{"id":6188,"date":"2021-01-09T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T17:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=6188"},"modified":"2021-07-06T13:41:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T20:41:59","slug":"the-empire-of-dreams-teen-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2021\/the-empire-of-dreams-teen-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empire of Dreams &#8212; Teen Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Review by Jasmine Sov, 14<\/p>\n<h3><em>The Empire of Dreams<\/em> By Rae Carson<\/h3>\n<div>Precocious, magic-touched Red Sparkle Stone has been running all her life\u2014from monsters, evil sorcerers, and the trauma that weighs her down. Now, she\u2019s about to be adopted by the royal family, a sweet ending to the suffering she\u2019s had to go through to reach this point. What no one was expecting was for the adoption to be blocked. Determined to not let the opportunity to have a real family and a place to belong slip through her fingers, Red joins the Royal Guard training as a recruit\u2014the first female one to boot. But when it becomes clear that there are traitors in the midst of the court and a plot against the empress brewing behind closed doors, Red must uncover the enemy who could harm everyone and everything she holds dear.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><em>The Empire of Dreams<\/em> is set in the same universe as Rae Carson\u2019s other trilogy, <em>The Girl of Fire and Thorns<\/em>. Fortunately, it is still able to be read as a standalone novel, as there is sufficient worldbuilding and few references to the events of the trilogy that readers can have a smooth reading experience. Its pronounced feminist ideas and refreshing freeness of any forced romantic subplots make it a marvelous read for teens of any gender identity. While one of the &#8220;big reveals&#8221; at the climax was somewhat predictable, I particularly admired the reveal of the motives. With a strong, well-developed cast of characters and a lush, Spanish culture-inspired world before them, <em>The Empire of Dreams<\/em> thrills and delights at every twist and turn of the plot.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>4.5 stars.<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Find this book in our catalog: <a href=\"https:\/\/pasadena.ent.sirsi.net\/client\/en_US\/default\/search\/detailnonmodal\/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:226126\/one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Empire of Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Catalog Number: NA<\/p>\n<p>448 pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 The Empire of Dreams By Rae Carson Precocious, magic-touched Red Sparkle Stone has been running all her life\u2014from monsters, evil sorcerers, and the trauma that weighs her down. Now, she\u2019s about to be adopted by the royal family, a sweet ending to the suffering she\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":6189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2021\/01\/81urpfU3oeL.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1BO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4975,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2019\/the-glass-spare-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":0},"title":"The Glass Spare &#8212; Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"February 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"review by John Chon, age 16 The Glass Spare\u00a0by\u00a0Lauren DeStefano \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Glass Spare, by Lauren DeStefano, has the interesting premise of the observation of a character set in the Middle Ages. 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Then the revolution happened, and everything changed. Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/01\/the-sandcastle-empire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3663,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/an-ember-in-the-ashes-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":3},"title":"An Ember In The Ashes&#8211;teen review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"February 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Jacob Chon, grade 9 An Ember in the Ashes\u00a0by Sabaa Tahir \u00a0 Summary:\u00a0Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/02\/Ember-in-the-Ashes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2014\/dreams-of-gods-and-monsters-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":4},"title":"Dreams of Gods and Monsters &#8212; teen review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"August 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"--review by Kara, teen reviewer Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor Summary: \u00a0When a brutal angel army trespasses into the human world, Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat -- and against larger dangers that loom on the horizon in this thrilling conclusion to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Teen Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Teen Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.syndetics.com\/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=0316134074\/LC.GIF&client=pasap&upc=&oclc=","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4692,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/among-the-red-stars-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":5},"title":"Among The Red Stars &#8212; Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"June 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by Jacob Chon, age 15 Among The Red Stars\u00a0by\u00a0Gwen C. Katz \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Set in the heart of the largest conflict in human history, Among The Red Stars is a historical fiction novel with real roots in the Second World War\u2019s Eastern Front. \u00a0Valentina Grizodubova is a young pilot with large\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/06\/among-the-red-stars.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6519,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions\/6519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}