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A review by reanne
Dream Thief by Stephen R. Lawhead
4.0
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, mainly because I find the Christian elements are usually clumsy and heavy-handed. This book didn't have that problem. I thought the Christian elements blended well with the rest of the story. I also don't read a whole lot of sci-fi, mostly because I find the concept overshadows the characters and I end up not caring about any of it. This book didn't have that problem either. I liked the main character well enough, and the others were enjoyable. My favorite was the friend, Adjani. The plot was interesting and the ending satisfying.
There were some things I thought could have been handled better. The only two female characters of any note are the love interest and the love interest's mother, and for a large chunk of the book, the love interest is only there to play the damsel in need of saving. It would have been nice to have at least one important (or even notable) female character who was interesting on her own account. The villain was pretty generically evil, so it would also have been nice to see him be a bit more complex. This book took me much longer to read than average, partly because it's just much longer than average, and partly because it's pretty slow moving. Which is a bit annoying, but at the same time, I can't point to any parts that could be cut or significantly shortened. I guess that's just a warning that if you're an impatient reader who has to have something exciting happening all the time, you might get tired of this book quickly. Also, even though my copy was the ninth printing, there were still at least a dozen or so typos, and those are always jarring when I come across them.
So, not a perfect book, but a solid, entertaining story, and in my opinion a very successful blend of the Christian and sci-fi genres.
There were some things I thought could have been handled better. The only two female characters of any note are the love interest and the love interest's mother, and for a large chunk of the book, the love interest is only there to play the damsel in need of saving. It would have been nice to have at least one important (or even notable) female character who was interesting on her own account. The villain was pretty generically evil, so it would also have been nice to see him be a bit more complex. This book took me much longer to read than average, partly because it's just much longer than average, and partly because it's pretty slow moving. Which is a bit annoying, but at the same time, I can't point to any parts that could be cut or significantly shortened. I guess that's just a warning that if you're an impatient reader who has to have something exciting happening all the time, you might get tired of this book quickly. Also, even though my copy was the ninth printing, there were still at least a dozen or so typos, and those are always jarring when I come across them.
So, not a perfect book, but a solid, entertaining story, and in my opinion a very successful blend of the Christian and sci-fi genres.