The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien

The Vault of Dreamers is the first YA dystopian in the trilogy about dream mining and seeding. The Forge School is the best school for the arts in the world. Every moment of the students' lives are on national television. Every night, the students get 12 hours of medical sleep to "induce creativity." When film student Rosie skips her sleeping pill, she realizes that something is happening during the night at Forge, something that the cameras can't reach. What's worse is that she is hearing a voice in her head and is having dizzy spells. There are little IV marks in her arm she doesn't remember getting, and she sees students getting taken somewhere in the night. She sneaks around, filming the awful things she's witnessing. But in the morning, the footage has been erased. How can she stop this if nobody believes her? Even worse, she's beginning to think she can't trust herself.

This book was a complete thrill! I have never read any book like this, and I hope it never happens. Talk about an invasion of privacy! The 4th amendment completely vanished, and I was fascinated, constantly trying to figure out the motivations of all the characters and why and how the conspiracy unfolded and went unnoticed.

Rosie has possibly the biggest internal conflict of any character ever. As she sinks deeper into the investigation and trying to convince others to investigate too, she ends up questioning her sanity. The more nobody believes her, essentially the whole world, the more she doubts herself and truly wonders if everything really was a nightmare, or maybe she's hallucinating. It really doesn't help that the footage on her camera is gone. When everybody tells you something, it is really hard to stick with knowing that you are right and everybody else is wrong. I can only imagine how frustrating and angering it must have been. If I was a student there, I definitely would have believed her and tried to help.

Something I liked was the Dean's character. The whole book I was constantly guessing whether he was good or evil. I like characters that are not obvious, and the conspiracy surrounding him was very clever and well-written. The idea of the art school being on television and popularity rankings and eliminations is interesting by itself, let alone the secrets. I loved more than just the dystopian element, I loved the relationships and the classes and competition.

I highly recommend this book! I am very glad I bought this book, and I cannot wait to read the next one, The Rule of Mirrors!

Title: The Vault of Dreamers
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 418
Series: Yes, Book 1 of 3
Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads