The Dream Thieves - by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: 17 Sep 2013
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis:
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…




All of us have secrets in our lives. We’re keepers or kept from, players or played. Secrets and cockroaches — that’s what will be left at the end of it all.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

I sort of liked how Maggie put her own cars into it - the Mitsubishi Evo with the knife down the side and also the Camaro.

I haven't read a story before where a character can pull things out of their dreams and make them real and that seemed like a really cool idea. I like that we get to see more of Ronan in this book too.

"There aren't terrible ideas," the Gray Man said. "Just ideas done terribly."

Matthew is so precious and innocent and I want to wrap him in a blanket and cuddle him all day.

Chainsaw stacking random things on top of the cheese cracker she had - the sock, the bottle cap - so Ronan couldn't take it back as quite amusing to picture.

I never knew that Chainsaw was a dream object until they bluntly said it though, so that was a little annoying. But I'm not sure whether that's my fault for not realising or whether it just wasn't pointed out.

In the way of most families, he expressed his difference of opinion by raising a small army.

Originally, I didn't like Mr Gray, but then I starte to like him a little. But by the end I wasn't quite sure how I felt about him. Mainly because he changed his mind about Ronana too easily, and because of what happened at the end between him and his brother, I think.

It's unique that the ending music of the audiobook was done by Maggie Stiefvater, but I'm not sure how I feel about the music itself. I wouldn't have picked it for myself, but some parts of it weren't too bad. Other parts of it I just didn't want to listen to at all.

So many of the world's problems, he mused, were solved by sheer human decency.

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Raven Boys

    2 | The Dream Thieves

    3 | Blue Lily, Lily Blue

    4 | The Raven King

Fawkes - by Nadine Brandes

Title: Fawkes

Author: Nadine Brandes

Published: 10 July 2018

Series: -

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.
Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared, but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.
But what if death finds him first?
Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.
The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.
The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.
No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.

Have you no honor to stand for your beliefs?

Standing for my beliefs isn't always the same as standing for truth.

I received this book as an ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

My favourite thing about this book is probably that Emma was a strong character who could look after herself and beat half the boys at their own game.

I really loved the idea of how the colour masks and Colour Test worked. The book is set in 1604, but doesn't have the 'ye olde english' feel to the words. Plus I adore this cover as it's so pretty.

There being a White Light as one of the colours was an interesting point to include in the book and how every colour apparently stemmed from it. I also loved its sass and how it sounded like a best friend would a couple of times. A couple of times I guessed that Guy Fawkes or Emma may have been White Light users too, but we do find out whether they actually are or not.

If someone, somewhere, somehow, can also make a Lady's Ball like how it was described in Fawkes then I will be very grateful as it sounded beautiful and definitely makes me want to go. Well, maybe make it without a few of the pieces we're told about.

I also cringed pretty hard at the end though when we find out how they attach the mask to the Gunpowder Plot plotter's faces. Plus the information we find out at the end of the book about the true story behind the book is pretty fascinating stuff too.

There has always been fear. There will always be fear. It's up to us to stand tall, even when the fear demands we bow to it.

Spoilers!

Norwood's death wasn't as sad as I sort of hoped it would be, but I still felt bad for Thomas.

I also guessed that Emma was black when my White Light idea didn't pan out, but it still surprised me.

Big question here though: How and why did Dee learn about and spread the Stone Plague?

But I loved that Thomas' mask was made from the same Stone Plague that had haunted him and been connected to him for years after he was freed from it.

End Spoilers!

The Raven Boys - by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: 18 Sep 2012
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis:
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

I listened to this as an audiobook.

I think that Ronan was possibly my favourite character. Seeing him stand up for Adam, wanting to help Noah (even though the way he planned to probably wasn't the right way), and the way that he cared for Chainsaw was lovely as he didn't care about much.

Noah was probably my second favourite. I don't think I could even tell you why, other than he's a softie who likes to pat Blue's hair floof and must be protected with love.

My hope is that in the next book that Ronan and Declan finally sort out whatever's between them and at least try and get along a little better.

I liked that the book was petty much about a self-made quest. It wasn't that they needed to do anything, it's that Gansey and the others wanted to do it. To find Glendover and prove that they've accomplished something.

Another thing that I liked about this book was the part about seeing someone on St. Mark's Eve if you weren't a seer. That you would either kill them or you were there true love. You never know which one it will be and my guess is that it would sort of plague you until you found out one way or another.

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Raven Boys

    2 | The Dream Thieves

    3 | Blue Lily, Lily Blue

    4 | The Raven King