Caragh M. O'Brien

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 ridges 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. From Caragh M. O'Brien, author of the Birthmarked trilogy comes the first book in a new series, The Vault of Dreamers, a fast-paced, psychologically thrilling novel about what happens when your dreams are not your own.

The Vault of Dreamers

Rosie Sinclair, who attends an elite arts school where students are contestants on a high stakes reality show, skips her sleeping pill one night and discovers that the school is really a cover-up for the lucrative and sinister practice of dream harvesting.

Nicole Dykeman

I was a huge fan of this. If I had the time, I would have sat down and finished the whole thing in one sitting, but I had to get my wisdom teeth taken out, so I was out of it yesterday. The plot of this novel is super original, I've never really read another book quite like it. Bits and pieces of ideas relate to other stories, like the reality TV aspect, which reminds me a bit of the Hunger Games, but it is used in a unique way. I didn't want to put it down, so there wasn't a dull moment in the story. 

4/5 stars because I wish some of the characters were a bit more developed, like Burnham and Janice. I got to see a lot of Rosie, as the narrator, and Linus, since she spent so much time with him, but I really wanted to know more about Burnham in particular and his character development was definitely lacking. Rosie could also get a bit annoying sometimes, but it wasn't to a massive degree that made me want to stop reading.

Jessica Nottingham

Argh. This book. Where do I even start with how I feel about this book? I suppose I'll start with the fact that The Vault of Dreamers has a very original setting. Rosie Sinclair and the other Forge School students aren't just part of an extremely prestigious school for the Arts, they're also part of a reality TV show. Everything they do, everything they create, essentially everything they are is available for public consumption. This concept plays a huge part in the story and was one of the first things that I couldn't get behind. Talk of "blip ranks" and "banner ads" was everywhere. Mentions of camera angles and shots. The only thing about this that I did like was the fact that it created a dual world. One where these characters behaved one way during the day, and another at night when the cameras were off.
 
Had the story only been about Rosie and her school, I'm not sure I would have finished. As it happens, there's another plot line running underneath this unique school set up. There's a secret hidden by Forge School. One that requires its inhabitants to be put into a drugged sleep every night, only to wake with IV marks in the morning. I was intrigued by this at first. What could possibly be going on that they wouldn't want their students to know about? As Rosie dove deeper into the mystery, I felt more immersed in the story. This, above all else, was what made me want to keep reading on.
 
The problem was, that soon even this plot line plateaued. A good majority of the middle of this book just felt like it wasn't moving anything forward. There was a bit of a romance for Rosie, that felt a bit forced but was cute enough. There was also a few occurrences that attempted to build more tension for what was coming at the end. Sadly, they didn't really push me to want to read faster. Then the climax finally came and it was just so lackluster in feeling that I was devastated. I wanted more excitement. More intrigue and danger.
 
This isn't a bad story by any means. The premise is fascinating, even though I'm not a fan of the whole reality show concept. As I said, it did create a good opportunity for duality though. Rosie and her friends were decently fleshed out, and likable in their own ways. Even the romance was an okay addition. All of it just never added up into anything that made me want to commit to this book. I didn't have enough of a connection to it, and that stayed true right up until the end. I'd give this three stars, but I feel like it had the potential to be so much more.

Lauren James

I was really hovering between 2 and 3 stars. I really liked the concept but I couldn't really connect with any of the characters. There were also some things that weren't explained very well. It just left me feeling, eh, it was okay.

The Vault of Dreamers

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