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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Four stars for the book itself, one star for making me cry during a Christmas program that I watched immediately following reading this.
Now, I have questions -
Why does no one address the fact that Talan died so that Chris could live in both worlds? RIP Talan.
Could Chris have fixed the worlds by taking Mactalde back to his own world? If this was addressed, I forgot it.
Can people who have died in the Other World have children?
If so, do those children dream? If so, how do they have a counterpart?
(I need to know this because Perry and Sirra. And another couple who made me cry.)
What if a person marries different people in both worlds?
Can that happen? (You know, one world it's an arranged marriage, the other they marry the guy they actually like.)
What happens to the children of such marriages?
Who is the next in line for the throne? After Allara, that is?
I mean, Allara's the king's only child, and I don't think I saw anyone referred to as a potential heir.
Also, Allara admitted once that she never thought she'd marry, so who is supposed to inherit the throne after her?
That's all.
Now, I have questions -
Why does no one address the fact that Talan died so that Chris could live in both worlds? RIP Talan.
Could Chris have fixed the worlds by taking Mactalde back to his own world? If this was addressed, I forgot it.
Can people who have died in the Other World have children?
If so, do those children dream? If so, how do they have a counterpart?
(I need to know this because Perry and Sirra. And another couple who made me cry.)
What if a person marries different people in both worlds?
Can that happen? (You know, one world it's an arranged marriage, the other they marry the guy they actually like.)
What happens to the children of such marriages?
Who is the next in line for the throne? After Allara, that is?
I mean, Allara's the king's only child, and I don't think I saw anyone referred to as a potential heir.
Also, Allara admitted once that she never thought she'd marry, so who is supposed to inherit the throne after her?
That's all.
Dreamlander is exciting, imaginative, and so fun to read! The beginning felt slow to me, but then the plot thickened and wouldn’t let you go. Weiland holds nothing back in her ideas, and I love how her characters and settings and story feel so well-developed and fresh.
I read this last spring. It's a very interesting and (I think) original story and a page-turner. I craved a little more at the conclusion though.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I love the premise of this book. It was a good read, a little frustrating(especially the end) at times but good. If you like fantasy this is a good book for you.
I fell in love with the characters from page one, the story was exciting and moved along at a good pace, and the settings were well chosen.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. I often forgot about tasks because I was always deeply involved in a book. As I got older with more responsibility I have fallen more into listening to audiobooks (which is entirely different).
Dreamlander is the first book in a long time that forcibly pulled me from real life and made me read it. I spent ever spare minute reading and the times I was doing responsible things all I wanted to do was read and, honestly, it was an amazing feeling.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the ending but I loved the book as a whole and I'm looking forward to revisiting it.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. I often forgot about tasks because I was always deeply involved in a book. As I got older with more responsibility I have fallen more into listening to audiobooks (which is entirely different).
Dreamlander is the first book in a long time that forcibly pulled me from real life and made me read it. I spent ever spare minute reading and the times I was doing responsible things all I wanted to do was read and, honestly, it was an amazing feeling.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the ending but I loved the book as a whole and I'm looking forward to revisiting it.
This book had some problems for me...
The premise of this book is that the dreams that we see are in a real place, and the people there dream of our world. The protagonist is someone who can travel between the dream world and real world. The main problem with this is time. I don't sleep for 12 hours a day. How do people in the other world get anything done when they are only active for 7-8 hours a day?
Secondly, there is the roles of the Tarn and the Searcher. The Searcher has the find the protagonist, and the Tarn has to give the MC a macguffin to make them special. Why can't The Searcher also have the macguffin? This isn't a hole in the plot, more in the rules of the world.
This book tried to carry plots in both the real world and the dream world. The problem was that the real world was far more dull. It lengthened the book, and the drama of the real world paled in comparison when thinking about tension, characters and pacing. Brooke is a terribly annoying character, and she is a source of drama for being an idiot. I would have preferred it if this was cut, as it would have made the book much snappier in pace.
Also, towards the end of the book the theme of religion came out very strongly. I don't mind faith being a theme, but it kind of battered me over the head with it and got a little preachy.
Now I've been a bit grumpy I can say what I enjoyed about the book. There was a good plot in the dream world, and I managed to get into the heads of the main characters well, and they definitely developed throughout the story.
2 stars, and I don't think I will read anything else from this author for a while.
