Review: The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle, #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Raven Cycle, #2
Published: September 17th 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover, 439 pages
Buy: The Book Depository

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...

Sometimes there are no words.

A year and a half ago, when I first read The Raven Boys, I was thoroughly impressed. Everything in my brain screamed that Maggie reached new heights, that she is the only one with the potential to build a story unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. And yet, while my brain was thrilled, my heart was oddly silent. I recognized the sheer brilliance of it all, but I didn’t really respond emotionally. However, there was hope. With Maggie, there’s always hope.

The Dream Thieves is a whole new ball game, friends. It’s a book that consumes, that eats you alive and then dreams you back to life. It’s a mind-shattering, life-altering experience only one author in the whole universe can provide. There is nothing, nothing in this world comparable to Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. The elegance and the cleverness of it are unparalleled in young adult literature, and she’s only getting better with each new book.

Even though The Dream Thieves is very much Ronan’s book, it is also Adam’s book, and Blue’s book and especially Gansey’s book. In fact, Richard Gansey III is such a strong presence, such an overwhelmingly well-rounded character, that every book inevitably becomes his. His is an old soul in a 17-year-old body and his calm demeanor the only anchor in his turbulent surroundings. While Ronan and Adam are both walking, talking disaster, each his own kind of train wreck, Blue is the closest to Gansey in that she is very firmly set in her own skin. Like Gansey, she has an infallible sense of self, a clear idea of who she is and a self-awareness that doesn’t match her age.

By destroying an object that belongs to one of her characters, an object of immense sentimental value, Stiefvater gives her readers a subtle message: Do not get lulled into a false sense of security. My writing may possess a certain gentle beauty, but nothing is really sacred. No character is safe. She does this like she does everything else, with elegance and grace, and that makes the threat all the more terrifying.

The Dream Thieves is almost impossible to summarize. The plot is very dispersed and vague, the mysteries still too big and solutions too far to fully comprehend. But does it matter? Certainly not, for it is a far superior book to anything I’ve read in a very long time. Stiefvater’s immense creativity spills from every page, breaking the confines of the genre and of YA literature in general.

It pains me to think that I have to wait almost a year for the next book, but perhaps it’s for the best. I took my time with The Dream Thieves, savoring each page and thinking through each event so as not to miss even the smallest of details. Waiting 10 months will give me time to absorb everything and prepare myself for yet another dose of Stiefvater’s brilliance.

Review: The Dead and Buried

Author: Kim Harrington
Release date: January 1st 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Point
Hardcover, 304 pages
Buy: The Book Depository

There are several things you can count on when you pick up one of Kim Harrington’s books. First, that it’ll be entertaining, if a bit predictable. Second, that the main character will be likeable enough and that she won’t make incredibly stupid choices at every turn. Third, that there’s a decently plotted mystery at the center. Fourth, that she knows how to write sweet and believable romances. And last, that you’ll forget all the details in about a month or so.

I’ll tackle this (more or less) in order, shall I?

Like Clarity and Perception before it, The Dead and Buried is a read-in-one-sitting book. It’s rather short, you see, but more importantly, it’s well-paced and quite engaging. Because of its shortness, there are no filler chapters, everything that happens is pertinent to the mystery and Harrington gives you no time to relax. If you are to guess, or even just speculate the identity of Kayla Sloane’s murderer, your eyes must be wide open at all times. Even the smallest thing might be relevant.

Jade was a great main character, mature and organized, very self-aware. She was never careless or ignorant and she knew how to stand up for herself. I expected no less from Kim Harrington, especially since she didn’t need cheap tricks to further complicate the plot. Two boys were interested in Jade, but although she interacted with both, the love triangle never reared its ugly head. It was never a question who she’d end up with, only when and how. I liked how Jade handled that entire situation, and I especially liked how she treated both Donovan and Kane. She was attracted to Donovan from the first time she saw him and she was very much aware of it the entire time. For his part, Donovan was very sweet and outspoken about his feelings. His girlfriend died only six months before Jade moved into her house so of course he had a few issues, but I thought he handled them well overall and I really liked him.

The mystery was a tiny bit predictable, I admit, but whenever I started thinking that Harrington would fall into a painfully predictable pattern, Jade did something gutsy and unexpected that surprised me and put my mind at ease. I suppose there are worse things than an easy-to-guess murderer, especially if the main character is interesting enough and the book is tightly paced.

Lastly, the fact remains that I couldn’t remember the details of Clarity to save my life (although I do remember the basic plot and some of the characters) and I have a feeling it will be even worse with The Dead and Buried. It’s not a book meant to stay with you, but that’s something I can occasionally appreciate.

