Dreamhunter
The Dreamhunter Duet, Book 1
Elizabeth Knox
Frances Foster Books
Fiction, YA Fantasy
Themes: Dreams
**
Description
Southland has what most turn-of-the-century civilized nations have: a thriving coal industry, electricity, and fleets of crank-start automobiles among the
more traditional carriages on the streets. But it also has something unique in the world. Here, at certain points, gifted people can cross into the Place, a
desolate wasteland dimension where they "catch" dreams. These dreamhunters then play back the dreams to paying audiences of sleepers, each with their own
ranges and specialties, from light adventure to darker fare. But there is more to this seemingly benign, if frivolous, industry than meets the eye. For one
thing, nobody is quite sure where, exactly, the Place is... or why it only showed up 20 years ago when encountered by Southland's most famed dreamhunter,
Tziga Hame. For another, some may be using dreams to their own ends, to shape the very fabric of the Republic's society.
Laura Hame, daughter of Tziga, lives in the shadow of her famous father and the wake of her more forceful cousin Rose Tiebold (daughter of Grace Tiebold,
Tziga's dreamhunter sister), from whom she rarely strays. At 15, both are of the age to make their first Try, their first attempt to cross the border into the
Place; not everyone can make the crossing, and of those not everyone can catch a dream and replay it with any reliability. Laura isn't sure she wants to be a
dreamhunter, but is content to let such decisions about her life be made for her, as they always have. Then her father is taken away after catching a
particularly potent dream, days before her Try. Laura must start thinking on her own if she is to solve the riddle of the Place and uncover who would want to
take her father and his last, potent dream.
Review
I have a theory about this duet. I believe it was once a single, possibly acceptable, book until someone smelled a chance for more dough and split it up. In
the process, it was padded out beyond the point of tedium, and any hint of suspense or logic that originally ran through its pages was shattered beyond hope of
reclamation.
Normally, so long as I'm entertained, or at least enjoying the scenery, I can let things slide that would likely irritate more alert readers. As I read
Dreamhunter, though, I found myself repeatedly shaking my head and thinking, "But... why?" The plot alternately oozed at a crawl (when it didn’t balk
at a total standstill) and leapt ahead in wild, impossible-to-follow leaps of logic. The characters... what to say about the characters... I just plain couldn’t
believe in them, let alone care about them. How annoying were they? At one point, our spineless heroine Laura sees her moody, secretive father covered in blood
and bandages, being led off by officials in what even a half-witted dog could see was a very shady operation. As he attempts, desperately, to convey a last vital
message to his darling daughter, she turns into a spoiled toddler and throws a tantrum because he’s leaving her - and, not coincidentally, prevents what could
have been a profound revelation to advance the storyline.
As I read this, realizing that I had little choice but to view this story through an irritatingly whiny heroine whose only purpose seemed to be to prevent the story
from advancing, I had my first urge to simply put down the book and walk away. But, no, I figured it had to pick up soon. It was such a great concept, after all,
and I’d sunk good money into it. So onward I plunged, and downward it fell. Adults acted like children. Children acted like adults. Our whining, dependent heroine
Laura suddenly becomes a brave, lone adventurer (though Knox helpfully mentions that so much happened in her life “off screen” that such a profound transformation was
perfectly rational and, indeed, inevitable – and it had nothing to do with the fact that the author finally realized that incompetent heroes cannot save worlds.) The
plot continued to lurch ahead, fragments of information falling out of the sky when Knox tired of dilly-dallying with pointless sidetracks. On top of this were at
least three potential Messages, heavy-handed morality lessons meant to enthrall us lowly uneducated readers, which I could feel bearing down on me like runaway trains,
destined for impact should I venture into the second half of the duet.
I loved the idea of shared dreams and the industry that grew up around them, but those ideas alone couldn’t outshine the choking smog of the rest of the book. Will I
ever read the second part? That depends... if I literally run over a copy in the middle of the road, I might consider circling back to pick it up, but only if I'm
extremely desperate for something to read. Otherwise, Dreamhunter can remain as it is in my mind, a stand-alone work of squandered ideas and sheer boredom in
sadly unequal measures.