The Dream Thieves

Ronan can bring objects out of his dreams, and that draws dangerous people. The Gray Man, a hitman sent by Colin Greenmantle, comes to Henrietta looking for the Greywaren, which turns out to be Ronan himself. Joseph Kavinsky, a street-racing rival, also dreams things into the real world and is draining Cabeswater's energy. The Gray Man falls for Blue's mother, Maura, and decides to protect Ronan. Ronan stops dreaming to save the forest, but Kavinsky kidnaps Ronan's brother Matthew. At the Fourth of July party, Kavinsky's own dreamed fire dragon kills him, and Ronan rescues Matthew. Cabeswater recovers. At the end, Maura disappears, leaving only a note: she is underground.

1. Behind the scenesA spray-painted launch

   To promote the book in 2013, the author spray-painted her own car. At the Kansas City launch, fans got to paint it too.

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2. Behind the scenesHalf of it got cut

   The book runs about 115,000 words. Stiefvater says she writes twice what she keeps and has around 150,000 words of cut scenes.

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3. ReferenceLatin on the board

   The Latin jokes Ronan leaves on the board come from the author. She did it in college, and her Latin professor later figured out it was her.

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4. SetupA detour that matters

   A big chunk of the book follows Kavinsky. He barely matters to the hunt for the king, but he matters a lot to who Ronan becomes.

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