Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Haven’t read The Raven Boys yet? Check out my spoiler free review here. There will be spoilers for book one in this review so don’t read on if you haven’t read it!

I listened to the audio book of The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater earlier this month, the second book in The Raven Cycle series. It’s narrated by Will Patton again, who does a great job of creating tension and giving each of the characters their own sound. His voice is very gravelly, which is perfectly suited to Ronan!

The Dream Thieves shifts focus slightly away from Gansey and on to Ronan, who’s learning more about his strange ability to take things – like Chainsaw, the raven – out of his dreams.

“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.”

Adam is now living in an apartment he rents from the nuns, refusing to move into Monmouth Manufacturing with the other boys. Typical Adam.

“It was nothing, but it was Adam Parrish’s nothing. How he hated and loved it. How proud he was of it, how wretched it was.”

Gansey is still looking for Glendower, and now Cabeswater, which has decided to disappear from its usual spot in the forest. The now live leyline is tripping the electrics across Henrietta, power surges causing the town’s generators to blow on a semi-regular basis.

A sinister man dressed in grey has arrived in town and is on the hunt for the Grey Warren, unaware that it’s a who and not a what. And an angry, shaved-headed who at that.

“He was clearly related to Declan: same nose, same dark eyebrows, same phenomenal teeth. But there was a carefully cultivated sense of danger to this Lynch brother. This was not a rattlesnake hidden in the grass, but a deadly coral snake striped with warning colours. Everything about him was a warning: If this snake bit you, you had no one to blame but yourself.”

I really enjoyed this book, it was great to slip straight into the story without too much introduction as we’re already well acquainted with the characters. I actually really liked the change of pace and getting to know Ronan a bit more, and the new characters that were introduced were fascinating and layered.

I’ve seen some people complain that it’s not really a sequel, it’s more like a spin off about Ronan, but I completely disagree (plus, there’s an entire series about Ronan coming soon!). We see plenty of the other characters, I would just say that whereas the focus of book one was Blue and Gansey, in this one it’s Ronan and Adam. I actually think it works better as a sequel than if we’d stuck with Blue and Gansey and left the others as somewhat secondary characters – this way it’s more of an ensemble cast.

“So what you’re saying is you can’t explain it.”
“I did explain it.”
“No, you used nouns and verbs together in a pleasing but illogical format.”

The group dynamic is just as dysfunctional and hilarious as in book one, with the relationships between Blue and Adam and Gansey becoming ever more complicated. I loved seeing more of Gansey’s and Ronan’s families, and it goes without saying that some of my favourite parts happened at 300 Fox Way. Maura, Calla and Persephone are great characters and add a lot of humour to the book.

“I thought you said scrying was a bad idea.”
“It’s like vodka,” Calla said. “It really depends on who’s doing it.”

I gave The Dream Thieves 4 stars, I really loved being back in Henrietta with this co-dependent, magical bunch, but it has a slightly different feel to The Raven Boys. If I’m honest, I’m not sure about the whole Kavinsky thing, it felt a little bit too convenient, but that might become clearer in the next book.

I’m currently listening to A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, and as soon as that’s finished I’ll be jumping straight into Blue Lily, Lily Blue, so expect a review of book three soon!

Have you read The Raven Cycle series? What did you think? Who’s your favourite character? I was leaning towards Adam but I’ve taken a liking to Noah after this book!

Lyndsey

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Review: And I Darken by Kiersten White

I finished the audio book of And I Darken the other day, and it was pretty different to my usual reads, but I really loved it!

TL;DR Lada (a female Vlad the Impaler) is strong and feisty while her brother Radu is soft and gentle. They are taken from Wallachia and their father by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and grow up with his son Mehmed, who loves them both fiercely and selfishly. There are secret plots, assassination attempts, and just enough romance to balance all the stabbing!

I hadn’t heard of Kiersten White before And I Darken, but she is a New York Times bestselling author with a hugely popular trilogy, a duology and several standalones. After reading this, I’m definitely adding some of her other books to my wishlist!

And I Darken puts a fascinating spin on the original Vlad the Impaler/Dracula story, and I’m so excited to read the sequel, Now I Rise, which is due out this June! According to Kiersten’s blog, there will be three books in the series.

It’s going to be difficult to review this book without giving much away, as we all know some version of the Dracula story, so I’ll try to keep it brief!

Lada is the firstborn child of the Prince of Wallachia, who initially dismisses her for being female, but as she grows and becomes more feisty and spirited he soon realises that she, rather than her gentler and softer brother, Radu, is the heir he hoped for.

‘If Lada was the spiky green weed that sprouted in the midst of a drought-cracked riverbed, Radu was the delicate, sweet rose that wilted in anything less that the perfect conditions.’

