The Illusionarium by Heather Dixon Book Review

The Illusionarium by Heather Dixon - 3 stars

SPOILER-FREE 

SYNOPSIS:

From the author of Entwined comes The Illusionarium, a fast-paced thriller in which a boy has to navigate a new world where the only way to survive is to perform illusionary shows. Upon discovering his mother and sister are both suffering from a mysterious plague, Jonathan decides he will help his dad find a cure for the plague that is ravaging their world. Enter Lady Florel, the woman who believes that with the help of magical fantillium, someone can be whisked into her version of London (Nod'ol) to help save her world. When Lady Florel discovers Jonathan can perform apt illusions, she offers him a deal: Come to Nod'ol for a few hours and then receive the cure, which she has already created. Leaving everything behind, Jonathan enters this mysterious Nod'ol only to discover how bleak the world has become--the people wear mysterious masks and rely on fantillium, and the city has all but been destroyed and deserted. What he doesn't realize, is that by entering Nod'ol, he is signing his name to the line of competitors in the Illusionarium. Now, he is expected to compete against two other Illusionists. All of them are competing for something of importance, but it is up to Jonathan to win the game and give the best performance, so that he may save his world.

This book sounded AMAZING based on the synopsis. And that freaking flawless cover (so much love for whoever designed it, because it completely captivated me all the way to the cashier at B&N). Unfortunately, this book didn't necessarily live up to my expectations for quite a few reasons. 

SPOILERS AHEAD 

THE GOOD:

Originality. I loved that this book had such an original premise! I have never heard of a book that consists of illusioning, at least not in the sense evoked here. It was so interesting that a sort-of drug-induced coma could allow people to essentially imagine things and have them appear to pop up in real life! It's everyone's wildest dream come true! It was especially interesting that the illusionists needed to know the chemical makeup of certain things before they could make anything appear in their illusions. The whole process was very creative and in-depth. The characters were also very out-of-the-box, in the sense that they were unlike any other cast of YA characters I had read about. For instance, Jonathan was an extremely clumsy protagonist, which was quite enjoyable to me, as it's sometimes nice to take a break from the endless slew of badass, sword-wielding characters.

Imagery. I died at the imagery. Heather Dixon was phenomenal at world-building in this book (but this only applies to the second half--you'll hear about this in my rant below). Everything was so beautifully imagined, I could literally see it in my mind as she explained every facet of this world. I found this to be evident everywhere from the broad explanations (the city on the clouds, the airships, the masks), down to even the minuscule details (the color gradient on the dinner table, how each character was assigned a color to represent them throughout the Illusionarium competition). And when the cast of characters had their first competition, and there are mechanical spiders battling glass men, all throughout the city Jonathan illusioned... So perfect. It was written so beautifully. It's always impressive to me when an author's words paint the clearest picture in the world. It's borderline enchanting when this happens.

Schisms. UM. WHAT. Was anyone else even a little terrified when schisms of freaking body parts were introduced?! Because that was completely haunting to me! To think that this whole beautiful world based on literally making dreams realities, was actually the cause of horrible mutations of the people... Man. It was just so dark and enthralling to read about. I was particularly fascinated with the idea of schisms in life, or the idea that there are multiple realities, created based on different choices and little details throughout life. This was especially interesting because everyone has has the thought, "What if...." Well, Heather Dixon's book takes that and practically runs with it, and it was a little overwhelming to digest, even if it was so intriguing.

Footnotes. Holla to Heather Dixon for writing the only footnotes I've ever been interested (and excited) to read. 

THE BAD:

There wasn't a plot during the first half of the book and there was no hint of the direction this book was heading. No, really. There was nothing. I felt cheated during the first half. The sleeve of the book promised an adventure, and it almost felt like the first half of the book was focused on introducing us to the stage for which the scene is set, but there's actually little to no world-building. I found myself wondering what the real story was, and what the real plot was, because the first half did not match the synopsis at all.

