SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Laura remains estranged from her family, even after explaining her suspicions about the government. Meanwhile she clings to Nown and Sand and even the return of a lost loved one does not fix things. Although Rose decides to investigate the matter herself.
PACING
Pacing is a problem for me. There are plenty of action scenes in the story, a big one being a fire that a main character is trapped in. I felt no real sense of urgency and no insight into the character involved.
Rose doesn't think, “no, I am going to die.” Or “I can't do this, I can't jump off a building. This is crazy!”
She never panics, hesitates, doubts herself or anything. She felt completely unrealistic. I felt like a disconnected third party, watching from afar and knowing nothing. As if I were watching a video posted on the internet, as opposed to being in a story.
WHY AUNT MARTA?
We met Chorely's estranged sister in the first book. I thought since Laura barely knew her it was strange for her to run to her aunt. Perhaps it would have been wise to reveal some sort of relationship between them that still existed or had at least once existed.
We get a view from Laura that looks down upon the Patriarch and the religion that Marta has faith in. Which is kind of odd, because Laura is more like her father, believing in a God. And the Patriarch kind of has a point about the Dream Palace being a place to experience second hand pleasures where there actions have no consequences. After all, we already know its being abused by the sexually perverse. But Laura seems not to realize this.
FATHER ISSUES?
Laura treats Nown like a loyal pet. Both Rose and Tziga are appalled by this. It's obvious that Rose believes him to be an unnatural creature, therefore her sisters' relationship is viewed as unnatural as well. While I think Tziga views it badly because Laura views Nown much different then her father viewed him as: a tool to be used. And there is a vague reference to Laura thinking Nown replaced her dad.
Rose never quite gets over this as this string is just left dangling. I can forgive that, but Tziga's view is quite important as his relationship to Laura is what spurred her on in the first book.
LAURA & ROSE
Rose reveals to her father that she is upset that Laura lied to her. She is also rather awkward around Nown when she meets him. When Rose finally confronts Laura, she tries to explain why she did what she did. She is rather impassioned about it but after that one argument never really tries to resolve anything.
Their whole relationship takes a back seat after that. Her priorities seem all screwed up and never resolved (caring more about Nown than Tziga and Rose).
LAURA & SANDY
The main problem I have is that the relationship is far too rushed. Sandy is upset that Laura never told him about what she was going to do at the dream palace. And yet he barely knew her. He tries to deny his crush, saying that he is only infatuated with her because of her famous family. But again, he barely knew her.
When he gets a letter from her he gets an impression that she is in a relationship with an unknown man and is furious. But why? He and Laura were merely acquaintances and neither revealed a desire for one another. It felt just so melodramatic.
WEIRD INFORMATION
At the boarding house where Sandy stays, there are two girls who are always flirting with him. He ignores them until he gets Laura's letter. Then he kisses one.
Later on, he recalls to the reader that he let that same girl put her hand down his pants. That he didn't want it but hadn't complained at the time. Basically he had been harassed and hadn't known what to do. This paints him as a victim and rather weak willed. It also felt completley random and unnecessary. This brings me to my next point.
LOVE OR LUST?-SPOILERS
Sandy and Laura barely know each other, but upon Laura's return, Sandy is chosen to work with her. So apparently they spend a lot of time together. I say apparently because we don't see them getting to know each other and their feelings developing. We merely see them at a table together, where Laura is being overly affectionate and Sandy is looking uncomfortable.
If that isn't bad enough, they go on a trip together (for work) and the moment they are alone, Laura manipulates him into sleeping with her. I say manipulate because Sandy is clearly uncomfortable. He says he wants to marry her and asks if he does. But Laura just seems annoyed that he won't just take his pants off and sleep with her on the dirt. Hardly the greatest love story of our time. He is actually described as almost being in tears.
Now, I do think Laura is supposed to be slightly confused because of her relationship with Nown (in her letter to him she seems overly attached to him). But it is all so vague and never expounded upon so that I never found Laura sympathetic in the least. She just seemed overpowering.
If the positions had been reversed I feel that readers would have called out Sandy's character for being an abuser. Example: a girl asks a man if he wants to marry her after her asks to sleep with her, but he ignores her, she starts crying and demands to know that he loves her. Then he tells her to lay down and shut up.
Yes, there are some instances where its revealed that dreamhunters like Laura seem to have no boundaries and can do whatever they want. But Laura never realizes this, herself. So I can't say it's obvious that the writer was trying to portray their relationship as unhealthy.
VICTORIAN MORALS?-SPOILERS
The story is supposed to take place in an alternative timeline in a Victorian world. All girls wear skirts, women have coming out balls and are expected to marry and have children. It wouldn't be too much to think that fornication and other sexual practices that have been normalized since the sexual revolution would be frowned upon.
And yet not only does Laura casually have relations with him, she gets pregnant and doesn't seem phased in the bit. So she comes off as rather arrogant and not the least bit regrets her actions. As for her family, well they don't seem that upset either. It's as if twenty-first century values are forced on this Victorian world out of the blue.