When they are still only young, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire demands that the Prince hand Lada and Radu over to him, as a sort of tithe. They grow up in the Ottoman courts, alongside the Sultan’s youngest son, Mehmed. With two older and stronger brothers, he is a spare to the throne, and is ignored by his father who takes no interest in him. The three soon form a water-tight bond that strengthens as they grow older.

Lada: “If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me. Understand?”
Radu nodded, snuggling into her shoulder. “Will you protect me?
“Until the day I kill you.” She jabbed a finger into his side, where he was most ticklish, and he squealed with pained laughter.’

News soon reaches court that both of Mehmed’s brothers have been killed, and that the Sultan wishes to retire, leaving Mehmed to take the throne. Young, inexperienced and untested, Mehmed does not have his subjects’ respect, so his father decides to come out of retirement until Mehmed is ready.

Years later, the three are in their late teens, and have begun to drift apart. Lada trains with the soldiers and hopes to join them one day, despite being a girl. She is a formidable fighter and is well respected by most of the men – again, despite being a girl.

“She would never be the best Janissary, because she would never be a Janissary. She could never be powerful on her own, because she would always be a woman.”

Radu has become popular among the courtiers due to his natural charm and good looks, and is close with the sons of some of the highest ranking officials. Mehmed has now been groomed for his role as sultan, and as a result has spent a lot of time away from court and his friends, but on his return things change dramatically for all three.

Radu: “You have both been so busy learning tactics and studying battles, you have failed to see the truth of where thrones are won and lost. It is in the gossip, the words and letters passed in dark corners, the shadow alliances and the secret payments. You think I am worthless? I can do things you could never dream of.”

THEMES

One of the biggest themes throughout And I Darken is power. Lada visualises power as threads strung between people, showing who receives their power from whom. She understands from a young age that as a girl in a man’s world she has no power, so she must take it by force.

“Lada had a sense for power–the fine threads that connected everyone around her, the way those threads could be pulled, tightened, wrapped around someone until they cut off the blood supply.
Or snapped entirely.”

There’s a great scene where Lada is invited to tea by the Sultan’s harem, including Mehmed’s mother, Huma. Huma is not like Lada’s own mother – weak and cowed – she is proud and manipulative, and she advises Lada that women can have power, but they must be willing to sacrifice something in order to gain it.

“So the question becomes, Daughter of the Dragon, what will you sacrifice? What will you let be taken away so that you, too, can have power?”

Huma opted to give up her freedom in order to gain the power granted to the wife of the sultan. She gives Lada another option than violence and aggression, but will Lada take Huma’s advice?

Another big theme in the book is religion. It’s presented in a very open-minded way, from the strongly differing perspectives of Lada and Radu. They are both initially raised as Christians in Wallachia, but the Ottomans are Muslim and Radu soon discovers that Islam speaks to him in a way that Christianity failed to do. This angers Lada, as she refuses to accept any of the customs of the people who stole her from her country of birth, which she refers to as her mother.

Lada: “I love Wallachia. It belongs to me, and I belong to it. It is my country, and it should always be mine, and I hate any king or sultan or god or prophet that proclaims anyone else has any right to it.”

There are also themes of love, family, sexuality (Radu is gay, as are several secondary characters) and of course gender. I am really excited to see how the story develops in the next two books, and how Lada being a female will change the Vlad the Impaler story.

SUMMARY

I gave And I Darken 5 stars because it is a really interesting concept, and so well executed. The main characters are all three dimensional, they have flaws and complex personalities that made me love them one minute and hate them the next – sometimes both at once!

There actually isn’t all that much action in the book, it’s definitely character driven, but personally I didn’t feel like that took away from the story. I was fascinated by the dynamic between Lada, Radu and Mehmed, and the historical setting of the Ottoman Empire was well researched and beautifully described. The romance element was down-played, and I wouldn’t describe it as a love triangle so much as a polygon!

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction with a twist, fantasy that doesn’t feature magic or mythical creatures, and books with incredible female characters and a healthy dose of diversity.

Have you read And I Darken? What did you think? If you’ve read any of Kiersten’s other books please give me your recs in the comments!

Lyndsey

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Welcome back to my blog, readers and writers!

Before we get to today’s review, I have some exciting news! I’m over halfway through draft two of my WIP The Fair Queen, and thought now would be a good time to share another excerpt (you may have read the first draft of my prologue when I shared it a few months ago).

So, now I’m sharing the first three chapters of The Fair Queen with you all! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, email me, tweet me, or leave a comment on here.

All you have to do to get your chapters is sign up with your email address and you’ll receive a link to download them, and if you’re already subscribed there’ll be a link in every email so you can download and read them at your leisure!

Head over to my Books page to sign up by email and get your chapters!

Right, on with the review!

Let me start by saying that I am years behind, the final book in this series was published in 2016, and The Raven Cycle has been on my TBR for ages, but until I read The Scorpio Races recently and remembered how much I loved Maggie Stiefvater, it had languished at the bottom of the list. (I am ashamed. Too many books, too little time.)

