The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater | Book Review

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher/Year: Scholastic Press/2013
Series: Yes, The Raven Cycle, Book 2
Source: Purchased 

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Summary
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...


Thoughts and Reactions

In writing my review for this novel I realized that I never actually posted, or wrote, my review for The Raven Boys, the first novel of the series. Suffice to say, I loved it. I loved it so much that upon finishing it I pretty much immediately purchased it's sequel. However, that was a year ago and I just finished The Dream Thieves. That has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with my head space at the time. 

I picked up The Dream Thieves time and time again with the intention of reading it, but for whatever reason I could not get passed the first few chapters. I put it down and came back to it about a week ago. I was hooked. It picks up right near where The Raven Boys left off. Adam has recently woken the ley line and nobody's sure how to act around him. Noah is becoming increasingly dim as the line is surging and causing power outages across Henrietta. Everybody now knows that Ronan can take objects from dreams and that's really the focus of this book. 

Ronan is an interesting and complex character; although he wasn’t my favourite going it, he grew on me as I felt like this novel really introduces us to him. He comes across as brash, but only because he cares so much. He has this ability that he doesn’t understand; one that may or may not have had something to do with his father’s death is and he’s still trying to figure himself out. The Dream Thieves really paints him in a more sympathetic light since you really get to see his perspective.

The title essentially sums up the book. Unlike The Raven Boys where the boys and Blue are trying to find a mystical ley line, but it is mostly rooted in reality, The Dream Thieves expands upon this mystical world. Friends are dead but in the land of the living and Ronan can take things from dreams. It’s crazy and thrilling. It didn’t feel like a departure so much as a ramping up of the action and the world’s magical nature.

I’m not sure what else to say about this book as I don’t want to ruin it for anybody who has not already read it, but it thoroughly gripped me. Henrietta is more dangerous now that the line has been woken and more people are out to find it. The characters are dealing with things that they don’t fully understand and it is so exciting for the reader. I love the characterizations and how fully each character is being developed. The relationships forming between them feel real and fractured and I can’t think of a single character who I don’t like. Even the characters who I don’t like, villains like Kapuscinki, have more than one dimension and are compelling.

I am now thoroughly invested in the Raven Cycle and cannot wait to read Blue Lily, Lily Blue. I don’t often read series because I find myself getting bored halfway through, but this is one that I’m more than happy to continue. 

Relic by Renee Collins | Book Review

TITLE: Relic
AUTHOR: Renee Collins
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Entangled Teen / August 27, 2013
SERIES: No
SOURCE: Received for review from publisher. This is no way affected my opinion.

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Where should I even begin with Relic. It's one of the few books that really defies genres, alternating between western, fantasy and romance. While at first the combination might seem like a bit of a stretch, I was intrigued and had to give the book a try. I'm really glad I did because while it was an imperfect read, it was thoroughly entertaining and managed to surprise me along the way.

The book begins with a small town burning to the ground leaving no survivors. Maggie Davis is living on the outskirts of town with her younger brother and sister; their parents are away for the evening when the fire is lit. At the end of the day only Maggie and her sister survive and must learn to scrape by on their own. In this world, ancient relics can be dug from the ground and used to harness powers such as fire, water, invisibility etc. Maggie begins working at a local saloon, but soon proves to have the ability to harness these powers and leaves the saloon to be trained under Alvar Castilla, a powerful man who runs most of the town. She must learn how to navigate the new rules she's living under while providing for her sister, but she also wants to figure out who is responsible for burning Messa before it happens again. Like I said, it's a blend of genres that defies most classifications.

One of my favourite things about Relic was Maggie. She's such a strong protagonist. She may not be physically strong and she doesn't make the right choices one hundred percent of the time, but she's always struggling to do the right thing. She accepts her new responsibilities and does everything in her power to protect those she cares about. She has some very admirable qualities that make her an excellent protagonist in a fantasy novel. Sometimes she's saved, but she's not completely powerless. I didn't find she fell into the damsel in distress trap, but she still showed some human foibles. I really love that in a character.

So I didn't mention it in my description of the novel, but there is some romance in Relic. I wouldn't call it the A plot line, but it does play an important role. Maggie falls for Landon, a local cowboy on leave. He's pretty great, thoughtful, kind, seems to genuinely care about Maggie. I did appreciate that romance didn't dominate the novel though. I mean I think the great thing about this book is that there was a bit of romance, but it was no more important in Maggie's life than her other relationships. She cared about her sister first and foremost and built friendships with some fantastic supporting characters along the way. Adelaide, the saloon's showgirl, is particularly remarkable. She's tough, but also naive and always hoping for something more than what she has. It's kind of heartbreaking and entirely captivating.

