Illusionarium by Heather Dixon {review + giveaway}

Illusionarium
by Heather Dixon
♦publisher: Greenwillow Books
♦release date: May 19th, 2015
♦hardcover 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he's a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that calls to mind The Night Circus and Pixar movies, but is wholly its own.

Review:  Illusionarium seems to be one of those books that people are either loving or hating. Both sides have their reasons, and I find that awesome!  It reminds me once again about the fabulous diversity of readers, how the wonderful idea behind the phrase “to each his own” seems to apply to reading more than any other thing in the world!

For me, Illusionarium was absolutely fantastic! An adventurous, imaginative, unique, and wildly creative story of not one, but two alternate steampunk versions of Victorian London, with a pacing that barely leaves you time to catch your breath.  The main character, Jonathan, is a quirky, dry-humored, slightly awkward scientist-type. He and his little sister, Hannah have a good sibling rivalry going where intelligence is concerned, but it’s also a very sweet and protective relationship. The author uses the amusing addition of annotations to add funny little bits of information and comments to Jonathan’s POV, and I loved that. 

I liked watching Jonathan’s character develop throughout. He starts off a bit light and naïve, but his outlook and aggression darkens as he faces this bleak new world and as his desperation grows to find a way to save his family and he’s put off again and again.  I also liked the enemy-to-ally friendship that grows between Jonathan and Lockwood, they find themselves forced together and a bond grows through mutual respect…eventually. One word of warning, despite what the cover might imply, don’t look to this one if you’re in the mood for romance. You won’t find it here. But I was happy with that---with such a desperate and time-sensitive mission at hand, it might have bothered me if Jonathan had stopped to flirt. 

The idea behind illusioning is a clever mix of science and magic.  The illusions can only be seen by someone who is inhaling a hallucinogenic drug called fantillium, but if someone is being attacked or killed by illusion, their body will react as if it’s really happening. In the twisted alternate society, the people have made illusioning a bloodsport.  Talented illusionists are able to conjure illusions to outwit each other in competition. But there is a gruesome downside to overdosing on the drug. The concept and world building that went along with it demands a stretch of the imagination, but it’s a wild idea and makes for stunningly visual storytelling. 

Maybe on another day, in another mood, I might have nitpicked this one a bit more. But I found this incredibly entertaining, imaginative, and exactly the story I was craving. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, but I definitely recommend giving it a try!

 Find Heather Dixon online:  Website  •   Instagram

Purchase Illusionarium:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

 

GIVEAWAY!

I have an extra copy of this one so I'm going to pass it on! 

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•Ends June 3rd, 2015

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Review: Entwined

Entwined by Heather Dixon

publisher: Greenwillow Books

release date: March 29th, 2011

hardcover, 480 pages

intended audience: Young adult

source: ARC from Around the World Tours

rating:


desctription:
Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Review: This one was a charmer. I love fairy tale retellings, whether they are modernized or told in the old style. This one was true to its fairy tale beginnings so we got all the lush ballrooms and beautiful flowing gowns, gentlemen and ladies with impeccable manners (some of them, at least!) and most of all in this story, the dancing. Dancing is everything to Azalea and her sisters. They dance when they are happy, they dance to lift their spirits, they dance to connect with their mother. It was interesting to try to picture all the dances, sometimes it comes through as enchanting, and sometimes it slowed the story a little.

While Entwined was a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, I also saw alot of parallels to Little Women when it came to the four eldest girls: the responsible and caring Azalea (like Meg), the fiery, temperamental Bramble (Jo), the very timid Clover (Beth), and the outspoken and always-thinking-of-the-future Delphinium (Amy). I loved how each of the twelve sisters had their own defined personalities, even though Azalea, Bramble, and Clover were the three we got to know best.

I loved the development of the relationship between the king and the girls. It starts out very rocky and both the girls and the king are dealing with grief in different ways. That puts them at complete odds in a way that is almost cruel to eachother. But soon the kings sets out to try to mend things with his daughters and there were parts of that that very nearly had me in tears because his efforts were so touching.

In all the magic and wonder and dancing in this, parts were genuinely creepy! Some of the scenes down in the hidden pavilion where the girls sneaked off to dance were frightening, with the eerie Keeper and his ghostly dancers.

The writing was very good, kept me wrapped up in the plot and only dipped a few times. One of my quirks with reading is when a description is used repetitively and I found that here: whenever the king was upset he would "suck in his cheeks" and he was upset quite a lot so this phase was on every few pages when the king was involved in the story. But again, that is just my own pet peeve.

All in all, this was a really enjoyable book! Definitely worth a read!

I was unable to find a website for this author---this may be updated in the future!

Pre-order Entwined at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository

Waiting on Wednesday : Entwined

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.


Entwined
by Heather Dixon

release date: March 29th, 2011 by Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)

description: Azalea and her younger sisters dance in the mysterious silver forest every night, escaping from the sadness of the palace and their father’s grief. ...more Azalea and her younger sisters dance in the mysterious silver forest every night, escaping from the sadness of the palace and their father’s grief. What they don’t understand—although as time passes they begin to get an inkling of the danger they are in—is that the mysterious and dashing Keeper is tightening his snare with deadly purpose. Luckily, Azalea is brave and steadfast. Luckily, a handsome young army captain also has his eye on Azalea. . . . Lush, romantic, and compelling, this debut novel by Heather Dixon will thrill fans of Shannon Hale, Robin McKinley, and Edith Pattou.

My thoughts: Okay, I am the first to admit, that even though the story sounds intriguing and magical, and I don't intent to skip anything that claims to "thrill fans of Robin McKinley"---the number one reason I am in love with this book is that gorgeous cover! I mean, really...can I please have that castle and that dress? Pretty please?? And I can only hope that those swirly vines are going to be embossed and shimmery so that I want to run my hands over it a hundred times a day. :) Furthermore, this is a 2011 debut, so it will be at the top of my Debut Authors Challenge list next year!