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 The Raven Boys was one of my favorite books of 2012, so waiting to read The Dream Thieves was such a daunting task. In a year, my reading palate has become more diverse so I was a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy The Dream Thieves as much. My worries were immediately expelled when The Dream Thieves arrived in the mail; I actually jumped up and down in excitement and did a victory dance. Don't judge ;) The Dream Thieves brought me back to Aglionby Academy and I must say that this journey with The Raven Boys was even more spectacular. 
 The Dream Thieves is completely different from The Raven Boys in all the best of ways. This installment is complete with car drag races, a mysterious Gray Man, a peculiar paranormal ability, and a whole lot of dreaming. There is still the extremely ominous, chilling feeling that something is bound to go wrong at any given moment that was present in The Raven Boys. 
 All of the characters have evolved so much since The Raven Boys especially Blue and Adam. I thought coming into this novel that Ronan and Gansey would remain my favorite characters in this series. I still enjoyed reading about Ronan and Gansey, but I quickly became obsessed with Blue and Adam. It's been a while (too long) since I've read The Raven Boys, but I honestly don't remember Blue being such a sharp-tongued, strong-headed protagonist. I feel as if Blue has really become a completely different character in The Dream Thieves, her transformation is extraordinary. As Blue became more comfortable with the guys, her fighting, fiery spirit became a lot more evident. I loved reading about Adam and I completely understood what he was going through. His ongoing conflicts were extremely realistic problems that I definitely think all of us have gone through at least some point in our lives. The other boys seemed to pity Adam because of his hard life, but I didn't pity Adam at all. Instead, I admired Adam's strength and will to fight the dark, looming problems in his life. 
 The Dream Thieves offers an exciting, refreshing paranormal adventure complete with Welsh mythology, subtle romance, and exciting characters. The plot moves at a fast-pace providing the reader with an extremely compelling story that will keep readers hooked early on. This is an extremely character-driven story and readers will become even more attached to the Aglionby boys and Blue. The Dream Thieves doesn't suffer from "2nd book syndrome", in fact I think The Dream Thieves is a better book than The Raven Boys. 
 As expected, Maggie Stiefvater deftly crafted each sentence with her signature writing style. Stiefvater's writing style isn't as flowery as it was in the Shiver trilogy, but it's just as engrossing. Stiefvater's descriptions paint an excellent, vivid picture of all the strange phenomenons. Stiefvater has proven herself again and again to be a master storyteller and it definitely shows in The Dream Thieves. 
 The Dream Thieves is definitely one of the best books I've read in 2013 by far. I'm extremely eager to read the sequel and I wished that the next book would release sooner. I would highly, highly recommend this to readers looking for an original paranormal book with a teensy bit of romance. Stiefvater has managed to impress me once again!