Bookish Thoughts: The Restitching of Camille DuLaine by Lindsay A. Franklin

The Rivenlea Sphere | Book 2

Rating: Highly Recommend

**Please note this review contains spoilers from the first book. Please read at your own discretion.

Franklin has woven a love letter to classic literature alongside a beautiful slow-burn romance, harrowing journey through story, and stunningly crafted twists—all while calling out familiar YA tropes.

This was such a wonderful and fun conclusion to Emlyn's story. It kept me up way past my bedtime, and I absolutely loved the twists, turns, and visits to so many literary worlds!

Camille is loosed from her time-stopped bubble and plunged immediately into a story sphere, where she meets Emlyn’s other sister. Meanwhile, Emlyn and Novem XVII dive through story sphere after story sphere searching for their missing Novemites, Laramie and Frank. Although they follow the two wayward Novemites through the same stories, the experiences and observations vary widely, until they return to the land of Oz. Aside from Emlyn’s, Laramie’s, and Camille’s stories, we get yet another perspective—a history of Hadeon and the part he’s played in the chaos unfolding throughout Rivenlea, and in Emlyn’s life.

Throughout the finale, some friendships splinter while others are forged, a story’s purpose and “happily ever after” are explored in depth, and it appears beloved characters and stories will be lost forever. Despite terrible choices of the past, the unknowns of the future, and backlash from the Rivenlea Council, Novem XVII bands together to do what must be done—rescue Camille and fix the story spheres before Rivenlea falls to the notorious Dream Eater.

Some of my favorite quotes from this book:

• I don’t know how to respond.
  Except to tell her that sometimes, especially when we grow and change, it’s hard to let go of old pieces of our identities. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what’s true about us now, to have a different script than the one we’ve been replaying over and over our whole lives.
• “That’s what happily ever after is. It’s everything that happens after the end.”
• “That’s what written books are for. They allow us to revisit those familiar words, those favorite arcs, time and time again to our hearts’ content. That’s what books are.”

It’s always fascinated me the way Franklin writes about storytelling—those deeper things writers and long-time lovers of story get that non-readers often do not. Seeing that juxtaposition with Emlyn and Novem XVII, and even with the other Dragons, is strange but so satisfying to see on the page. Franklin puts into words things about stories I’ve never had words for, bringing forth the love of story and the way characters can become the friends we turned to when we needed them most.

Another thing that draws me to Franklin’s stories is the way she weaves them together, the solutions hidden within the clues. We see how they’re solved through Emlyn’s eyes in the way she solves puzzles. Yet Emlyn’s utter distraction on many levels is also familiar and wonderful to behold not only in print, but in a main character. As readers, we get to puzzle things out alongside Emlyn, and although we might not reach the conclusion first, it’s easy to step back and see where the clues were laid.

The world of Rivenlea is endlessly fascinating, especially the way the Novemites interact with the story spheres. Not to mention the ability to meet favorite and beloved characters. I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent between the pages of these books, seeing beloved characters and familiar classics scattered across the pages—sometimes in far different ways than expected. (To me, that added to the fun—puzzling out which story the Novem had jumped into before Emlyn could.)

Ever since I closed the cover on this book, it’s sat at the back of my mind, cropping up within day-to-day tasks as new thoughts emerge, or welling up as a longing to return to adventures with these characters. The ending was the perfect way to bring things to a close though, with a reminder that “happily ever after” doesn’t always mean it’s the end of a character’s story—they continue living and breathing and living out their own stories, even if it’s not written on a page. The reminder that story is a living, breathing thing is what makes this duology so special to me—and ensures I’ll return to the pages again and again.