Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: September 26, 2023
Publisher: Clarion Books
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Contemporary
Cage of Dreams, by Rebecca Schaeffer, is the second and final installment in the authors City of Nightmares duology. This is a story that takes place in a world not unlike the 1920's. Gotham
meets Strange the Dreamer is the story about a
cowardly girl named Ness who finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate
conspiracy, in the city of Newham, where crooked politicians and sinister cults reign
and dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare. Like the vampires
and monstrous Nightmares, including a Pterodactyl, that roam Newham.
Ness used to have a vehement terror of
Nightmares—people who’d been turned into their worst fears while they
slept. She watched as her sister turned into a nightmare spider and killed their father to protect her. She found herself living in small spaces to protect herself from others. Through two assassination attempts, an explosion on a boat, and a Faustian
bargain with a dream demon who she set free from his cage of dreams, she’s finally working through those fears. Unfortunately, Nightmares aren’t the only dangerous thing in Newham.
Working at a speakeasy where gunfights are common and death is a regular
occurrence, Ness is forced to reckon with all her other fears—including
her fear of mortality. It’s easy to die in Newham, but it’s hard to
live. So when the Nightmare Phantom—the monster who turns people into
Nightmares—shows up, asking her for another favor, she agrees, but only
if he’ll turn her into a Nightmare. One of her own choosing, something
bulletproof and strong and able to live without fear.
But when Ness’s attempt to fulfill the deal goes wrong, things start
to spiral out of control. She's targeted by the Mayor as well as the Director of the Friends of the Restful Friends. Now Ness is in the cross hairs of enemies old
and new, and this time, she can’t run from her problems. If she wants to
survive, she’s going to have to conquer the most difficult enemy of
all: herself. This time her only friends are Cy, the boy who was made into a vampire, and Priya, the girl who loves chaos and hoped to become a member of the Nightmare Defense team before she learned how corrupt and awful they were.
*Thoughts* I love Priya. I don't think anything scares this girl, and that include Ness who is someone who has trouble following her everywhere she goes. Ness the Mess has Cy to thank for her current living conditions. Even though it is a closet, she wouldn't have it any other way. I think Cy is under used for the most part. He is a freaking vampire who is nearly indestructible! I do love the fact that Ness kind of comes out of her shell towards the end, and makes some interesting choices about her future, and her future with Cy. The final chapter of this book is interesting in that the author could spin off Priya and give her some adventures of her own.
