Book Review: The Raven Boys & The Dream Thieves

When I visit the library, my one rule for choosing books is be random. Some days I might know beforehand that I want to get a certain book (it’s the next in a series, I’ve been meaning to read it because of recommendations or whatnot). But most days I go in with no plan and my reading choices are spontaneous. I will wander the shelves, picking up any book that stands out to me. This could be because I recognize the title/author or the cover looks cool. (Confession time: I absolutely judge books by their covers.) I think I chose The Raven Boys because it’s on a shelf I hardly ever pick from and the name Stiefvater seemed vaguely familiar. I have now completed The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. I have mixed feelings about continuing; you’ll see why in the reviews. I get the feeling I will though. ANYWAYS, on with the review!

The Raven Boys

Started: Nov. 17, 2015 Finished: Nov. 25, 2015
2 and a half stars out of 5
Ages: 15 and up
Genres: YA, Paranormal, Mystery, Modern Fantasy, Romance
Amazon | Goodreads| Book Depository

The plot of this story did not immediately suck me in. In fact, the main plot (the plot of all the books combined) still isn’t very important to me. However, the farther along I got into this story, the more invested I became. When I read this book it was like:
I think I enjoyed the character interactions and the writing more than the plot. Which brings me to…

Characters. These are all beautifully-developed, authentic characters. While I didn’t exactly love everybody, I was deeply and hopelessly attached to them. I feel like they all complimented each other well with their differences. And the differences didn’t feel forced. I sometimes feel like authors force characters to be polar opposites just because there “needs” to be diverse personalities in a story. When done well, a variety of personalities can really improve the quality of a book. To keep your characters from being stiff and unnatural, you need to know a) what they need to do and b) why they do it. Blue, the Raven boys, and all the rest of the characters felt very real. This graph explains my feelings toward the characters in this book:

Blue: bright blue. Gansey: blue, Noah: lavender, Ronan: red, Adam: green. Left side is my feelings, horizontal line is page number.

I did not like the chapters from the villain’s point of view. They bored me and I really wanted to skip some of them. Even though we have a somewhat large cast of “main characters”, the secondaries are not neglected. All of the women in 300 Fox Way were entertaining and interesting.

Aaaaand the writing. Ohmygoodness. This is where I go fangirl-crazy and lose control of my fingers. Stiefvater’s writing is exquisite. It’s just…oh, you’ve got to try her books just for the writing. Even if I didn’t care very much about the plot and even if the characters were terrible (and they weren’t) I would’ve finished this book for her writing. Hers is an elegant and touching and funny style. I would dare to say it’s close to perfection.

Additional Notes: The reason I only gave The Raven Boys 2 1/2 stars is because I have several moral problems with this story. Also, I cannot read more than 200 pages of this book in one sitting. I don’t know for sure why, but this book has a very depressing undertone (to me). After reading 100-200 pages, I have to take a break because by that point, my mind is sad and slow and heavy.

THE DREAM THIEVES

Started: Dec. 7th, 2015 Finished: Jan. 3rd, 2016

3 stars out of 5

Ages: 15 and up

Genres: YA, Paranormal, Mystery, Romance, Modern Fantasy

 Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

Similarly to the first book, I felt that the big focus of this series is the overarching plot, so even though it has it’s own plot, it feels much like a continuation of the journey we began in The Raven Boys. We meet a new villain/anti hero? in this installment, who is responsible for moving much of the story along. I also really liked the focus on Ronan in this book. This book follows the same basic formula as TRB but with even more tension.

Quick rundown of my thoughts on characters and character growth.
Ronan: One half of me is like “Ronan, my precious, no one must hurt you.” And then the other half is saying “No. No. NO. Ronan, you disappoint me.” (A lot of my moral problems with this series are because of Ronan.) This is hard because, while I love Ronan, there’s always this mental barrier between us.
Adam: “You are out of your mind. And selfish! What. Stop.” He’s better by the end though, and I’d like to see where he goes in the next book.
Noah: Stays the sweetheart that I love, but I still feel like he’s very much in the background. Maybe this is purposeful because of his state? (Not explicitly stating this because of spoilers.) The Blue and Noah moments though. Precious.
Blue: I think Blue had a smaller part in this story, or maybe it just felt that way because she was no longer the main POV??? She did seem less important, but it’s hard to say who’s getting the most attention with so many mains.
Gansey: I liked Gansey much, much better in this one. In TRB, he just seemed like an “ok” character. He is the driving force of a lot of the story, but I found him annoying. I connected with him more in this book, and that was nice.
I liked this villain a lot better than the last one, though I still could’ve done without half of his scenes. And his romantic interactions felt strange. (Ok, this wasn’t quick at all. Sorry for being misleading, but not for my opinions.)

Her writing does not cease to amaze. I cannot do her justice with my own feeble paragraphs.

Additional notes: As with TRB, I could not read over 200 pages with this book. Also, it took me so long to finish this book because I read up until the last 30ish pages and then had no motivation whatsoever to continue. So it sat on my shelf until I had to return it to the library and that prompted me to complete it.

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So, yeah. There are things I love about this series as well as things I really dislike. Read this book if you love: wonderful writing, medium-dark supernatural, basically the best friendships ever and

sadness

Oh, and that reminds me, the last book in this series, The Raven King is coming out this April! If you’ve read TRB & TDT, what did you think of them? And if you haven’t, did my review make you want to read them? Or to lock your heart in a titanium safe and run?