Expanded Characters in Raven Boys Book 2

The first novel introduced townie-witchy girl, Blue and her eccentric family and the Ravenwood privileged boys working together to locate an ancient king on the lay line. The book seemed to serve the main purpose of setting up for book 2 and 3 for yet another trilogy. While Steifvater's writing is stellar, I found the first book predictable and was apprehensive about spending a credit on book 2. Glad I did.

Steifvater opens up each character, delving into their motivations, desires, and actions; expounding beautifully, breathing life into Blue and the boys. While I enjoyed the writing and characters, wasn't engrossed in the dream manipulation and/or search for Hightower; all background accompaniment to me.

If you enjoy YA fiction, check out Maggie Steifvater's other selections. She's a talented young writer with a bright future who appreciates and responds to her fans.


To Audible Staff:

Will Patton is not a good fit for YA narration. If any Audible editor reads this review (wishful thinking) then for the love of all that is good and holy in the world work with him on book 3! It may be inconceivable to usurp Patton with a new narrator at this point, so coach him on the female voices. Aunt Persephone sounds like a stoned Minnie Mouse and Kazinsky sounded like a New Yorker Yogi the Bear. Help me, help you.

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85 persone l'hanno trovata utile

I took Chainsaw out of my dreams ...

The Dream Thieves is the second book of The Raven Cycle series (following The Raven Boys).

In the last lines of book one Ronan says, "I guess now would be a good time to tell you. I took Chainsaw out of my dreams." It was a great teaser, and book two completely fulfills the WTF that statement left us with. You might think you don't want to read about Ronan, but he ends up being a surprisingly great character, alternately fire/danger and the boy who was crippled by the idea of this strange power and the events of his youth. I love that he's conflicted in all senses - and I love that his dreams and nightmares reveal more than he'd ever let on. There's a particular scene that gets so intense, you can almost feel him on that edge. And even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, if I'm honest, I'm in this for the story of Blue and Gansey. Fortunately, though the main plot focus is Ronan and the dreams, the story does include all of the other characters. Stiefvater's writing is beautiful and haunting and so incredibly interesting that sometimes I want to stop to write some of it down. The characters move forward seamlessly and develop subtly and then, quite suddenly, you realize that Blue and Gansey are in love (I don't really think that's a spoiler, right?) or that Adam is heading toward something great and terrible, or some such spoiler-type thing. This book didn't really "end" for me, but I'm so ready for the next in the series I don't think I mind.

Will Patton narrates.

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14 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Awakening the Dream

“The Dream Thieves” deepens the mystery and magic surrounding Cabes Water and the dead king Glendower, while expanding on the characters introduced in “The Raven Boys” – allowing Rowan, more of a group member in “The Raven Boys”, to take center stage. A new villain comes to town, a complex and three dimensional man, who (unusually for a villain), is marked with a conscience, clarity of vision and a sense of humor and he moves the story right along as he wrestles with his own demons and issues. The characters live and grow in an environment rooted in mythology, superstition, friendships with ghosts, living tarot, crazy and often difficult family dynamics, sinister overtones and budding romances. Even the little bird Chainsaw resonates with the reader.

I read this book on Kindle and also listened to it on Audible. Will Patton's Audible performance was, as with his reading of "The Raven Boys" masterful and pitch perfect. I find myself seeking out his narrations now as often as I do the books themselves.

I am really looking forward to reading and listening to Book Three of this series.

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8 persone l'hanno trovata utile

If your in the mood for something different...

Any additional comments?

I adore Maggie Steifvater’s books. Her stories are unique and her writing is witty yet poetic. The Raven Boys is no exception. I loved it and I think this is one Steifvater’s best books. It’s slow at the beginning but I wouldn’t necessarily change that. It lays some important ground work for the intense ending and the books to come. What I liked most about The Raven Boys was the originality of the story. I’ve never read/listened to anything like this before and that is one of the main reasons I highly recommend it.

I truly do not know how to summarize this story. Any attempt to describe this story does not do it justice. I will do my best with one sentence. There are some psychics, some ghosts, a murderer, a creepy mystical place, and teenagers on a supernatural quest. That’s all I can say. It's different, and for me different is always refreshing.

The Characters
The characters in The Raven Boys are deep and complex. These are not your teenage angsty, love triangle entangled, young adult fiction characters. These guys are different. Blue Sargent is the daughter of a psychic and lives with 3 other psychic women. Blue is not psychic but she has the way of amplifying energy. Gansey is a wealthy teenage boy on a mission to find something supernatural. Joining him on his quest are his 3 friends, Ronan, Adam, and Noah. Ronan is a wealthy boy gone bad. He’s reckless, edgy, and unpredictable. Adam is the poor, nice boy who’s under a lot of pressure. He’s on a scholarship at Anglionby Academy and under extreme pressure from his parents.
Each character feels real and as the reader, you feel for them. Like I said earlier, I’ve never encountered characters like these. I can’t say I loved them or related to them but I was definitely intrigued by them and I want to learn more about them.

The Story
As I said earlier, the story takes a little while to really get going. However, it lays important groundwork for the plot and develops all of the characters. Hang in there, things get really interesting about half way through and you want to stop after that. What pulled me in was the mysterious quest the group embarks on. I had never heard of lay lines or a sleeping ancient king named Glwendower and I was eager to find out more. I also felt Steifvater wrote wonderful side stories involving each of the characters. They added layers to the main plot and overall, made the story so much more substantial.

