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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Sleeper by MacKenzie Cadenhead
3.0
"Sleeper" is a the story of a girl that suffers from REM Sleep Behavior Disorder that causes her to act out her dreams in the physical world. One night at a sleepover, Sarah almost strangles Gigi in her sleep. When Sarah takes part in a clinical trial to test a new drug called Dexid, things go from bad to worse as she realizes that she has special abilities in the dream world which allow her to abuse reality in unpredictable ways. . .
Upon picking up "Sleeper" at the library, I honestly thought it looked like a horrible book. But when I began to read it, I was relieved that the book was actually quite interesting. Half school story and half sci-fi thriller, "Sleeper" is a unique book unlike any that I have read before. It did remind me of a book that I read recently called "Dead Girl" by Kerrie Faye (which I highly recommend), due to the themes about overthrowing the mean girls and taking revenge against those who wronged you.
I thought that dreamscape that Sarah enters is really interesting. Between the strange abilities that she wields and the mysterious Burners, monsters that are trying to stop her from using said abilities, it is an interesting place to be. The way that the drug Dexid enhanced her powers also made logical sense, even if it wouldn't be possible in the real world. The stakes surrounding her abilities were quite high and this it really got my heart pounding as the book progressed.
Another thing I like about this one is how we meet the love interest, Wes. Literally on page three, Sarah meets him in one of her dreams. I'm also going to add that he was shirtless. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the initiation that he was the other half of the romantic pairing in this one, and I thought it was such a fun way to meet him. Wes himself on the other hand, is much less likable. Early on in this book I thought maybe he had potential, but the original scene you meet him in is much closer to his true colors, which was quite honestly a bummer for me. I wanted to like him, but he was a bit overbearing from the get-go.
The biggest problem I had with this one was the theme of revenge. Stories that are centered around revenge tend to make my stomach crawl, especially when they are in a realistic setting rather than a fantastical one. The schemes that Sarah and Wes come up with to get revenge on their school's worst mean girls actually made me want to puke. Luckily, Sarah begins to question the morality of what they are doing, which gives the theme a more positive twist. I still have mixed feelings on it in the long run, though.
Overall, "Sleeper" is a chilling sci-fi thriller that had my heart pounding and my stomach turning. I'm not the biggest fans of thrillers, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It could have been much more eloquent at times and was spattered with often cheesy pop culture references, but for the most part it was a decent story line with a decent cast of characters. I think that I enjoyed this one enough to recommend it to those who enjoy high intensity science fiction with a touch of dark romance.
Upon picking up "Sleeper" at the library, I honestly thought it looked like a horrible book. But when I began to read it, I was relieved that the book was actually quite interesting. Half school story and half sci-fi thriller, "Sleeper" is a unique book unlike any that I have read before. It did remind me of a book that I read recently called "Dead Girl" by Kerrie Faye (which I highly recommend), due to the themes about overthrowing the mean girls and taking revenge against those who wronged you.
I thought that dreamscape that Sarah enters is really interesting. Between the strange abilities that she wields and the mysterious Burners, monsters that are trying to stop her from using said abilities, it is an interesting place to be. The way that the drug Dexid enhanced her powers also made logical sense, even if it wouldn't be possible in the real world. The stakes surrounding her abilities were quite high and this it really got my heart pounding as the book progressed.
Another thing I like about this one is how we meet the love interest, Wes. Literally on page three, Sarah meets him in one of her dreams. I'm also going to add that he was shirtless. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the initiation that he was the other half of the romantic pairing in this one, and I thought it was such a fun way to meet him. Wes himself on the other hand, is much less likable. Early on in this book I thought maybe he had potential, but the original scene you meet him in is much closer to his true colors, which was quite honestly a bummer for me. I wanted to like him, but he was a bit overbearing from the get-go.
The biggest problem I had with this one was the theme of revenge. Stories that are centered around revenge tend to make my stomach crawl, especially when they are in a realistic setting rather than a fantastical one. The schemes that Sarah and Wes come up with to get revenge on their school's worst mean girls actually made me want to puke. Luckily, Sarah begins to question the morality of what they are doing, which gives the theme a more positive twist. I still have mixed feelings on it in the long run, though.
Overall, "Sleeper" is a chilling sci-fi thriller that had my heart pounding and my stomach turning. I'm not the biggest fans of thrillers, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It could have been much more eloquent at times and was spattered with often cheesy pop culture references, but for the most part it was a decent story line with a decent cast of characters. I think that I enjoyed this one enough to recommend it to those who enjoy high intensity science fiction with a touch of dark romance.