Reviews

Upon a Waking Dream by J.S. Bailey

sibby's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

saraverboom's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This collection of short stories is an entertaining read indeed. Most of the stories are science fiction, which I don’t usually seek out, but I did enjoy them. Some stories contained quite a few clichés and were rather predictable, while others were very original. I specifically enjoyed the story about the flat earther, the story about the magic pen, and the one about Jay.

marleysclassics's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

coleslawreads's review

4.0

If you're a fan of short story collections, this is the book for you. Bailey brings freshness to each story in "Upon a Waking Dream" as well as bright and clever ideas. I think this fits the sci-fi genre beautifully and has some stories that are really bound to make you think about the way we view the world and the people that surround us! I had never read anything by this author before but upon reading this, I will absolutely be seeking out more of his work.

jaenet's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Some of the stories were very nice, others not so much. But thats just my taste. They were all well written. 

kmilnic's review

funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

read_byred's review

5.0

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories! They were fun, whimsical, and easy to read. Daily Log from Outpost #602 made me laugh out loud at the end. I also really enjoyed the bit at the end of the book about how the author came up with each story.
While the stories were not rich with details and world building, there was enough to easily create a picture in your head of the setting and all the characters felt real. This isn't a difficult read, making it quick and enjoyable and a good change from high fantasy or space operas! I really hope we see it in my store.

jlreadstoperpetuity's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I dove in to this book blind and no information about the author at all. It was a surprisingly nice experience and I did not even notice I finished it in a day.

"Upon a Waking Dream contains twelve science fiction and fantasy tales from the mind of J. S. Bailey, ten of them never before published"

The short stories comprised of tales that were downright amusing, sad to batsh*t crazy. I think that was the beauty of reading different timelines and concepts on one book- you get to experience myriad of emotions in one sitting. Reading through the stories sounded like sifting through thoughts down the memory lane with the author, which is not bad considering some of those were actually thoughts that plagued us one way or the other.


Albeit, the some of the stories were really cool, I just hoped these are just some prompts for a more evolved storyline or turned into a full novel

someonelookingpraediti's review

3.0

A collection of short stories by an author I'd never heard of? Always a risk!  "Hit and miss" is definitely the phrase to describe this book. There are twelve short stories in all, and they're split very definitely into "brilliant", "pretty good", and "awful".  My favourites were "Letter from Glomsuet", "Jay", and "The Last to Pass".  The standout worst was "Daily Log from Outpost #602".  Although some of the stories really were very bad, the best ones were original and genuinely interesting.  For this reason, I rated this book 3 stars.

oliviagwynne's review

2.0

First story is really simple. Wasn’t a fan. 

So far all the narrators are inane, irritating and kind of ridiculous characters. Extreme motivations and no common sense 

I hate the narrative voice in every story. They are so “golly gee” “aw shucks” and exuberant. They feel so false.  

All the stories are so nonsensical. That might have been the intention but instead of being fun, the stories fell flat for me. 

I only finished it because it was an arc to review. I found each story painfully dull, pointless, and nonsensical but not in a good way. 

The family name story was disgusting. Like whatever satire or message is was trying to do, it didn’t get there.