Although there is a point earlier where Chorley admits to himself that he almost expected them to have been intimate. He seems appalled at this, even though there is no evidence that Sandy would do such a thing, but perhaps Chorley thinks his niece is foolish and naive.
CONFIDING IN GRACE
After he gets upset about Laura's letter, Sandy ends up confiding in Grace. It's important to the story for Grace to find out about an unknown man but it makes no sense. Laura was an acquaintance and Grace was a complete stranger. And yet Sandy reveals very personal information. This seems to go against his character as he is supposedly defensive and in denial about his crush.
THE RETURN OF TZIGA
Tziga is alive. But the interactions between him and Chorely do not show any great chemistry or explain why two people so different are friends. I had hoped that would have been the case, since he was vacant from the first book.
But I don't even feel that I got to know Tziga as a character. He is very dramatic and obviously feels like he must be a savior, even though Grace is furious at him for it. Even his relationship with Laura seems lacking.
ROSE & MAMIE
It's never made clear about Rose and her relationship to Mamie. It really feels like she is her friend, and yet she also wants to make use of the fact that Mamie lives where she wants to investigate. I wish she had simply clarified that she truly made a friend, even though that was never her intention.
MAMIE'S BROTHER
While staying at Mamie's house, Rose ends up getting harassed by Mamie's brother. I don't know what the purpose was, except to perhaps to show that both father and son were corrupt.
Perhaps it was to victimize Rose so she could complain about having to always be sensible. I felt bad for her for being harassed, and yet I don't think she came out looking great. She actually seemed obnoxious. After all, instead of standing up for herself, she plays it down, and then complains about having to be sensible.
THE GOVERNMENT'S SECRET-SPOILERS
Laura ends up exploring and finding out about a secret facility where certain people are kept. In this prison they are constantly given a dream called Contentment. Like a drug, it keeps them dumb and happy so they don't try to escape.
RANDOM RELIGION-SPOILERS
There are a few instances where Laura makes religious comparisons between her actions and those of the Bible. They always came across as weird, as though the author wanted her readers to see religious themes but didn't trust them to figure it out. So Laura, being the religious character must spell it out.
Making Nown is like God making humanity and the planet. And her work was good, like his was. As a girl who seemed to have little interest in the Bible or church, I thought it strange that she make such comparisons.
There is also a philosophy discussion between Chorely and another about the purpose of the Place and the purpose of life. I found it interesting but disconnected from the story itself.
Also, I feel religious emotions are just shoved in half-hazardly, like when Laura decides now that Sandy is not dead, that her baby is a gift from God. She didn't seem to think of it that way before, in fact, she barely seemed to think at all about God, or the baby.
INSIGHTFUL LAURA
When Laura is faced with the man running the secret prison she suddenly seems overly perceptive. She describes his motives and how evil he is. The whole scene feels weird and out of the blue. This is a minor character, I don't need a psychological evaluation.
OUT OF THE PICTURE-SPOILERS
At the coming out ball, Sandy is targeted for being a nuisance. We are left for the rest of the book thinking that he is dead. I didn't see how he was any threat to the government but I didn't really care that wasn't in the rest of the story as he didn't really add anything. It all felt kind of silly, like, Laura's true love must be put in danger for dramatic effect.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PLACE-SPOILERS
We eventually learn that the Place is actually the future. The woman we thought of as Verity is actually an older Laura. I thought this was a great idea and I was very interested. One of the tortured prisoners is actually Laura's future son.
The way it is revealed, with Grace is shocking. But unfortunately, when Laura admits she knew it all along, its underwhelming. Not to mention the way it is used, as a tool to show how clever the author is.Time travel is tricky, because so often the author comes off as pretentious. And in order for it to work, pieces must fit together perfectly like a puzzle.
It's okay if it's slightly confusing at first, but if you think about it over and over and it still doesn't make any sense, I think it's acceptable to assume the story is bad and not that the reader is just too stupid to understand the genius of the plot.
It's all so vague and confusing, especially when we get insight into how apparently Laura and Rose stay estranged in the future. Instead of puzzle pieces fitting together I felt like they were tossed aside and lost. The story ends seeming to be continued.
CLIMAX-SPOILERS
Laura goes to the Place to dig up a still living man and bring him back. The place disappear and a vague description of why it has happened is given.
CONCLUSION
I found aspects of the story interesting, like when Laura goes exploring and gets taken captive. And then has to find a way to escape. And the revelation about the truth about the place was quite interesting as well.
However the characters and the relationships between them are lacking. I never really believe the romantic relationship between Laura and Sandy. And Tziga feeling replaced by Nown is never addressed.
As for the ending, it feels like its trying desperately to be clever, but by then I was too confused and bored, just wanting it to be over with.
I give “Dreamquake” one and half stars.
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