It's been almost a year since I read and reviewed "The Raven Boys," and I can't believe it took me this long to finish "The Dream Thieves." My hesitation to continue in this series stems from how much I remembered loving the first book and not wanting to be disappointed by the second. But let me tell you, that fear was entirely irrational!

The second book in The Raven Cycle was a five-star book for me, but if I could rate it higher, I would. Even if I started out reading it slow, I ended up finishing most of the book overnight.

I'm a huge fan of the way Maggie Stiefvater writes. I noticed this in the first book, but she's great at writing and developing characters in such colorful and intense ways. There's a lot of detail to each character in this series, and that ended up being one of the strengths of this particular book. Including POVs from Blue, Ronan, Adam, Gansey, and even the Gray man made me realize just how much Stiefvater puts into her details and I'm in love with it.

The plot of this book almost seems darker than the first, especially with the gruesome details of Ronan's past and his demons. In fact, Ronan's character was really built up in this book to the point where he might have become my favorite. It's hard to say that though because there isn't a single character I don't want to read about.

Of course, this book ends with more questions proposed that answered, but succeeded in still feeling like a complete book.I don't usually read books for the romance, and if I do, it has to be well structured and the characters have to have chemistry. This book has it all. I'm in love with the magical realism in this story; it pairs well with the romantic aspects of the story due to how beautiful and flowery the language already is.

Overall, my reaction to this book is: Where is the next one? I need the third book!