My Never Ending List

I had a hard time with this graphic novel. Since this is the second book in the series, this novel takes right off where the first novel ended and I had no problem following the beginning of this story as Lucien is counting the arcana in the dreaming world for the Dream Lord. Lucien finds there are four major subjects missing and that there is a new vortex who happens to be girl. Dream is already aware of this new vortex as he has seen her watching them and her name is Rose. Rose has been in their dream world yet she is not aware of who these individuals are. Rose and her mom got free tickets to England and on their way, Rose has been napping, experiencing unique dreams that she cannot explain. When Rose arrives in England with her mother, they were whisked away to meet an elderly woman who is later revealed to be Rose’s grandmother. I am thinking something sinister is about to occur as Rose’s dreams are starting to become reality.

Then it happens…… the book becomes jumpy and I am not sure what really happened. Another storyline comes into play and I am thrown off. New characters come out of nowhere and I turn back the page to see if I missed something but there is nothing. I continue reading and again, I think I have stumbled into different characters and another storyline. Finally, I find Rose and she is somewhere different. She is in a hotel room, alone and she trying to locate her brother whom she hasn’t seen in years. New characters are added and I am following her story again but later, I am lost again. This was frustrating but I did continue reading, hoping it would all come together. In the end, it was hopeless for me. I did love some of the illustrations. These illustrations were bizarre, distorted and really unique. The characters looked lost to our world, dark and wanting out. What they meant I have no idea. I tried to picture walk this novel: trying to read the pictures to figure out the nature of the book but I got nothing. I’m throwing in the towel for this novel and the series. Why the stars? For the illustrations and the how the book came full circle.