SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY (MOSTLY)
In the Victorian world where teenage cousins Rose and Laura, live, there is a location called The Place. And a certain set of individuals known as dream hunters can catch dreams located there, then sleep and share them with those sleeping in the same vicinity.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Laura Hame is described as a follower. She admits she follows her cousin and copies her because it's just easier. She is less confident then Rose.
Rose Tiebold is sure of herself and slightly entitled. She sometimes seems to see herself as a victim, even in the beginning of the story before her fate is decided.
Tziga Hame is famous and rather religious. He is very close to his only daughter, perhaps because he is her only parent.
Chorley Tiebold is a dashing and famous man. His sister married Tziga and even though they are not much alike (he's an atheist), they are close friends.
Sandy is a fellow dream hunter. He has a few appearances in the story and ends up an acquaintance of Laura's.
Doran Plasir, Mamie's father (student at same school as the girls) and head of a government agency involved with dreams.
PACING
The story for the most part is not an action story. But there are some parts that build suspense, such as when we see flashs of the events going on with Tziga in the start of the book. Also when Laura goes to the Place alone, there is a great scene where she senses someone watching her and runs away only to be pursued.
THE WORLD
The strongest point of the story is the world detailed within. Lots of thought went into to it and we don't get it all at once. Eventually we learn that The Place has only been in existence for a few decades and that Tziga Hame was the first to catch a dream and discover it. Not only are governmental agencies explained, but government workers play an important role in the story.
We learn of different aspects of dreams and dream hunting like the Penumbra (the area a dream hunter can spread a dream out) as well as amplifiers (which help spread a dream further than another dream hunter but don't have the dream themselves). As well as the Dream Palace, where people go to sleep and dream for entertainment.
UNLIKABLE CHARACTERS?
I can't say I really disliked Rose or Laura, but I have to admit, I often felt indifferent to them. At worst, I found them annoying, but only in small moments.
Both Rose and Laura are annoying to Sandy when they first meet him on the beach, and it doesn't come off as flirting or funny. I was left confused and wondering about their motivation.
Again, Rose is sarcastic to her father after the Try. I expected her to be angry, but then reveal her sadness and disappointment. Maybe her shock. But we never get any other reaction. They are often times sarcastic in strange moments where I found it off putting, like when they go see Plasir for crucial information.
Rose can come off as whiny as she tends to think she is being victimized when its not clear that she is.
Chorley comes off as a jerk once too, when he mocks Christians in an arrogant manner.
UNCLEAR CHARACTERS
For the most part I feel that the characters are the weakest part of the story. I never knew of their personalities. Multiple times Rose and Laura are sarcastic, which makes me think they must be cynical or silly. But I never get that impression fully. Because their sarcasm stands alone and I never get why it occurs.
An example is after the Try (an event to discover who can go into the Place) and a girl discovers she cannot pass through. She immediately runs away, hysterical, and puts herself in danger. Rose urges another boy to help her and together they keep the girl from harm.
I thought, that was brave, so Rose is kind as well as bold. But I never see that kindness manifest any where else. And she doesn't even try to comfort the girl in any real sense. I was left wondering why she even helped.
Does Laura have a sense of humor? I don't know. We get a scene where Rose is embarrassed to see her touching a naked statue and I assumed she was supposed to have been silly. Later she explains why she did it but her character was so unclear that I couldn't make heads or tails of her.
A FRIEND FOR ROSE?-SPOILERS
There is a girl in Rose's class named Mamie. She debates the teacher and makes good points and comes off as very intelligent. I was impressed then surprised when Rose and the Teacher admit they don't like her. Are students supposed to agree with everything their teachers say? Or should they be encouraged to ask questions and think critically?
Apparently Mamie comes off as rude. She is rather plain, perhaps even described as ugly. But Rose ends up talking to her in the library and the two have an entertaining conversation.
It makes Rose look good because she seems to be making a genuine effort to befriend a girl who clearly has no friends. But right after we learn that Mamie's father works for the government and Rose doesn't really care about her. But just hopes to glean information.
This was fine, but we seem to see Rose start to care for Mamie, but never learn if this is still an act. I wanted her to admit that she was surprised to gain a friend. But she never does and I was left confused.
THE MAGICAL ROCK
There is a scene on a train where Laura sees a rock and pulls the emergency break. She jumps off and goes to grab a rock. She later explains to Rose that she felt like she put her feelings into that rock and felt relieved afterwards. I was left confused. There wasn't any precedent for such an ability. And it's never fully explained.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
A theme of the story is the government. How much control should they have, how do they manipulate people and how they use the dreams. Mainly through the talent of coloring (putting specific thoughts about a person or idea into peoples minds before they enter a dream).
MARITAL PROBLEMS?
It's revealed that Grace laid in bed to give her dreams to an audience with two men beside her. We get told about how mad Chorley was, but we never see any discussion about it. I don't quite know why this was revealed at all. I fully expected a scene of drama to take place; an argument. I was left feeling like I wouldn't get to know these characters that well.
THE GRAND PATRIARCH
There is a large church in this world but it doesn't play a huge part in the story. Just mentioned that the church condemns dreams as immoral. Not much detail is gone into as to why this is, which is a shame because I thought it could have been fascinating. After all, we do learn about immoral acts done in dreams that are not a secret such as grafting, when a persons face is put on a character in a dream (often of underage girls). So an argument about sexual perversion could have been had.
ROSE DISPLACED (SPOILERS)
After they Try, Rose discovers that she isn't a dream hunter. I would say this is the first theme of the book, as it goes back and forth between Rose and Laura's point of view. Although Chorely has his own story as well.
Rose goes back to school and has to continue with life as usual. But she wonders why she should be nice and comes off as obnoxious. I think I understand what she was trying to express. She is unhappy with how things have turned out and mad that she just has to suck it up and go back to school. But I never felt like she was ever really nice. Like I said, her motivations are never revealed.
She doesn't' genuinely care about anyone but herself. She actually rants to herself, about what a great person she is, saying she has been an “advocate”. Who talks that way? She sounds like a self righteous politician.
CHORLEY'S STORY
Chorely has a smaller story where he investigates what happened to Tziga. If he is dead, what the government is up to, ect. He goes to meet Marta, an estranged sister who happens to work for a church. I thought their relationship could have been interesting, as there is obvious tension between them. But again, we are just vaguely told about them. So I was left wanting more.
Also Grace ends up wanting Laura's dream hunting license to be put off, so her and Chorley tie to manipulate the government. I felt like some of this was interesting but for the most part, kind of unnecessary. I never really felt like Grace had a personality but she did care for Laura.
LAURA & TZIGA
The relationship between Tziga and his daughter is paramount because it helps motivate Laura to follow his orders. Also Tziga's religious nature and his views on purpose and truth are supposed to have influenced Laura. I say suppose because they get one scene together in the book, a flash back where they are arguing. Tziga is leaving to go the Place and wont' be back in time for Laura's attempt at the Try. He makes her recall a rhyme.
Because of that, I felt I never felt any real relationship between them. Yes, Laura does recite what he dad said about the Place, and his ideas about it having a purpose more than people think. But it all comes second hand. And never feels like Laura believes anything herself, certainly not enough to motivate her to do something dangerous.
LAURA & ROSE-SPOILERS
Laura and Rose's friendship feels flat and lifeless to me. We jump into it slightly before the schism between them but nothing is set up. We are just told that Laura follows Rose's actions.
When Laura passes the Try but her cousin does not, there is no scene between them afterwards. It's as if the author doesn't realize what scenes should be crucial to developing characters and relationships and wants to focus only on the plot.
I never understood why they were close. They are the same age and same sex and go to the same school with dream hunter parents. But they don't feel like they have anything in common. They just feel like teenagers who got on okay and hung out.
Yes, sometimes they confide in each other but I never felt it was anything personal but more to show that they had some sort of semblance of a friendship. So later on Rose could be shocked to find her friend kept a secret from her.
VERITY-SPOILERS
Tziga lost his wife to illness. We eventually learn that he went to get her a dream that would comfort her only to come back to find her already dead. I thought it was interesting, sad and helped set up that Tziga would have lots of mental health issues to deal with.
However, I thought it was odd that Laura didn't resent him for leaving or if not, wonder how awful he felt about missing her last moments. Also, Tziga ends up saying some strange things about how his love for Verity was unhealthy. I was left confused. Marta ends up saying similar weird and vague things.
SANDMAN-SPOILERS
In the beginning of the story we get a prologue where we meet Tziga and learn of his predicament. It is all very vague and was intended to add suspense to the story. I just ended up thinking it was silly that Tziga referred to the evils done by “adults” as if children ran the world, this wouldn't have happened. Are children somehow immune from greed or stupidity and not easily manipulated by adults?
Early on, we get a small chapter about a ranger following Tziga (they work for the government) who ends up getting killed by some sort of sand creature. This helped add suspense.
Later on, Laura herself meets the monster. The rhyme helps her add a letter to make him become her servant. The word is never used, but he is a golem.
She turns NOW to NOWN on his body. Which isn't actually a word but pronounced like Noun. The rhyme didn't make much sense to me as I am not good with such things so it didn't strike me as clever. I stupidly thought that it should have been “know” because it is knowledge that is powerful and helped Tziga and Laura. Perhaps I misunderstood it.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?
Laura sees Sandy at the beach, and then again after the Try. Finally she sees him a third time and they really talk. Laura is sarcastic (which seems to be her and her cousins only trait) and Sandy feel she is hard to talk to. But apparently he likes her, although I don't know why.
When she sees him one last time near the climax of the book, she is rightly horrified that he is there because she knows what she is about to release. But it feels so melodramatic, because she touches him like a lover when she barely knows him, and him her. The relationship feels forced.
Also on a strange note, when Laura meets Sandy and has her first real conversation she says something that could be misconstrued as a sexual perversion. I had no idea why it was put in and just made the whole scene feel strange. Maybe it was supposed to be funny.
CLIMAX
Laura manages to follow her father's directions and obtain what she needs. She does as she is told, revealing a truth to a large crowd. And the story ends in a cliff hanger.
CONCLUSION
The world is incredibly detailed and it's obvious a lot of thought went into it. The story itself tries to deal with heavy themes but never quite grasps them fully.
The characters themselves dont feel real. I never understood their motivations nor their personalities. They are clearly secondary to the story when in reality they should be the most important part. After all, Tziga essentially creates the predicament and Laura makes a conscious decision to push it forward.
The relationships never felt very deep either. As for Chorley and Tziga, we never see their relationship, only hear of it. Apparently they are close, even though they are opposites. Rose and Laura are another important relationship that leaves something to be desired as well.
It's disappointing because I felt there was so much to work with and the author has such creativity.
I give “DreamHunter” two stars.
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