*REVIEW* The Dream Thieves

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...

I was SUPER stoked to get my hands on this book because the first, The Raven Boys, was really fantastic. Unfortunately, the first two-thirds of this book did not live up to my expectations and the only thing that saved this book, and solidified a 4-star rating, was the last third of the book. Woohoo for strong endings!

The Dream Thieves picks up after the events in The Raven Boys and the whole crew is still trying to find Glendower. The search for Glendower leads the group to discover a starling and disturbing fact--Cabeswater has disappeared. Something is disturbing the ley line and now Gansey and the rest are worried that the mystery of Glendower will never be solved. In addition, surges in the line have brought some unsavory characters to town in search of the elusive and unknown Greywaren...

Enter Ronan and a shocking secret he's been keeping from everyone--Ronan can control his dreams in unusual and shocking ways, including the ability to take from his dreams anything his heart desires. As he learns more about his gift, he enters a deadly game with another boy with the same unusual talent. As the stakes raise higher and higher, will Ronan be able to control what comes out of his dreams or will he be caught in the crosshairs?

It's hard to properly summarize this book without giving too much away because there's quite a lot going on, and some interesting new characters to contend with. Like I said above, the ending of the book really did save it but things were a bit choppy up until then. It felt like at first that Ronan's ability just came out of nowhere and readers weren't really given much explanation. But slowly the facts start coming out and things start making more sense and the dream "thieving" becomes very interesting.

Ronan isn't the only thing going on in this book though... there's Adam and the fallout from his sacrifice in the first book, Blue begins falling for the wrong person, and Blue's mother, Maura, begins dating a very dangerous man. There's definitely some sub-plots going on, some more interesting than others, but the overall effect is a book that, by the end, will definitely fall in the "not boring" category. I'm curious to see what happens in the next book and I do hope that I enjoy it more than I enjoyed the beginning of this one.

Form your own opinions when The Dream Thieves releases in September. Enjoy! *XOXO*

Expected publication date: September 17, 2013 by Scholastic Press