taste.

Read-alikes:
It reminded me of Stiefvater's Lament and Ballad
It reads kind of like an Arthurian legend

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$
plenty of f-bombs throughout

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->->
quite a lot of violence, but not really on page, it just felt very violent

Overall rating: *** or ****

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