Conclusion
I loved it. I wish I could say more about The Raven Boys but I fear I would give away too much. The writing is beautiful. he characters are strong and well developed. The story is unlike anything else out there. The only downside to the story is it’s left very open. Something is resolved in this book but many things are not. Obviously they we will learn more in the next book but I really wanted to know more in this book. You can probably guess I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

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5 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Best of series

Since I read this series back to back without time to write individual reviews, I'm summing up the whole series in one review. Lazy? Guilty as charged.

Book 1 - 3 stars. It was different and though set in real time, easily drifted into fantasy time.

Book 2 - 3 stars. Possibly the one I enjoyed most in the series. The concept of a dream thief was fascinating. Plus, loved the action.

Book 3 - 2 stars. What happened? New characters were overwhelming. Something I overlooked in the other books - dialogues that left things unsaid as well as confusing dream sequences - really irritated me in this one.

Book 4 - 2 stars (maybe 1.5). This could have been a trilogy in my opinion. This last in the series dragged. Again, why are all these new characters not fundamental to the tale of the foursome? I was hoping for lots of action to resolve the story but it lacked for me, regretfully.

Narration - 5 star across the board!

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Will Patton is Magic

This series of books is so wonderful and Will Patton's performance makes it transcendent. Strange, perfect, specific voices for each character and breathless, funny, terrifying, lovely narration by turns. I could truly listen to this guy forever.

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

EXCELLENT!!!

Exciting, Riveting, Magical!!
Will Patton narrates this story Brilliantly!!
The absolute best performance yet!!
What an amazing transition of voices and sounds !! Brings the listener into the story as if you are there!!!
Thank you, Will Patton!!

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Maggie Stiefvater is amazing!

Will Patton really brings this story to life. I'm doing a reread of the entire series via audio and really enjoying it!

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Ronan oh Ronan!

Ronan is a great character! I love him and I want him to have love in his life! This book is mainly about Ronan and that is a good thing! It really gives the reader a deeper insight to Ronan, he is a deep character. Like an Onions he has layers, so many layer to this man! Really great addition to this story!

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Really Enjoying The Raven Cycle!

Surprisingly, I have been enjoying The Raven Cycle. I wasn’t really drawn to this series or anything. I had it on my TBR pile, but I had other books by Maggie Stiefvater on my pile as well. I just knew that I wanted to try something by Stiefvater, and after some deliberation, this seemed like the best place for me to start. I jumped into this book a few days after reading the first book. I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the second book as much as the first, but my fears were unfounded.

The Raven Boys ended on a huge note with a confession from the group’s bad boy, Ronan Lynch, that he can pull objects from his dream, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I read the next book. I’m a sucker for dramatic cliffhangers. The Dream Thieves explores Ronan’s abilities and gives readers a taste of the darker workings of Ronan’s mind, which is understandable given he was the one who found his murdered father, a father who passed on this dream ability. Ronan isn’t completely incapable of showing other emotions even if they are lined with barbed wire. While Ronan is a large focus of this novel, it doesn’t forget to explore its other characters such as Adam Parrish who is trying to understand what his sacrifice to Cabeswater means while continuing to deal with what he feels is his own inadequacy, Blue Sargent who comes to terms with her feelings for Adam, and Gansey who isn’t sure how to deal with Adam after the events in Cabeswater. This novel also brought Blue’s psychic family to the forefront more, which was a welcomed treat.

Stiefvater’s characters continue to be the high point of the book. Many books work hard to make you love their protagonists, but Stiefvater has created a cast of characters that feel “real.” She certainly wants you to sympathize with her characters, but presenting characters with real flaws and strengths, characters that you may like one moment and loathe the next, trumps making her protagonists adored by the readers. However, I can’t really say the same about the antagonists of her story. Once again, I’m only lukewarm toward her antagonists at best. They’re one-dimensional, but this could just because of how the story is told. I think, for that reason, that her denouements where they’re concerned often feel a bit fragile as if they’re hanging on very tenuous threads. I don’t much care for villainy for the sake of villainy if it doesn’t feel like it connects to the overall story.

The search for Glendower feels secondary to the characters and their struggles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since I enjoy characters, but I am interested in seeing where this search leads the character and how it will continue to influence their friendship and decisions. Part of the reason I enjoyed the first book is because I enjoyed how the plot worked with the characters. In this book, that part of the story felt very stagnant and didn’t make much forward progression. It’s easy to overlook that the search didn’t move very much because it’s easy to be swept up in the various personal things that the characters are involved in and forget that they have this quest for something that’s bigger than themselves. This still manages to be a very engaging story that will keep readers invested in these characters and their story.

Will Patton continues to be something of an anomaly for me as far as the narration goes for this story. I don’t hate his narration, but I still teeter between thinking he’s the best voice and thinking maybe he’s not the best voice depending on the section he’s reading. However, I can’t dispute the emotion that he brings to the story with his reading, and for me, sometimes the passion a narrator uses for a story is more important than any other feeling I may have about the narration.

The Dream Thieves ends much like The Raven Boys with a cliffhanger that begs the reader to continue the story as soon as possible, and since it involves a character that this book made me love more than I thought possible, I’m already gearing up to read the next book.

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3 persone l'hanno trovata utile