The premise of this book is that the dreams that we see are in a real place, and the people there dream of our world. The protagonist is someone who can travel between the dream world and real world. The main problem with this is time. I don't sleep for 12 hours a day. How do people in the other world get anything done when they are only active for 7-8 hours a day?
Secondly, there is the roles of the Tarn and the Searcher. The Searcher has the find the protagonist, and the Tarn has to give the MC a macguffin to make them special. Why can't The Searcher also have the macguffin? This isn't a hole in the plot, more in the rules of the world.
This book tried to carry plots in both the real world and the dream world. The problem was that the real world was far more dull. It lengthened the book, and the drama of the real world paled in comparison when thinking about tension, characters and pacing. Brooke is a terribly annoying character, and she is a source of drama for being an idiot. I would have preferred it if this was cut, as it would have made the book much snappier in pace.
Also, towards the end of the book the theme of religion came out very strongly. I don't mind faith being a theme, but it kind of battered me over the head with it and got a little preachy.
Now I've been a bit grumpy I can say what I enjoyed about the book. There was a good plot in the dream world, and I managed to get into the heads of the main characters well, and they definitely developed throughout the story.
2 stars, and I don't think I will read anything else from this author for a while.
NOOO. What kind of ending was that? Why? I don't know what to do now. My world's a mess. I need that second book now.
UPDATE
Just realized that there is no second book. My heart is in pieces. How could the book possibly end like that? Ugh. Still worth the read anyways
UPDATE
Just realized that there is no second book. My heart is in pieces. How could the book possibly end like that? Ugh. Still worth the read anyways
The dream element of the book is what first attracted me to it, as I have always thought that there has to be some great story out there waiting to be told set in the world of dreams.
As it turned out, while this book ended up being fairly good, it was not that kind of book.
The way the story ends up playing out, it's basically a portal-fantasy with only a bit that happens in the real world. While there are some neat stuff going on with the dream element, you forget that the fantasy world is technically set in the world of dreams pretty quickly into the story, and that's probably for the best as if you examine the mechanics of dreams too closely, it becomes pretty clear that there are some inconsistencies with how it works. Given this, it's basically a stereotypical-fantasy world with some advanced tech and dream-hopping stuff sprinkled in. It's enough to make it different. But at it's heart, it's a portal-fantasy.
In terms of the story, the first half of the book I was slogging through it a bit since not much was happening and the characters were fine, but not terribly intriguing. After the midpoint, however, it picked up a lot and I became a lot more interested and a lot more hooked as the character struggles and arcs became handled really well and the story itself just became a lot more engaging.
All of this would have made it a 3-star read if not for the ending. Without spoiling anything, all I will say is that the way that the protagonist's character arc ends up wrapping out is fantastic and is exactly the kind of ending that most books should have: an ending where the character has to make a hard choice without the use of any shortcuts to deny him the difficult but right choice.
In the end, this wavers right between being a three star and a four star read, so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt by rounding it up to four stars for Goodreads. At its root, it's rather stereotypical-fantasy. But there's enough cool stuff sprinkled in that it rises above that level to become a worthwhile read.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
As it turned out, while this book ended up being fairly good, it was not that kind of book.
The way the story ends up playing out, it's basically a portal-fantasy with only a bit that happens in the real world. While there are some neat stuff going on with the dream element, you forget that the fantasy world is technically set in the world of dreams pretty quickly into the story, and that's probably for the best as if you examine the mechanics of dreams too closely, it becomes pretty clear that there are some inconsistencies with how it works. Given this, it's basically a stereotypical-fantasy world with some advanced tech and dream-hopping stuff sprinkled in. It's enough to make it different. But at it's heart, it's a portal-fantasy.
In terms of the story, the first half of the book I was slogging through it a bit since not much was happening and the characters were fine, but not terribly intriguing. After the midpoint, however, it picked up a lot and I became a lot more interested and a lot more hooked as the character struggles and arcs became handled really well and the story itself just became a lot more engaging.
All of this would have made it a 3-star read if not for the ending. Without spoiling anything, all I will say is that the way that the protagonist's character arc ends up wrapping out is fantastic and is exactly the kind of ending that most books should have: an ending where the character has to make a hard choice without the use of any shortcuts to deny him the difficult but right choice.
In the end, this wavers right between being a three star and a four star read, so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt by rounding it up to four stars for Goodreads. At its root, it's rather stereotypical-fantasy. But there's enough cool stuff sprinkled in that it rises above that level to become a worthwhile read.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
This book was beautiful. Review to come as soon as I can put this feeling into words.