Perchance To Dream

It's not often that I come across a series whose installments I can read back to back or in close proximity to one another. I know several people who have to exist in a certain story or genre for a while, but is I do that I get burnt out. The last time I did that was over a year ago when I went on a dystopia binge. However, I read Eyes Like Stars only a couple months ago and I just had to read the sequel. And it did not at all disappoint. We get a continuation of the story in the first book but outside the theater with new characters and even higher stakes.

The change of scenery in Perchance to Dream gave a story a refreshing change without losing the magic that Eyes Like Stars had. If anything, it might have been even more magical. Some sequences, especially towards the end, I could totally see as a stop-motion film. Everything was so whimsical and well developed, especially the characters. We have the return of the faeries from A Midsummer Night's Dream, who will forever be my favorite characters, as well as some new characters. It's very rare that a book will cause me to laugh out loud, but the faeries' banters about sweets and pies and all around tom-foolery will never fail to make me laugh. And the reason for that is probably because the writing is so well done and so clever. The language is something I just absolutely love. It's this mix of modern and Shakespearean English that is just so delicious to read and really adds to the crafting of the story.

However, this series, like every other young adult series, is not without romance and a love triangle. But, I will defend this one by saying that it was unpredictable, and the outcome at the end of this novel is not one you see very often. And that could apply to the entire book as a whole. The narrative took twists and turns that I didn't expect. It was just so well crafted! One minute I'd be laughing at the faeries, the next moment Bertie would be stuck in some sort of waking dream, and the next moment would be dark and sort of scary. It takes an awful lot of skill to be able to jump ranges like that.

Overall, if you haven't read this series, you definitely need to pick up Eyes Like Stars. It's been a while since I've wanted to completely binge on a series, but this is turning out to be one of those moments. I need to find a copy of book three as soon as possible.

This book was even better than the first, going so far as the cover art. Filled from start to finish with, mischief, food, fun, words, magic, and love, it starts out with Bertie and Co. on a quest to save Nate from the clutches of the evil sea goddess, Sedna. But things aren't as easy as Bertie first thinks, they are low on food(much to the faeries dismay) and everything she does seems to take them two steps back. With her growing confusion on how she feels for both Nate and Ariel, and finding her father, Bertie feels overwhelmed as she continues forward in her quest. She works to piece together her past until she finally reaches the portal to Sedna's lair, where she must fight to save Nate, Ariel, and finally herself.

I really feel for Bertie in this book, even more so than in the last, I was having as much, or maybe even more, trouble deciding for myself who she should end up with, both Ariel and Nate love her so much, and both are unique and wonderful in their own ways.

The faeries as usual are hilarious, especially when while putting on a production of "The Capulets and the Montagues are Dead." Peaseblossom suffers from schizophrenia, and when Moth, Mustardseed, and Cobweb are "canniballistic" and start eating Henry, Peaseblossom's marzipan boyfriend. Their lines and quips never fail to crack me up laughing.

The sequel to the fabulous Eyes Like Stars takes Beatrice and friends out of the Theatre Illuminata and into the world at large on a rescue mission. The plot is once again steeped in Shakespeare and magical story lore. The characters are flawed, interesting, and compelling. And the world building is imaginitive and vivid. I did get lost a few times during the narrative, the plot twists just keep coming!, but I really enjoyed it. And Ms. Mantchev did something I never dreamed she would do. She made me doubt my allegiance to Nate by making Ariel a force to be reckoned with. I can't wait to read the third to see how Beatrice's story ends.

Reader reviewed by Noel Furniss, Teen Demi-Goddess

A journey is about to unfold...

The life of Beatrice Shakespeare Smith has never been a tame one. Living in an enchanted theater with a band of mischevieous fairies, a swash-buckling pirate, and a wild-as-the-wind air elemental doesn't leave much opportunity for calm. But when Bertie sets off on an adventure to rescue the handsome Nate, has she gotten in over her head?

Perchance To Dream is the second novel in the innovative Théâtre Illuminata series by the wonderfully eccentric author, Lisa Mantchev. For anyone who fell in love with Eyes Like Stars, Perchance is a must-read-asap choice, due to come out in May. It's hilarious (as is inevitable with the fairies around), romantic (as the love triangle deepens), and heart wrenching as Bertie discovers who she really is. Throw in a circus-full of new characters, as well as powers that spin out of control, and you have Bertie's life in a nutshell: chaos.

Count down the days until May, people. The best fantasy you'll read (until book three) is waiting for you.

Reader reviewed by Ruthie