THE RULE OF MIRRORS

After The Vault of Dreamers (2014), Rosie’s split consciousness struggles to evade her old enemies and unravel the conspiracy.

The part of Rosie still mined for dreams, left behind by the part that escaped through a stolen dream, fights the drugs that keep her asleep. She gains a chance at freedom when an error in dosage causes her to wake for a chance meeting with Ian, a facility employee who develops a crush on her. Rosie is supremely and rightfully creeped out by him, but manipulating him is her only chance at escape. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, the consciousness that fled has ended up in dreams given to a comatose teenager and takes root: when Althea’s body wakes up, her mind is Rosie’s. Althea’s life brings extreme wealth as well as the girl’s loving family, Althea’s boyfriend—and the third trimester of Althea’s pregnancy. Despite throwing herself into her new reality, Rosie’s determined to save her previous self and other captive dreamers and to find her old flame, Linus. While the romantic storylines sometimes slow the plot, there’s plenty of intrigue and—as the whole dream operation is explored—a solid sense of building tension. For the rest of the story, readers must wait for the third book—the ending’s a classic middle-book cliffhanger.

A middle volume that’s elevated with its explorations of identity.