The Rule of Mirrors (Vault of Dreamers Trilogy, #2)

by Caragh M O'Brien

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
4.5*

I really liked A Vault of Dreamers, and it ended on kind of a huge cliffhanger (and by "kind of", I mean freaking definitely) so I was pretty interested to see where the next book would go. The ending was a game changer, so it was either going to get epically amazing, or... not.

You probably guessed by now that I liked the direction the plot took. The first book had almost a straight up contemporary feel to it (well, not exactly contemporary, since it's set about 50 years in the future, but other than that, contemporary), while the last 10-20% of the book veered into a more science fiction/dystopian direction. While the first book separated the genres, The Rule of Mirrors blended them seamlessly in a way that made the book very easy to read and keep up with. Without giving anything away, this book could have been messy, but it wasn't at all.

I felt like we got to know the characters on a much deeper level this time around, especially the side characters. There are new characters introduced who added a lot to the story, both in terms of characterisation and plot. I basically flew through reading this book, didn't want to put it down, and cannot wait to see how the story ends.

There's one thing I must mention, and it's really the only reason for my half star deduction: Even though it's supposed to be about 51 years in the future, not much feels different. I mean, they're using laptops and cell phones, and driving gasoline running cars that they still have to stop and fuel up, stuff like that. And if you think about fifty years ago, things looked a lot different, so I kind of assume they will fifty years from now too?

But aside from that one minor complaint, I was hooked on this book. The pace was great, I was invested in the characters and the story, and I need book three!

Bottom Line: This is how you do a second book in a trilogy justice. It wasn't filler, it was full on content, and great content at that. Not only did it clear up the stuff left hanging at the end of the last book (in a very coherent way), but it brought forth a lot of new, thought provoking questions that I think readers will really enjoy pondering.

Copy provided by publisher for review.