Most of the book bloggers and readers I follow online absolutely adore this series, although some weren’t happy with the ending (I’ve only read the first book so far, so I can’t spoil that for you!). I heard that Maggie is writing a companion series about Ronan, so I’ll be looking forward to that when I finish. I’m going to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible – I’m desperate for some fan art, but Tumblr is a minefield!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater is set in Henrietta, Virginia, a small town on a ley line, where psychics are real and magic exists. Gansey is searching for a dead Welsh king, and Blue is trying to avoid kissing any boys because her psychic mother and aunts have warned her that kissing her true love will result in his death.

“Impossibly, Blue realised that this other Blue was crying because she loved Gansey. And that the reason Gansey touched her like that, his fingers so careful with her, was because he knew that her kiss could kill him.”

Unlike her mother, Blue doesn’t have the Sight, but on St Mark’s day, she sees a spirit. The spirits that walk the corpse road on St Mark’s day are the people of the town that will die in the next twelve months. Mostly the sick and elderly. But this spirit is a young man, and for Blue to have seen him must mean that he is either her true love, or she is going to kill him. Or both.

The eponymous Raven Boys consist of:

Richard Gansey III, or just “Gansey” – a tortured soul in a Trust fund kid’s body.

“Gansey was just a guy with a lot of stuff and a hole inside him that chewed away more of his heart every year.”

Ronan Lynch – an angry, dark-humoured ruffian who drinks, swears and offends people. A lot.

“Gansey had once told Adam that he was afraid most people didn’t know how to handle Ronan. What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves.”

Adam Parrish – a sweet, intelligent boy who works three jobs to pay for school and wants to make his own way in life.

“The most important thing to Adam Parrish, though, had always been free will, the ability to be his own master.
This was the important thing.
It had always been the important thing.
This was what it was to be Adam.”

Noah – a vague, gentle kid with a warm heart and cold hands.

“Noah appeared beside Blue. He looked joyful and adoring, like a Labrador retriever. Noah had decided almost immediately that he would do anything for Blue, a fact that would’ve needled Adam if it had been anyone other than Noah.”

All but Adam live together in an apartment building owned by Gansey, Monmouth Manufacturing. Adam lives in a double wide trailer with his parents, to his embarrassment, and works several jobs to pay for the half of his school fees that aren’t covered by a scholarship.

The emblem of Aglionby Academy, where the boys go to school, is a raven. Hence the name.

“Aglionby Academy was the number one reason Blue had developed her two rules: One, stay away from boys because they were trouble. And two, stay away from Aglionby boys, because they were bastards.”

The atmosphere of the book is heavy and intense, like a hot summer. For those few weeks in the story, it feels like everything Blue and the Raven Boys do is life-or-death, and it just might be. Stiefvater is brilliant at creating suspense and a sense of urgency, it’s slow-building, picking up speed with each surprise revelation along the way.

The plot, whilst gripping, is almost secondary to the relationships between the characters. I’ve seen the group described as “co-dependent” and that couldn’t be more accurate, I can’t think of another group of teens in a YA novel that need each other quite as much as these do.

“Gansey could’ve had any and all of the friends that he wanted. Instead he had chosen the three of them, three guys who should’ve, for three different reasons, been friendless.”

There are a lot of components to The Raven Boys, but Stiefvater commands them all effortlessly, and it never feels like a single element doesn’t quite fit. Combining Blue’s world of eccentric women, mysterious psychic abilities and strong principles with Gansey’s world of privilege, money and the all-consuming search for Owen Glendower, the lost Welsh king, takes real artistry, and Stiefvater makes it look easy.

I’m giving The Raven Boys 5 stars, it is definitely one of my new favourite books – probably not quite surpassing The Scorpio Races, if only because it’s the first in a series rather than a standalone and so I won’t be satisfied until I’ve read the entire series!

I would liken it to Beautiful Creatures, thematically, which I sadly didn’t finish, but this is definitely the better book!

Have you read The Raven Cycle? Which other books would you liken it to? If not, I can’t recommend it enough, stick it on your TBR or bump it up to the top, and let me know what you think of it!

Lyndsey

Currently reading:

Audiobook

And I Darken by Kiersten White

I’m only about 50 pages into this but I’m enjoying it so far, it’s different to my usual YA reads because Lada starts off as a young girl and grows up throughout the book, so she’s only about 13 right now and already she’s a badass. It’s fascinating learning more about Romania and the Ottomans, and it’s a really interesting adaptation of the Vlad the Impaler/Dracula story.

Paperback

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

I finally finished my beta reading, so I’m going to dive back into this one because it’s been sitting on my bedside table for weeks now, untouched. I’ve heard there are dragons, so I’ll be picking this back up sharpish!