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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
It was a little out there for me but completely original and compelling.
I'm intrigued enough to read the next one and the entire story kept me guessing and interested.
At the same time, I feel like I don't have enough answers, so that's why it only got 3 stars. There also wasn't enough interactions with Paige and Janice for me to feel like that were really friends with Rosie.
I'm intrigued enough to read the next one and the entire story kept me guessing and interested.
At the same time, I feel like I don't have enough answers, so that's why it only got 3 stars. There also wasn't enough interactions with Paige and Janice for me to feel like that were really friends with Rosie.
I really enjoyed Vault of Dreamers, but the ending was so abrupt and the last third of the book lost me a bit. I know it goes into a sequel (and eventually another sequel) so that helps a little with the abrupt ending, but it kept it from 5 stars for me. Still enjoyed it! Fun read. Would make a great film.
Initial Impressions 6/22/14: Hm. I really don't know. 3-3.5 stars. It was going to be 3.5 but the ending was a bit unclear? This is another one of those times where I just feel dumb like I didn't get it. Sigh.
Anyway. I read the book in one day... It was really gripping and I was always curious what was going to happen next! It definitely held my attention but felt a bit lengthy. I wanted a little bit more to happen close to the beginning than the middle -- just to set up what the big mystery was and what Rosie would discover. I also wish we had gotten a bit more detail once we DO find out what it is. I got it, but I wanted to understand much more and have more interactions with the characters regarding the details.
Is this a stand alone? It ended feeling like there should be more books so I'm not entirely sure. (Oh okay, I looked up the book and Caragh O'Brien's website says it's a series. Okay, I feel a little bit better, but still.)
Hm. In that case... I'm curious to see where the series will go. I feel a bit better with the 3.5 star rating now knowing that this ending leads to somewhere else, but still wish it wasn't AS open-ended.
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 8/18/14: I have a bit of an obsession with books about dreams. I feel like there’s really so much you can do with the concept and it’s so interesting to see how authors play with the idea of dreaming and how it plays into people’s everyday lives, so needless to say, I had some high expectations for The Vault of Dreamers!
I was interested to see where this book would go and when I started, I still wasn’t 100% sure what the whole thing was about since I’m a notorious synopsis avoider to really allow myself to experience the most amount of surprises and twists possible. This really didn’t affect my interpretation of the book in this case (sometimes I think books are about something completely different), but considering the fact that the book is called THE VAULT OF DREAMERS, I was really hoping the dreaming aspect would play a much bigger part in the book.
I felt like there was a lot of set up in the beginning in and in the middle which I was fine with… But I would have much preferred the plot to develop much quicker. The book is over four hundred pages long so to go for so long just anticipating what exactly the “vault of dreamers” really is and what that means, it just felt like a little too long to wait. From the synopsis, we already know that main character Rosie will already be a part of The Forge Show, an insanely popular reality TV show. I actually did like the aspects of what we see of The Forge Show and how it’s run but at the same time, I kept wanting to know more about the dreaming aspect so while I wasn’t not enjoying what I was reading, I was still waiting for something more to happen.
Once I finally did start to get answers… well, they weren’t exactly what I was hoping for. The ending didn’t quite go as I had hoped and it wasn’t wholly unsatisfying but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I think part of it was that I really didn’t fall in love with Rosie. I liked her character and her personality all right but risk-taking somehow didn’t seem like her style and somehow I felt like her personality clashed with how pushy and adventurous her actions were. I just felt like there was something missing to really make her feel real and so the ending just felt a little forced to me. It was also a bit confusing.
I only found out that the books is a series after I finished it (when I had started, there was no info on Goodreads or Amazon about this being the first of a series) so review pending, I had to go out and look (confirmed on Caragh’s website) that it is in fact the first of a series. I have to say that the ending was a bit confusing, knowing it was a series or not. It definitely felt like the story was incomplete but even as the ending of the first book in a series, something just felt like it was missing. I actually re-read the last bit and was still a bit confused so I’m a little undecided right now whether to invest my time in the second book and see where the story goes or wait until other reviews are out and gauge what the general reactions are. Either way, I do have quite a bit of time to decide!
I think maybe I got myself a little too excited for THE VAULT OF DREAMERS but anticipation and hype isn’t really to blame. I didn’t dislike Rosie but she wasn’t exactly a stand out protagonist for me. I liked quite a few of the other characters but no one else really quite stood out for me either. I usually enjoy a lot of world building in fantasies right in the beginning of the book, but when it comes to science-fiction, I’m more itching for plot and twists. There was a lot of info in the beginning of the book but not exactly what I was hoping for.
Anyway. I read the book in one day... It was really gripping and I was always curious what was going to happen next! It definitely held my attention but felt a bit lengthy. I wanted a little bit more to happen close to the beginning than the middle -- just to set up what the big mystery was and what Rosie would discover. I also wish we had gotten a bit more detail once we DO find out what it is. I got it, but I wanted to understand much more and have more interactions with the characters regarding the details.
Is this a stand alone? It ended feeling like there should be more books so I'm not entirely sure. (Oh okay, I looked up the book and Caragh O'Brien's website says it's a series. Okay, I feel a little bit better, but still.)
Hm. In that case... I'm curious to see where the series will go. I feel a bit better with the 3.5 star rating now knowing that this ending leads to somewhere else, but still wish it wasn't AS open-ended.
