The Keep of Ages

July 15, 2017
In the conclusion to the Vault of Dreamers trilogy, Rosie has her final showdown with the villainous Berg and the dream-mining operations.Rosie returns home to find her family--her mother, younger sister, and sometimes-abusive stepfather, all evidently white like Rosie--gone, sending her off to find them before Berg does. Concise recaps allow readers to quickly refresh themselves on the plot's intricacies. A clue left by her sister leads Rosie to a valuable source and a great new setting--a horror-themed amusement park long abandoned after a nearby nuclear meltdown, likely the location of the other vault of dreamers and perhaps where she will find her family. Meanwhile, her splintered consciousness from The Rule of Mirrors (2016), now inhabiting Latina Thea, is suffering headaches that may indicate a need for more mined dreams--and Rosie has no wish to ever be mined again. But Berg has big plans, and Rosie doesn't always get what she wants. While there are some great meditations on singular and collective consciousness, as well as some satisfyingly complex interpersonal friction, one of the climax's twists is a bit predictable, and the solutions tread dangerously close to deus ex machina territory. The final resolution leaves some dangling threads for Rosie and her multiethnic group of friends but concludes the immediate dangers. Imperfect but still psychologically and philosophically rich. (Science fiction. 12-adult)

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