 

Review: The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle, #1)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publication date: September 18th 2012
Publisher: Scholastic UK



The Raven Boys is not a book you can just breeze through and immediately forget. Once again Maggie Stiefvater wrote a story that refuses to be categorized, or even properly described. For me, discovering it and its characters was a slow process. It was like scratching off a lottery ticket when you have no coin to scratch with, so you use your fingernails, and it’s messy and infuriating right up until the point you uncover it all and realize you’ve actually won. That’s what The Raven Boys really are – bits and pieces that reveal themselves painstakingly and gradually, but that combine into a whole unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Blue Sargent comes from a family of seers. She lives with her mother and other women like her, but, although she amplifies other people’s talents, she is not a seer herself. When, on St. Mark’s Eve, she sees the spirit of a soon-to-be-dead boy dressed in Aglionby private school uniform, it can only mean one of two things: either he’s her true love, or she’ll be the one to kill him.
Richard Gansey is an Aglionby boy through and through – exceedingly rich, radiating self-assurance and power, a bit eccentric and completely obsessed with discovering ley lines and finding the resting place of a medieval Welsh noble, Glendower. He is also the boy whose spirit Blue saw on St. Mark’s Eve, which, according to everything her family believes, means his days are numbered.

As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.

Gansey proved to be the most elusive of Maggie’s characters. Somehow, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t quite see him clearly. The more I attempted to grow attached to him, the more ghost-like he seemed to me. I do believe this was Stiefvater’s intention, though, and it made the story that much sharper and the stakes that much higher. She managed to create that feeling of not being able to hold on to someone – fitting considering the axe above Gansey’s head.

Here’s something I want to make very clear: The Raven Boys is not a romance. Forget about the ‘if you kiss your true love, he will die’ line. I’m sure it will become important at some point in the series, but this book is strangely and refreshingly romance-free. Instead, it is full of ghosts and murderers, Latin-speaking trees, ancient rituals and baby ravens. It is the furthest thing from what I expected.

Admittedly, it took a while for me to warm up to it, but just as my patience was starting to wear thin, the fireworks begun and everything fell in its place. I believe Stiefvater paced The Raven Boys with the whole series in mind, which is perfectly fine by me because I trust her to make it all worthwhile, but I fear that some might find the first half far too slow.

As unique and breathtaking as this story was, something was missing from it, something I can only describe as Maggie’s spirit. She has a signature, that subtle thing that makes her books instantly recognizable and that makes her my favorite author in the world. That signature, the unique emotion present in all her books, is far less clear in The Raven Boys.

Those who used to complain about Maggie’s writing, calling it flowery and purplish, will have no such problems with The Raven Boys. I, on the other hand, feel that I’ve lost something I can’t quite name, and I can only hope it’ll return in the next book.

Review: Rebel Heart (Dust Lands, #2)

Author: Moira Young
Publication date: August 2nd 2012
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books
Paperback, 393 pages
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



I have a small confession to make, though it’s hardly a secret since my review is here for all to see: I wasn’t really a fan of Blood Red Road. In fact, I was so disappointed by it that I never intended to read Rebel Heart. That said, I’m happy it showed up on my doorstep completely unexpectedly. Painful as it may be, I like the direction the story is taking.

Rather than focusing on giant killer worms, Moira Young decided to explore the extent of human cruelty and willingness to survive. The pacing is noticeably slower, but Rebel Heart undoubtedly offers more than its predecessor – at least to a reader with my preferences. It is emotionally intense, grim and layered – I could actually feel the dust on my skin for the first time, and it was a most welcome feeling, one that told me Young has finally done it right.

If there’s one thing I admire about Young (other than the language, of course), it’s that she’s more than capable of surprising me. This is what sets her apart from most Young Adult writers: she goes where the story takes her, regardless of what it might mean for her, and even when it’s not easy for her characters and, ultimately, her readers.

Whatever objections I had to Saba’s character in Blood Red Road (and I had quite a few) no longer apply. It’s almost like she was still a work in progress then, and now she’s finally completed, damaged but consistent, well-rounded and perfectly clear. I didn’t necessarily approve of her actions or even like her most of the time, but I understood her and everything she did made sense to me.

After what she’s been through in Blood Red Road, Saba simply had to change one way or the other. I’m glad Young chose not to ignore the emotional trauma she would have suffered. Instead, all her decisions have repercussions that could have been foreseen, but in no way avoided. Spirits of the people she’s lost follow Saba’s every step. She is terrified and broken, afraid to touch her bow, and desperate to hide it from Lugh, who is in no better shape himself. Whatever the Tonton did to him left him bitter and furious – at Saba, at their father and especially Jack. It is so hard for Saba to admit that their relationship has changed, that they’re no longer the inseparable twins they used to be and that Lugh can no longer offer the same sense of security and warmth.

Here. Now. Alone. With none but my own heart fer witness, I’ll say it. Without Lugh, I’m able to breathe.
He smothers me. Chokes me. Pens me in. Tethers me to him with his worry and anger and sorrow and fear.

For most of this book, Saba and Jack are nowhere near each other, and yet he is always with her, every second of every day. I’m very uncomfortable with some of the events in Rebel Heart, but I accept them as proof of good writing and I can’t help but appreciate the risks Young decided to take. At this point, I can’t even imagine a happy ending for these characters.

But I’ll end this review on a more positive note. Here’s some candy for fellow Jack fans:

I think about Jack. Of how it’ll be when I see him agin. When he’s holdin me tight an I’m holdin him tighter an the heartstone’s burnin my skin.
I think of what we might say. Him to me. Me to him. I ain’t no soft girl. I don’t know no soft words.
Be with me, Jack. That’s what I’ll say. Burn with me. Shine with me.