The fantasy element of this book was pretty much relegated to the magical relics; the rest was pure western. As somebody who's not a fan of high fantasy, this worked well for me. I thought there was a solid amount of fantasy to balance out the western aspects, but it never became overpowering. However, if you're really looking for a high fantasy novel, well this isn't the book for you.

There was one thing that worried me throughout the novel, the treatment of aboriginal peoples. Westerns don't have the best track record of making natives sympathetic characters and are either villains or occasionally the wise mystics. I was worried that this was the path that Collins was taking when the town burnings were blamed on a local tribe and the only native character renounced his heritage completely. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that in the end as the tribe's role was expanded beyond generic villain. While there were still some problematic scenes, overall I was pleased.

I didn't love Relic right off the bat, but in the end I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would be happy to read anything else by Collins. It's a different sort of book and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I ended up getting totally sucked into Maggie's story. Between the mystery and the magic I was intrigued and didn't want to put it down.

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

TITLE: Paper Valentine
AUTHOR: Brenna Yovanoff
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Razorbill/2013
SERIES: No
SOURCE: Purchased

Goodreads / Author's Website

Paper Valentine is one of those books that drew me in with a cover. Serioulsy, isn't it gorgeous? I forgot the book I was reading and had a long transit trip so I stopped into the first store I saw and picked up this book. I was pretty sure I had read a review on another blog awhile ago, but really had no idea what I was in for. This was my first Yovanoff novel and I was completely enthralled. It's not a perfect story, but it's so creepy I couldn't put it down. I'll definitely have to read her other books when I get a chance. 

Paper Valentine is set in Ludlow a sort of suburban town; the kind of town where the occasional bad thing happens, but it's shocking when it does. Kids still walk around on their own and parks are safe places. This summer is different though. There's a massive heatwave, the city is sweltering and a serial killer is killing young girls. Hannah isn't thinking too much about the murders though. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, but worse than that, has been haunting Hannah ever since. Hannah just wants life to be normal again, but between the ghost, the murders and the fact that she's pretty sure she has feelings for local bad boy Finny Boone, how can it? 

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. The tone was spot on. Ghost stories should be creepy and Yovanoff's writing is super creepy. I got the chills reading about Lillian, combine that with the murders wracking the town and it's a leave the lights on kind of book. There were some things that I just wasn't that into though. 

The story felt a little disjointed, like it was two separate stories. There was the Hannah plays detective and tries to solve the murders plot line and the Hannah deals with her best friend's death plot line. They were both compelling, they just didn't totally mesh together. 

Hannah playing detective was creepy and cool. She sees the crime scene photos, there are some supernatural elements she plays with and there's always that WHY ARE YOU RUNNING UP THE STAIRS kind of moment. It was pretty great. But it was overshadowed by an equally compelling plot line.

The main focus seems to be on how Hannah is dealing with Lillian's death and her ghost. Lillian succumbed to anorexia and Hannah hasn't known how to behave since. She's sad, she's angry, she blames Lillian, but she also blames herself for enabling Lillian. Her entire social group has pretty much moved on and without Queen Bee Lillian around, she doesn't really fit in anymore. These were the popular, too cool to even care, but we'll dress up in thrift store duds, girls (it can't just be my high school that had these girls right). But Hannah's not even sure if that's the life she wants anymore. I loved watching her struggle to figure out who she is without Lillian. Her friends, hated them, but Hannah was different. I love stories about people coming into their own and this was a good one. 

Also great, the relationships. Not just the fractured Hannah/Lillian relationship, but pretty much all of them. They were very grounded which I loved. Hannah and her little sister had the sweetest relationship going, where you could just feel the love and sure the parents disappear, but they're around enough to make dinner and chastise bad decisions. The romantic relationship was okay, I wasn't swooning for Finny, but these two kids were cute and it made me smile. 

See I loved so much about this book, I just wish I didn't feel like the murders were sort of tacked on. Getting Hannnah a little more in on the action would have helped. She seemed pretty removed from the murders for most of the book. The ending pretty much saved this plot line for me and I did enjoy it. I just wish it was more present from the beginning. 

Overall I really liked this book, the writing, the tone, the character building. I haven't read anything about Yovanoff's other novels, but I can't wait to pick one up in the near future.