Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Astraea Press
Publication: April 22nd, 2014
Formats: eBook
Formats: eBook
Pages: 213
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old dreamwalker, Em, might have to choose—leave her mother forever in the dreamworld or save the life of hot, rebel Gabe.
Emily Dal Monte and her mother, Lily, are special. They’re humans with a glitch in their genetic code that allows them to explore the fantastic, and often terrifying, world of their dreams for as long as they choose to remain asleep. But when Em’s father is killed in a tragic accident and her distraught mother loses herself more and more in the dreams of her crumbling mind, Em is forced to support the two of them the only way she knows how, by writing down her mother’s amazing dreams and selling them as books. Enter Gabriel Sobel, the punk newcomer at Em’s high school who realizes Em is the daughter of his favorite, reclusive author. Gabe can’t figure out why Em keeps brushing him off and makes it his mission to find out what’s really going on at the Dal Monte household. He stumbles upon their shocking family secret just as Lily takes a turn for the worse. It’s up to Em, Gabe, and one very nosy book editor to hop from one extraordinary dream to the next, to find Lily and convince her to wake up before she loses her mind…and before Em loses her first chance at love.
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old dreamwalker, Em, might have to choose—leave her mother forever in the dreamworld or save the life of hot, rebel Gabe.
Emily Dal Monte and her mother, Lily, are special. They’re humans with a glitch in their genetic code that allows them to explore the fantastic, and often terrifying, world of their dreams for as long as they choose to remain asleep. But when Em’s father is killed in a tragic accident and her distraught mother loses herself more and more in the dreams of her crumbling mind, Em is forced to support the two of them the only way she knows how, by writing down her mother’s amazing dreams and selling them as books. Enter Gabriel Sobel, the punk newcomer at Em’s high school who realizes Em is the daughter of his favorite, reclusive author. Gabe can’t figure out why Em keeps brushing him off and makes it his mission to find out what’s really going on at the Dal Monte household. He stumbles upon their shocking family secret just as Lily takes a turn for the worse. It’s up to Em, Gabe, and one very nosy book editor to hop from one extraordinary dream to the next, to find Lily and convince her to wake up before she loses her mind…and before Em loses her first chance at love.
Emily and her mother are dreamwalkers, people who can sleep for days without problem, wandering in their dreams. It can be exciting, beautiful, terrifying and a great escape from reality - which her mother, Lily, exploits totes after her beloved husband's death. Ever since then, Emily has been taking care of everything. However, when her mom fails to return from her dreams and commence to display never seen acts during her ansence, Emily has no choice but to involve acquaintances in the perilous quest of saving the last person who left for her in the family.
Dream On is a true hidden gem of the fantasy genre. I seriously loved it! Although the plot is not ever so intricate, the "dream-world" is well thought-out and captivating, a little high-fantasy-like. As for
the "real world", it is hinted here and there that it operates differently from our current 2014, somewhat dystopian with the government greatly influencing everything. I would have been happy to find out a tad more about it, but at the same time, I understand it's not the point of this book and is more fantasy than dystopia.
The cast was positively likable, despite not being of immense depths. We don't get to know them that well, as the story after all, wasn't revolving around them, but the adventure. They still won me over more than a few characters in more character centered books (ahem wallflower of that certain YA paranormal) and Gabe, he just made punkness a hundred times more sexy, even made me swoon a little quite a few times.
I can't help but mention the writing style. If you've read my blog before, you know how much writing style matters to me and though I found it okay in Dream On, I got the jitters after the umpteenth "actual". I got the no actual, rather, quite, etc. rule planted in my head pretty deeply and it irked me quite a bit here. (See what I did?)
Overall, I was more than satisfied with Dream On. I recommend it to everybody who seeks something different in fantasy.
I can't help but mention the writing style. If you've read my blog before, you know how much writing style matters to me and though I found it okay in Dream On, I got the jitters after the umpteenth "actual". I got the no actual, rather, quite, etc. rule planted in my head pretty deeply and it irked me quite a bit here. (See what I did?)
Overall, I was more than satisfied with Dream On. I recommend it to everybody who seeks something different in fantasy.
Characters: 4/5
Writing style: 3.5/5
Romance: 4/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Originality: 5/5
Predictability: 5/5
Thanks so much for this review! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and thank you for the tip about 'actual'! I'll make sure to keep an eye on that in my next book. Cheers - M.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. I can't wait to see what's next. :)
ReplyDelete