I was quite impressed with Steven Weaver’s The Vault: A Journey of Discovery as I found it an unexpectedly well-written story with distinctive characters, realistic dialogue and a fairly solid plot. While the book is targeted to a younger audience and contains a lot of strong and positive themes about dealing with puberty, bullying, loneliness, and so on, I believe that it’d make an entertaining read for readers of all ages. Daniel makes for a strong, sensitive and multifaceted protagonist. While his actions and experiences are largely driven by his focus on cracking the mystery of the secret vault, his burgeoning romance with Emily, hostile dynamics with Reid and conflicted relationship with his busy father truly give him depth as a character. Carsten, in the meantime, cuts an incredibly tragic and noble figure. His character as a solitary, mysterious genius is perfectly crafted to rouse the reader’s curiosity and imagination. I truly wish that we could have learned more about him.

I also loved the feeling of suspense which gripped me throughout the book. Although readers can easily anticipate some of the answers to the mystery, many brilliantly tense action scenes are woven into the plot, especially in the Nazi Germany chapters. My only gripe about the novel is that while Weaver, for the most part, makes a praiseworthy and successful effort in walking the delicate balance between providing enough vivid descriptions to stimulate our interest while still leaving some detail to the imagination, sometimes his efforts fall short. Some of the setting descriptions feel excessively detailed, for example, while the conclusion of the novel feels somewhat sloppy and raises more questions than it answers. All in all, however, The Vault is a book with a lot of potential and is definitely worth a read.