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 8/18/14: I have a bit of an obsession with books about dreams. I feel like there’s really so much you can do with the concept and it’s so interesting to see how authors play with the idea of dreaming and how it plays into people’s everyday lives, so needless to say, I had some high expectations for The Vault of Dreamers!
I was interested to see where this book would go and when I started, I still wasn’t 100% sure what the whole thing was about since I’m a notorious synopsis avoider to really allow myself to experience the most amount of surprises and twists possible. This really didn’t affect my interpretation of the book in this case (sometimes I think books are about something completely different), but considering the fact that the book is called THE VAULT OF DREAMERS, I was really hoping the dreaming aspect would play a much bigger part in the book.
I felt like there was a lot of set up in the beginning in and in the middle which I was fine with… But I would have much preferred the plot to develop much quicker. The book is over four hundred pages long so to go for so long just anticipating what exactly the “vault of dreamers” really is and what that means, it just felt like a little too long to wait. From the synopsis, we already know that main character Rosie will already be a part of The Forge Show, an insanely popular reality TV show. I actually did like the aspects of what we see of The Forge Show and how it’s run but at the same time, I kept wanting to know more about the dreaming aspect so while I wasn’t not enjoying what I was reading, I was still waiting for something more to happen.
Once I finally did start to get answers… well, they weren’t exactly what I was hoping for. The ending didn’t quite go as I had hoped and it wasn’t wholly unsatisfying but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I think part of it was that I really didn’t fall in love with Rosie. I liked her character and her personality all right but risk-taking somehow didn’t seem like her style and somehow I felt like her personality clashed with how pushy and adventurous her actions were. I just felt like there was something missing to really make her feel real and so the ending just felt a little forced to me. It was also a bit confusing.
I only found out that the books is a series after I finished it (when I had started, there was no info on Goodreads or Amazon about this being the first of a series) so review pending, I had to go out and look (confirmed on Caragh’s website) that it is in fact the first of a series. I have to say that the ending was a bit confusing, knowing it was a series or not. It definitely felt like the story was incomplete but even as the ending of the first book in a series, something just felt like it was missing. I actually re-read the last bit and was still a bit confused so I’m a little undecided right now whether to invest my time in the second book and see where the story goes or wait until other reviews are out and gauge what the general reactions are. Either way, I do have quite a bit of time to decide!
I think maybe I got myself a little too excited for THE VAULT OF DREAMERS but anticipation and hype isn’t really to blame. I didn’t dislike Rosie but she wasn’t exactly a stand out protagonist for me. I liked quite a few of the other characters but no one else really quite stood out for me either. I usually enjoy a lot of world building in fantasies right in the beginning of the book, but when it comes to science-fiction, I’m more itching for plot and twists. There was a lot of info in the beginning of the book but not exactly what I was hoping for.
Really confusing, I didn't understand it at all. The dialogue was weird and I didn't like any of the characters. The author just doesn't have the best writing for me.
Rosie is a student at the Forge School, which is both a school for a variety of different creative arts as well as a 12-hour-a-day reality show. The other 12 hours of the day, the students are in a drug-induced sleep, which is supposed to be good for their creativity and development. Except that when Rosie skips her pill, she finds that things at night are not what they are supposed to be. She stumbles upon the possibility that some kind of medical experiments are happening to the students while they are asleep. But how can she investigate when there are always cameras on her? And how can she go back to sleep, knowing what might be happening? Readers will be drawn in to Rosie's world, as she tries to discover the truth. Recommended for grades 6 and up.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The last chapter was the best part of the book. It reminded me of The Host by Stephanie Meyer and the operation chapter in Unwind by Neal Shusterman.
3.5 really. This was very interesting and I liked the concept. It’s clear more will have to be explained in the next books given that crazy ending. I’m intrigued to say the least.
This book started out a little slow, but enjoyable. The sentence structure was choppy and it didn't flow. Unlike an author who gives vivid descriptions, O'Brien seemed like she was trying really hard to get the language right, but it wasn't blending well. The descriptions and word choice were almost cheesy because they were trying so hard to be good.
But about a third of the way through, I was riveted. I couldn't stop, the plot was so fascinating and full of twists and surprises. While Rosie's romance with Linus is a little cheesy and overdone, it's still cute. In fact, I don't normally enjoy science fiction involving psycology at all, but I literally couldn't stop.
The end isn't clear - it leaves you wondering what on earth happened to Linus, Bernham, and most of all, Rosie! I personally found some of the science slightly disturbing, but it's a solid read.
But about a third of the way through, I was riveted. I couldn't stop, the plot was so fascinating and full of twists and surprises. While Rosie's romance with Linus is a little cheesy and overdone, it's still cute. In fact, I don't normally enjoy science fiction involving psycology at all, but I literally couldn't stop.
The end isn't clear - it leaves you wondering what on earth happened to Linus, Bernham, and most of all, Rosie! I personally found some of the science slightly disturbing, but it's a solid read.
This book was very enjoyable. The premise was interesting, the plot was engaging, and I found myself unable to put the book down.
However - the end didn't feel like an end to me. It felt like a cop-out. I wish the author would have tried harder to make a more powerful ending. To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure what happened on the very last page.
But the ending aside, this book made me happy. I've been anticipating it since June, and even though it wasn't my favorite, it's definitely worth a read.
However - the end didn't feel like an end to me. It felt like a cop-out. I wish the author would have tried harder to make a more powerful ending. To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure what happened on the very last page.
But the ending aside, this book made me happy. I've been anticipating it since June, and even though it wasn't my favorite, it's definitely worth a read.