The Vault of Dreamers Pages: 432 on September 16, 2014
Series: The Vault of Dreamers #1
Also in this series: The Rule of Mirrors, The Keep of AgesFrom 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.
I can’t even tell you how excited I was for The Vault of Dreamers. I think most of you know by now that I am a little bit obsessed with reality tv. It is kind of like big brother, but instead of a house it is a school for the ultra artsy people. Nothing is as it seems in the Forge school though. The students each have their own live stream and people can choose which student to watch. An interesting concept for sure, that is just the tip of the iceberg. This book just kept growing and growing and changing. I never knew what to expect. Jen from YA Romantics described it as inception meets big brother, and I think that is the perfect way to describe it. (so credit to her for that!) It was a really interesting pairing for me, and the reality aspect mixed in with the dream harvesting. I couldn’t put this book down.
We join Rosie on the day where the students with the 50 lowest popularity ranks or “blip scores” from amount of viewers their channel get are sent home from the school. She was pretty close from the bottom but she gets creative on her last day and raises her score just enough to stay by doing all sorts of things. This was actually my only hold up with book. I felt like she could have tried some new things before her possible last day. But other than that I really don’t have any complaints. I loved how creative The Vault of Dreamers was.
Rosie is a curious girl. And when they get the assignment to fail at a project Rosie thinks it is the perfect cover to spy on the Forge school from the inside. I really liked Rosie’s friends as well. I thought it was funny that at first Rosie thought Janice was kind of fake, because she was so genuinely nice. So was Burnham. I really hope there is more from him in the next book. I liked him just as much as Linus. (sometimes even more)
From the title it is clear something is going on with dreams. The forge school forces 12 hours of obligatory sleep on the students, stating that they need that much to optimize their creativity. They give the students sleep pills every night. Rosie sometimes skips hers to stay awake, and that is what gets her in trouble. I was so impressed with everything that Caragh O’Brien dreamed up. It was so imaginative and incredible really. There were so many times where I was questioning it all. This book is inception meets Big Brother, with maybe just a touch of Shutter Island thrown in to keep you off your game. Maybe. Maybe not. What is real, and what isn’t? I bet you won’t be able to figure it all out without any doubt creeping in. And that my friends, is what makes Vault of Dreamers BRILLIANT! You will just have to read Vault of Dreamers to find out.
THE VAULT OF DREAMERS Blog Tour
- September 9 | Ex Libris Kate & The Book Monsters
- September 10 | Book Hounds & Candace’s Book Blog
- September 11 | Mundie Moms & Word Spelunking
- September 12 | My Bookish Ways & Working for the Mandroid
- September 13 | Fiction Fare
- September 14 | Icey Books & My 5 Monkeys
- September 15 | SciFi Chick & Supernatural Snark
- September 16 | YA Interrobang & I’d So Rather be Reading
- September 17 | Fiktshun & Book Briefs
- September 18 | Michelle & Leslie’s Book Picks & The Irish Banana Review
- September 19 | Alice Marvels & Forever Young Adult
- September 20 | Good Choice Reading & Step into Fiction
To enter, fill out the rafflecopter below to win a finished copy of Vault of Dreamers!
Rules:
-Must be 16+
-US only
-Prize will ship from publishers office
No purchase necessary. Void where Prohibited
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About Caragh M. O’Brien
Caragh M. O’Brien is the author of the BIRTHMARKED trilogy and THE VAULT OF DREAMERS, both from Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ms. O’Brien was educated at Williams College and earned her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She recently resigned from teaching high school English in order to write young adult novels.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
kindlemom1
We are review twins today! So glad you liked this as much as I did but that ending was killer!
Monica M
I love stories that bend your mind and make you question what is real. It sounds like an amazing book! Thanks for the great review!
Rachel @ Paper Cuts
Ooh, I’m glad you liked this! I just read a kind of meh review, so I’m hoping my opinion will lie closer with yours. 🙂 I just love the sound of all of it–seriously so much creativity! 🙂
Molly Mortensen
This book sounds so good! You scared me a bit when you said it was hard figuring out what’s real and what isn’t though. This book has gotten such mixed reviews, but after your review I think I want to read it. Thanks for the giveaway.
Anita Yancey
It definitely sounds like a thrilling and exciting novel. I love the storyline and the cover. Thanks for having the giveaway.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Sounds like this book really makes you think (which I love!). I have this one and plan on reading it soon, so I’m glad to see that it worked well for you!
Steve Conoboy
Inception meets Big Brother sounds like exactly the right amount of crazy for my tastes!
This is what I’m loving about visiting blogs, finding out about stuff that might otherwise pass me by.
Mary DeBorde (M.A.D.)
Love a good book that isn’t easy to figure out! The plot is really intriguing, can’t wait to read it 😀
Linda romer
Hello Michelle, the Valt of Dreamers sound so good, I must read this one. Thank you
Red Iza
I don’t like reality tv, never watches it, so part of this blurb didn’t interest me. But the manipulating of dreams/sleep ? That does catch my attention ! Thanks for the great review 🙂
Olivia
The idea of this kind of reminds me of the Truman show movie, which I absolutely loved! So I will probably enjoy this a lot too. The cover <3
http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/09/bridge-of-deaths-blog-tour-giveaway.html
Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books
Great review! I’m glad you enjoyed this 🙂 And thanks for the giveaway!!
La La in the Library
I have this book. I saw a lot of iffy reviews for it, so it slid to the bottom of my tbr, but I have promised to send it to another blogger, so I have to get to it soon.