erinarkin20's review
4.0
The Keep of Ages is the third, and final, installment of The Vault of Dreamers series by Caragh M. O’Brien and if you haven’t read any books in this series, you may want to check out my earlier reviews and then of course, go dive into book one so you can see why I enjoyed this series so much. With that said, I will try to avoid spoilers for this third book but can’t promise for books one and two so now you are warned.
As this book picks up, we are back with Rosie who has headed home to find that her mom, Larry, and Dubbs are gone and Rosie has no idea where they are – the only clue being a note that Dubbs left her to point her in the right direction. Rosie is still being hunted by Berg and this makes things dangerous. She has to be careful and knows she has very few people she can trust so as she heads out, she makes the decision to reach out to Burnham to ask for help.
We get a lot of the same characters in this book as we had in the previous books. Burnham, Thea, Berg, and Linus but we also get introduced to Lavinia Jacobs, the person who started The Forge Show and the person who is able to help Rosie get her family back. All of these characters have an impact on Rosie and help to keep the story on track. Thea is probably the most disconnected based on the fact that she is back home with her parents but through phone calls, we see that she is still very much linked to Rosie and even has some critical information for her.
Both Linus and Burnham have challenges they have to overcome due to Berg’s plans for Rosie but both are willing to do whatever they need to in order to help her stay out of Berg’s control and save her family. Of course, I have always been a fan of Linus and despite how the last book ended, was optimistic about the relationship between him and Rosie…I had concerns, no question but as we find out early on in this book, Linus is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to be there for Rosie and I love that about him.
As the story progresses, Rosie finds herself in some challenging situations and I have to say, Grisly Valley is a thing of nightmares – trust me, the name is appropriate. When Rosie is once again back under the control of Berg and his people, she realizes that she has to figure out how she is going to get herself (and Dubbs) out of their prison and I loved the twist here. It was slightly unexpected and ultimately added a little something to the rest of the story.
There is a science fiction feel to this series in that O’Brien builds the story around this idea that scientists can go digging around in someone’s brain and mine memories or cameras can be installed into someone’s eye…without them knowing about it. All of which makes me cringe and wonder what would a world like this really be like for people…especially with people like Berg in power.
There isn’t much more I can say without giving anything away with this one. In the end, I thought O’Brien did a great job of closing out this series. I have a bad tendency to put off reading final books in a series because I either don’t want it to end or I am worried I won’t be happy with what happens. With that said, I knew that this was one I needed to read because I needed to find out what was going to happen. Things definitely weren’t easy for Rosie but I thought the closure left things in a good place for her and all of the other characters.
Although I am sad to see the end of this series, I am happy I was able to finish it out and now I look forward to whatever Caragh O’Brien decides to write next because this series just solidified how much I enjoy her books. They always have interesting and well-developed characters, a page-turning story, and of course, keep me engaged until the very end just wondering what is going to happen next. I can’t ask for more than that and if those are things you typically look for too, consider checking this book/series out.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
As this book picks up, we are back with Rosie who has headed home to find that her mom, Larry, and Dubbs are gone and Rosie has no idea where they are – the only clue being a note that Dubbs left her to point her in the right direction. Rosie is still being hunted by Berg and this makes things dangerous. She has to be careful and knows she has very few people she can trust so as she heads out, she makes the decision to reach out to Burnham to ask for help.
We get a lot of the same characters in this book as we had in the previous books. Burnham, Thea, Berg, and Linus but we also get introduced to Lavinia Jacobs, the person who started The Forge Show and the person who is able to help Rosie get her family back. All of these characters have an impact on Rosie and help to keep the story on track. Thea is probably the most disconnected based on the fact that she is back home with her parents but through phone calls, we see that she is still very much linked to Rosie and even has some critical information for her.
Both Linus and Burnham have challenges they have to overcome due to Berg’s plans for Rosie but both are willing to do whatever they need to in order to help her stay out of Berg’s control and save her family. Of course, I have always been a fan of Linus and despite how the last book ended, was optimistic about the relationship between him and Rosie…I had concerns, no question but as we find out early on in this book, Linus is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to be there for Rosie and I love that about him.
As the story progresses, Rosie finds herself in some challenging situations and I have to say, Grisly Valley is a thing of nightmares – trust me, the name is appropriate. When Rosie is once again back under the control of Berg and his people, she realizes that she has to figure out how she is going to get herself (and Dubbs) out of their prison and I loved the twist here. It was slightly unexpected and ultimately added a little something to the rest of the story.
There is a science fiction feel to this series in that O’Brien builds the story around this idea that scientists can go digging around in someone’s brain and mine memories or cameras can be installed into someone’s eye…without them knowing about it. All of which makes me cringe and wonder what would a world like this really be like for people…especially with people like Berg in power.
