"All of us have secrets in our lives. We’re keepers or keptfrom, players or played. Secrets and cockroaches — that’s what will be left at the end of it all."
My Rating: ★★★★≛
Genre(s): Young Adult, Paranormal, Supernatural Fantasy
Publication: September 17, 2013 (Scholastic Press)
***CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE RAVEN BOYS***
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:
While The Raven Boys was a compelling start to a totally unique story in an engaging paranormal fantasy world, The Dream Thieves almost makes it look mundane in comparison. Not only are the stakes higher in this second book in The Raven Cycle series, but the magic becomes exponentially more impossible and far more fascinating. What could be more interesting than a time-bending forest where the trees speak Latin, you ask? Apparently, the answer is Ronan Lynch.
“He was brother to a liar and brother to an angel, son of a dream and son of a dreamer.”
At the end of The Raven Boys, Ronan reveals to his friends that his beloved pet raven, Chainsaw, was taken out of his dreams. As it turns out, Ronan is something called the Greywaren -- a supernatural being who is capable of pulling things from his dreams and into reality, as well as interacting and shaping his dreams as they occur. This is such a cool an unexpected form of magic, and the way that Stiefvater develops Ronan's abilities is totally original. While Ronan is perhaps the most powerful dreamer, he doesn't actually know how to dream objects into reality, and it often happens by accident. Not only is this dangerous for Ronan, but it could be potentially deadly to those he cares about, depending on what he dreams. In order for Ronan to learn to control his dreaming, he forms an unlikely alliance with another dreamer, who is perhaps even more reckless and self-destructive than Ronan.
“He danced on the knife’s edge between awareness and sleep. When he dreamt like this, he was a king. The world was his to bend. His to burn.”
Ronan's journey to becoming a good dreamer is not only captivating because of the endless possibilities of his brand of magic -- his determination to use his gift to become useful and, in his mind, solidify his friendship with Gansey make up an engaging inner conflict and provide further insight into his need to be loved. It is this need that drives Ronan into a toxic relationship with a dreamer despite the knowledge that he is nothing but a danger to Ronan and his friends. While Ronan may come off as not much more than a reckless delinquent in the first book, this second book begins to reveal his complexities, which make him one of the most interesting characters I've read about -- and he's easily one of my favorites.
“'While I'm gone,' Gansey said, pausing, 'dream me the world. Something new for every night.'”
While this book has a much greater focus on Ronan, the search for Glyndwr is still central to the plot, and it continues to fuel the overarching theme of the search for purpose -- particularly with respect to Adam. Following the death of Barrington Whelk and Adam's bargain with Cabeswater, Blue and her Raven Boys are uncertain as to the next step in their journey to find the lost Welsh king. Given Adam's promise to Cabeswater that he would be its eyes and hands, the gang is not totally willing to go back, since they don't know what the bargain will do to Adam upon returning to the magical forest. Meanwhile, Adam becomes increasingly unhinged and unpredictable, a source of tension in his relationships with Blue and Gansey that leads to an interesting exploration of class disparity and the socioeconomic divide and the ways they affect Adam's relationships with those he cares about most. While I disliked Adam in this book for the way he treats his friends, his feelings of inferiority and determination to divine his own purpose in the world without the assistance of others is one of the most compelling aspects of this story. He becomes determined to be the one to find Glyndwr so that he can have the life he'd always dreamed of -- one in which he is free of his abusive father, and in which he does not feel as though he is the object of his friends' pity.
"What do you want, Adam?
To feel awake when my eyes are open.”
Aside from the incredible characters and their depth, the thing I love most about this book (and the series in general) is its sense of humor. Both the plot and characters are incredibly quirky, sometimes hilarious, and often sarcastic. From a likeable hit man who is dating Blue's mom to Gansey and Ronan's one-liners and Blue's obsession with yogurt, this story is filled with moments and oddities that you can't help but love. I'm not sure I've read anything that contains the same level of wit and eccentricity.
“She wore a dress Ronan thought looked like a lampshade. Whatever sort of lamp it belonged on, Gansey clearly wished he had one.
Ronan wasn't a fan of lamps.”
The Dream Thieves significantly elevated this series for me, and I am now more than a little bit obsessed with Ronan Lynch. While the search for Glyndwr in some ways took a back seat to the extensive character development in this book, the ending left me excited to see where Blue and her Raven Boys would go next on their hunt for the lost Welsh king -- but I'm even more excited to experience the progression of the relationships among my new favorite little band of misfits.
Content Warnings: death, abuse, violence, emotional trauma, mention of suicide, paranormal/supernatural themes
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