THE DREAM THIEVES

Book 2 of The Raven Cycle receives a dreamy, full-color graphic adaptation.

Readers return to Henrietta, where Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah are dealing with the fallout of awakening the ley line beneath which, legend holds, the mystical king Glendower lies buried. This installment primarily follows Ronan (who’s capable of conjuring objects from his dreams) as he faces a volatile rival who tempts and goads him toward dangerous uses of his power. Other characters walk their own complicated pathways: Adam, who awakened the ley line, grapples with newly developing psychic abilities. Gansey, still focused on finding Glendower, must also clumsily navigate the widening class divide between himself and Adam. Blue, prophesied to mark her true love for death with a kiss, struggles to untangle her feelings for both Adam and Gansey. Noah, revealed to be a ghost in the first book, is losing his connection to the physical world. Meanwhile, a mysterious older man arrives in town searching for something called the Greywaren, with Ronan firmly in his sights. Full-color illustrations bring the story’s settings to life, from the witchy warmth of the Sargent house to Henrietta’s pastoral beauty. But the adaptation has more difficulty capturing the characters’ inner lives and portraying more abstract plot elements, which mutes some key emotional beats from the original novel. Most principal characters appear white, other than Blue, who has dark brown skin.

A vividly rendered sequel.