There isn’t much more I can say without giving anything away with this one. In the end, I thought O’Brien did a great job of closing out this series. I have a bad tendency to put off reading final books in a series because I either don’t want it to end or I am worried I won’t be happy with what happens. With that said, I knew that this was one I needed to read because I needed to find out what was going to happen. Things definitely weren’t easy for Rosie but I thought the closure left things in a good place for her and all of the other characters.
Although I am sad to see the end of this series, I am happy I was able to finish it out and now I look forward to whatever Caragh O’Brien decides to write next because this series just solidified how much I enjoy her books. They always have interesting and well-developed characters, a page-turning story, and of course, keep me engaged until the very end just wondering what is going to happen next. I can’t ask for more than that and if those are things you typically look for too, consider checking this book/series out.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
e_d_ivey's review
3.0
Finally found a way to finish this book (I'd started it in a Barnes & Noble and then couldn't find it anywhere!)
Unfortunately, this last installment didn't do it for me. The premise behind this series intrigues me, and like I've seen from other reviewers on here, O'Brien gets points for creativity, but I found myself more determined to finish so I could finish rather than because I wanted to know the ending. Maybe it's because I took so long to read it, but the plot felt ambling and disjointed to me. I didn't see the reason behind certain points that only seemed to extend the story. I wouldn't completely write this series off, but I was hoping for a bit more.
Unfortunately, this last installment didn't do it for me. The premise behind this series intrigues me, and like I've seen from other reviewers on here, O'Brien gets points for creativity, but I found myself more determined to finish so I could finish rather than because I wanted to know the ending. Maybe it's because I took so long to read it, but the plot felt ambling and disjointed to me. I didn't see the reason behind certain points that only seemed to extend the story. I wouldn't completely write this series off, but I was hoping for a bit more.
amanda818's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
qwordyq's review
4.0
3.5 rounded up. A very interesting conclusion to the trilogy. Although I still feel there were things left unsaid by the end and wished for a bit more closure especially some of the after effects. Clearing those up would have been nice but over a very twisty turny adventure.
kaillinelson's review
4.0
This trilogy is one that definitely made it hard to put down. I feel like this book did a great job keeping up the fast pace that the second one had and made me want to just get the the end to find out what happens. The imagery was one of my favorite things because I really felt like I was right there along with Rosie as she experienced everything at Grisly. Overall, I would recommend reading this trilogy and the only reason I gave the last one four stars is because I feel like the ending should have been longer and explained more in depth.
bookyogi's review
3.0
This series was so odd. It started normal enough with Vault of Dreamers and a reality show and shot into weird by the end and continued getting stranger through the end of book 3. While it was weird, I was intrigued, so I kept reading. However, I would say this book was disappointing. Book 2 was all about Althea and Rosie, told from alternating points of view, and the separating of the two selves. But then in book 3, Althea is all but completely ignored with but a few chapters, leaving her story out almost entirely. This is how I felt about many developments (or lack of development) in the book. The potential relationships, character development and explanation for so much is left unresolved and therefore I felt, unsatisfied. I am at odds with myself because I found myself continuing to read each book, but yet still...unfinished.
cjmichel's review against another edition
4.0
Throughout this whole series, the suspense never ends. How do you move forward when you cannot trust your own mind anymore? This was really enjoyable and very captivating.
juliasbooklife's review
1.0
This was the third and final book in the vault of dreamers trilogy and I was really looking forward to reading it. If you’ve seen my earlier reviews I was enjoying these books and anticipating reading this one but unfortunately, it was very disappointing for me. One problem was that it was very slow and there was barely any plot, the end could’ve been written in 50 pages but was stretched out to almost 400. Next, I was finally getting excited about getting to know the characters but most of their development was cut off or ignored. Most of the plot points that happened earlier in the book of the trilogy were completely forgotten and ignored so there was no closure. The villain backstory was horribly done and I was hoping to hear more about their story and a final showdown but the ending was a copout with no closure and one tiny unfinished plot point about their motive. I really dislike endings that are done and wrapped up with no closure or explanation for all of the other unanswered questions and this book did exactly that, it ignored half of the story had gone horribly executed final battle scene, and then jumped to a completely random plot point and was over. I also want to add I was really uncomfortable about some of the racial language used against the black main character in this book, they made it to seem that they were untrustworthy and romantically pushy when that was simply not true based on what happened in the last books and was brought up randomly this book just to end the love triangle that was happening. I don’t give out one star lightly at all but this book was the most disappointing endings I've read.