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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Magic, adventure and romance await..., April 7, 2010
This review is from: Perchance to Dream: Theatre Illuminata #2 (Hardcover)
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The magical adventures of Bertie and the Theatre Illuminata continue in this charming sequel to Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars. This time, the stakes are higher, the mysteries are deeper and the romance is stronger. After discovering some of the secrets behind her origins and getting permission to continue living at the theatre, Bertie must find a way to understand the outside world and save someone very dear to her. When Nate is kidnapped by the horrible Sea Goddess from The Little Mermaid, Bertie must set out to free him. Along with her faithful fairy sidekicks Cobweb, Peaseblossom, Moth and Mustardseed (the fairies from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Bertie uses her magic to journey to lands outside the theatre and rescue Nate. Along the way, Bertie meets her father and learns about some of the strange secrets behind the world's magic. She also has very vivid dreams about Nate, and finds that she is falling even more in love with him -despite the irresistible Ariel (a spirit from Shakespeare's The Tempest) lurking close by. Bertie is thrown into an inevitable love triangle, and must discover the path to her true love while searching for the path to defeat the Sea Goddess. Even more enjoyable than Eyes Like Stars, I found Perchance to Dream to have even more magic and adventure than its predecessor. It was a breath of fresh air to get out of the theatre and see what other fantastic things Mantchev has up her sleeve. The writing style is also noticeably improved from the first book, weaving even more lush and vivid pictures of the characters and the locations. I was a little surprised by the sudden decrease in Shakespeare references (and personally kind of missed it), but this change helped the series build its own mythology and stand apart from Shakespeare. Perchance to Dream is a worthy sequel (and, in my opinion, an even better one) to Eyes Like Stars. There's more romance, magic and adventure just waiting for readers to explore.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bertie's Road Trip, April 30, 2010
This review is from: Perchance to Dream: Theatre Illuminata #2 (Hardcover)
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And I do mean trip, as in trippy. Lisa Mantchev creates a world that is more theatrical than real, even outside the walls of the magical theater from her first book, Eyes Like Stars. Here Bertie and her sidekicks hit the road in a caravan drawn by mechanical horses, in search of the missing Nate and maybe even Bertie's father, the Mysterious Stranger. The three fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream continue to offer comic relief, e.g., when Peaseblossom falls in love with the marzipan groom on a wedding cake. A new character named Waschbar is part-raccoon and a thief, but only of unwanted things, he says. Bertie, now the Mistress of Revels, wins a magical journal from him that allows her to keep writing the script of their adventure as they go, although she tends to write in haste and leave out crucial elements, resulting in various complications. Ariel, the wind spirit, comes along for the ride, and he persists in trying to charm Bertie, even as she worries about her sailor friend, Nate, who is in the clutches of Sedna, the sea witch. This is a fairly episodic book, with characters and events popping in and out as if--well, as if Bertie were on a stage. The author's efforts to make Bertie's theatrical world magical are sometimes fresh and beautiful, but other times are distracting or confusing. A scene in a market and another on a surreal circus train are lovely set pieces. Of course, the fairies will tell you that the best part of the circus train is that it has one car entirely dedicated to pies, in alphabetical order. Bertie is still a bit hard to like, since she tends to seem selfish and to yell at her friends and family. But she can also be brave and determined. In this book, she does meet her father, who is not very good at being human, let alone a parent. Readers looking for some romance will be pleased by how much Ariel and Nate care for Bertie, although we see more of the wind spirit than of the sailor in this volume. An ongoing plot point is that Bertie must deal with her feelings for both of them, and with the feminist suspicion that what she really wants is to stop having them claim her so that she can own herself. Of course, Sedna makes a deliciously terrifying villainess. Perchance to Dream is a little jumbly, and I found myself getting exasperated with Bertie in spots, but I do like the whole theatrical premise and the things Mantchev does with it. If you're new to this author's work, I would suggest you read Eyes Like Stars first!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Surreally Luscious Magical Journey, May 31, 2010
This review is from: Perchance to Dream: Theatre Illuminata #2 (Hardcover)
Lisa Mantchev outdoes herself in this lush and exotic sequel to EYES LIKE STARS. In many ways it is quite different from the first book, but stunningly so, and I think will make readers gain a whole new level of appreciation for Lisa's writing. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith never thought she'd leave the theatre, but here she is, on the road to save Nate, her pirate sweetheart, from the hands of the nefarious Sedna the Sea Witch, accompanied by her four fairy friends and the seductive air spirit Ariel. Armed with the magical powers of the Mistress of Revels, Bertie is able to write herself in and out of situations. But not even her power with words can prepare her for revelations about her parents' past, a battle over her heart, and the ultimate encounter with Sedna. If I could eat just one book, I think this would have to be it. In Lisa Mantchev's hands, words aren't merely lines and swirls of black on white: they come alive, playing with one another, dancing like fairies themselves. The book is chock-full of wordplay and descriptions so rich you just want to roll them around and around on your tongue. Lisa's writing really sets the tone and setting of PERCHANCE TO DREAM into a world that seems to always be dissolving and changing at the corners of our eyes. All the characters you loved from EYES LIKE STARS come back in full force in this stunning sequel. Bertie may be the tip of the love triangle, but she's far from your typical YA heroine: she is spunky and independent, and would never consider giving herself up for love. We get to see a lot more of Ariel than Nate in this Theatre Illuminata installment, which is deliciously swoon-worthy in a sensual and dangerous way. And Bertie's encounters with new characters--Sedna, the Scrimshander, various vagabonds she meets along her journey (including the traveling circus)--are excellent additions to the series, each one an almost surreal section. For those who enjoy incredibly beautiful writing and a unique cast of varied characters, Lisa Mantchev's books are not to be missed. Lovers of EYES LIKE STARS may be slightly jarred by the lack of backstory and the completely different change of pace and setting, but you just might also be fall under Lisa's writing spell, as I irrevocably am.
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