#REVIEW: The Vault of Dreamers

Review: The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O’Brien

Title: The Vault of Dreamers

Author: Caragh M. O’Brien

Pages: 418

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Publish Date: September 16, 2014

Goodreads Summary: From the author of the Birthmarked trilogy comes a fast-paced, psychologically thrilling novel about what happens when your dreams are not your own.

 
The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success:  every moment of the students' lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students' schedule includes twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras in the school. What's worse is, she starts to notice that the edges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

Why I chose to read this book? I chose to read this book because I had read the first two books in the Birthmarked trilogy by Caragh M. O'Brien. I really liked those, so I was excited for The Vault of Dreamers. Also, The Vault of Dreamers had a very intriguing title; I just needed to know more. The cover was very interesting too. I couldn’t wait to read The Vault of Dreamers.

Cover: I love the cover. It is so simple yet beautiful. I think it’s an eye, but whatever it is it looks so cool. This cover just captured my attention. I love it!

Characters:

Rosie- Rosie was the main character in The Vault of Dreamers. She was okay. I liked how determined she was throughout the book. She never really gave up even when things were starting to look impossible. I like that in characters.

Linus- Linus was pretty cool. He has an interesting name. I thought he was going to be some nerd, but no, he was great. I loved how he tried to help Rosie at the end. Also, I liked his character because he was always hurt and getting hurt. He reminded me of Jessie from Breaking Bad. Jessie was always getting beat up.

Dean Berg- Dean Berg was my favorite character...let me finish! I LOVED to hate him. He was so evil and I just despised him. But I always caught him on my mind. I was always wondering throughout the book what Dean Berg was going to do next. He was a villain that I loved. He’s kind of crazy too calling all of those people his children. Rosie’s not the one with problems, man, you are.

Plot:

The plot of The Vault of Dreamers was so unique and original. I had never heard of anything like it. I like Caragh M. O’Brien as an author because she always creates the best dystopian worlds. She hasn’t failed me yet with her uniqueness (if that’s a word).

I loved The Forge Show. It was really great idea to have a reality show at an art school where the students are monitored 24/7. Also, I liked how the watcher got to follow a student of their choice instead of watching everyone else. It was a modern twist on a futuristic novel.

Ending (Maybe Some Spoilers):

The ending was a bit confusing. As I’m sitting here writing this review, I’m still not sure what happened. I don’t know if Linus is okay. I don’t know how long Rosie was out. I don’t know where Dean Berg is or what’s going on in that evil brain of his. I wonder if he’d like it if someone mined his brain. I really doubt it. He needs to get a taste of his own medicine. I’m left with too many questions, so I hope there’s going to be another book. I think there will be, but you never know.

I was not expecting the ending to be like that at all. I thought Rosie would have gone home or something. I knew she’d be caught, I just wasn’t expecting Dean Berg to look inside her mind while she was awake. That’s just crazy. I wonder how much that’d hurt or how scary that’d be. I would probably be freaking out the whole time.

Overall:

This was a very original book, and I hope to read more like it. It was different from every book in the sci-fi category. I was so shocked at some points, happy in others, and at a couple points I was almost yelling at the book. It was like watching a horror movie at some points. You just knew something bad was going to happen, but the character is oblivious to it all.

The plot made sense throughout the book. Things didn’t just pop up, they were explained. O’Brien used lot of detail which is another thing I like about her. A higher vocabulary was used in this book, so I felt myself getting smarter by all the new words I learned. The writing was just magnificent. My attention was captured from the cover to the very last line.

I loved this book. It was a great, action packed read. Plus, it was super long which gave you enough of Rosie’s story until next time. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

Readers who love originality, reality tv shows, and crazy dudes that mine dreams from kids will love enjoy this exciting tale.

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I decided to do one of those recommendation things like bigger book reviews do for quotes in stuff. I didn’t take it very seriously though :)

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