The language. "Dead nice?" "Deader nice?" ....What kind of language is this? And why was it so utterly irritating to read...? This one is just personal preference, but seriously. I was cringing at some of the language choices in this book.

One dimensional characters with zero complexity. I was interested in Jonathan, even though he was a slightly flat protagonist, but only because he was an unwilling protagonist and was so clumsy and interesting to read. And I enjoyed Lady Florel/Queen Honoria, because unlike the rest of the cast, she was complex and served a great purpose. The rest of the cast was SO. DAMN. IRRITATING. I hated Lockwood in this story. He seemed like an unnecessary bit added for comedic value, and I probably would have liked his character in almost any other story. The two antagonists in the Illusionarium game/show were the absolute worst, though (notice how I can't remember their names--isn't that funny?). The girl was obnoxious and rude, and the guy was just a brute who wanted Anna (Jonathan's sister's parallel self). God. The characters were so bad. So, so, SOOOO BAD. It's like Dixon looked at Jonathan's character development, and just though, "Eh. Good enough."

Casually glossing over the fact that Jonathan learns to illusion like a pro in less than 2 days. So. You're telling me that illusioning is this complex practice where the illusionists need to understand the chemical makeup and/or bonds of the elements needed to make the illusion, and most of the illusionists study this for years, but Jonathan can learn this skill in one day?! AND be considered good enough to compete in the Illusionarium?! AND he can create cities, but he can't create the replica of a door in his own dad's study?! RIGHT. OK. Maybe I'm being a bit too critical, but I was so irritated that he just magically learned to illusion at the beginning of the book, and then had to study up later, just so could create a door. CALL ME CRAZY, but that was just oh-so irritating. He freaking illusioned the world sideways, for God's sake. AND LET'S NOT FORGET THIS WHOLE DAMN THING TAKES PLACE IN LESS THAN A FEW DAYS. Jeese.

Lockwood and Jonathan's relationship. This is kind of a pro/con for me. I really enjoyed their friendship near the end of the book. They were the epitome of bros, and it was fun for everyone involved. But at the beginning, Lockwood just hates Jonathan, for literally no reason whatsoever. But he still tries to kill him..... They had a random brawl outside of Lady Florel's cell, and another one when they both got locked up! The second one was understandable, but the first had no foundation! I mean NONE. There was no real conflict or reason for why these two should have even been fighting! Just.... No. Just no.

Lockwood falling in love in a day. DAMMIT. I was over halfway through with this book and was so pleased that there was absolutely no insta-love or corny romance--it was just a fantasy book with beautiful imagery, and fun action. It was great! But then, we get to the end. And for some stupid reason, Lockwood and Anna fell in love. IN ONE DAY. It wasn't even insta-love and angst, it was just straight up insta-love with no foundation for the feelings. They literally met each other in a day. I was so irritated that this was in the story. It almost seemed like an afterthought, though. As if Dixon realized her story was missing a romantic element, and it was thrown in last minute. I could have done without that whole part of the ending.

OVERALL:

Eh. It was ok. Yes, just okay. I actually really enjoyed the entire second half of the book. I loved when schisming was revealed and I loved Jonathan's fortitude as a main character. Even more so, I loved the imagery Dixon created, especially in the scene where Jonathan illusions the whole world sideways, and runs to find Lockwood. All that cannot make up for the train wreck that was the first half, though. I was just so bored with the characters and the plot (or lack thereof) during the first full half (the story doesn't get going until about 160 pages in, and that's almost inexcusable). Usually I can excuse a slow start, as long as there is adequate world-building. But there was really nothing special about the first half--no world building, just mediocre character introductions, no emotion, nothing. I found myself so irritated by this book, that it became a job to get through it (until the second half, which I actually enjoyed).

Honestly, this book was okay, but so utterly forgettable. I read this book only two weeks ago, and had to reference my notes multiple times in order to remember exactly what happened. At the end of the day, this was a wonderful idea that was just poorly executed. I'd like to see another author give the illusioning act another try. 

END VOTE:

3 stars

★★★