The Vault of Dreamers

August 4, 2014
Rosie Sinclair’s one shot at becoming a film director is attending the Forge School, so she’s willing to put up with certain oddities. The school broadcasts students’ daily lives as the popular reality program The Forge Show, and only those with the highest “blip ranks” get to stay. Additionally, students must spend 12 hours sleeping, in accordance with the school’s belief that rest enhances creativity. Rosie is more comfortable behind the camera, but she plays along, earning her way into the top 50 with help from new friends and a well-timed kiss. When Rosie skips her sleeping pill, she discovers the school’s true purpose is more sinister than a quest for ratings. O’Brien (the Birthmarked trilogy) mixes the appeal of a classic boarding school novel with modern concerns about surveillance and reality as performance art, while questioning how human perception creates that reality in the first place. The final plot twist doesn’t quite satisfy after the race to the climax, but more of this series is yet to come. Like viewers of The Forge Show, readers will want to keep watching Rosie. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.