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A review by zanybibliophile
If Souls Can Sleep by David Michael Williams
4.0
"First he lost his daughter. His mind may be next."
It sounded like a tragically intriguing story so I simply had to read it.
Vincent a seemingly decent guy who has self-destructed since the death of his daughter and all but cut contact with his mother over their different opinions on whether to turn off his criminal half-brother's life support. A reoccurring dream of the day his daughter died has been haunting Vincent for years but those dreams stop just as a new dream begins and this dream is very different to most. The dream is in an unfamiliar fantasy setting, everyone in the dream world calls him Valenthor of the Three Rivers and this dream has the ability to draw Vincent in even when he is awake. After the new dream leads to him losing his job, Vincent looks for help only to discover there is much more to the dream than he could have possibly imagined.
Jerry is Vincent's housemate and the first person to try helping Vincent figure out what the crazy dream by instant messaging the "Master of All Fantasy". The next person Vincent turns to Leah, a sleep therapist with her own interesting sleep disorder. She does her own tests and investigations which leads to some very surprising discoveries. The other character worth mentioning is a rather peculiar man by the name of Milton. He is on the run, but cannot remember who is running from or why and the fact that he cannot remember scares him. They are all interesting characters and the main characters well formed.
The way the book is set up was confusing at first - flicking between dreams and awake without clear indication but also between different points of view. I believe that was the intention as if it had been explained earlier on it would have taken away from the overall story. Once I got halfway through the book I began to pick up on the differences and it is also when the story began to explain itself only heightening my interest in the story. With the exception of that temporary confusion, it was an interesting concept worked into a well thought out story that flowed rather well.
At the end, there was an excerpt from book two. It seems just as intriguing and I look forward to reading more about these dream worlds in Williams next book.
It sounded like a tragically intriguing story so I simply had to read it.
Vincent a seemingly decent guy who has self-destructed since the death of his daughter and all but cut contact with his mother over their different opinions on whether to turn off his criminal half-brother's life support. A reoccurring dream of the day his daughter died has been haunting Vincent for years but those dreams stop just as a new dream begins and this dream is very different to most. The dream is in an unfamiliar fantasy setting, everyone in the dream world calls him Valenthor of the Three Rivers and this dream has the ability to draw Vincent in even when he is awake. After the new dream leads to him losing his job, Vincent looks for help only to discover there is much more to the dream than he could have possibly imagined.
Jerry is Vincent's housemate and the first person to try helping Vincent figure out what the crazy dream by instant messaging the "Master of All Fantasy". The next person Vincent turns to Leah, a sleep therapist with her own interesting sleep disorder. She does her own tests and investigations which leads to some very surprising discoveries. The other character worth mentioning is a rather peculiar man by the name of Milton. He is on the run, but cannot remember who is running from or why and the fact that he cannot remember scares him. They are all interesting characters and the main characters well formed.
The way the book is set up was confusing at first - flicking between dreams and awake without clear indication but also between different points of view. I believe that was the intention as if it had been explained earlier on it would have taken away from the overall story. Once I got halfway through the book I began to pick up on the differences and it is also when the story began to explain itself only heightening my interest in the story. With the exception of that temporary confusion, it was an interesting concept worked into a well thought out story that flowed rather well.
At the end, there was an excerpt from book two. It seems just as intriguing and I look forward to reading more about these dream worlds in Williams next book.