Saturday, September 26, 2015

Dreamland by Robert L Anderson


Published: September 22nd, 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 336
Copy: Edelweiss
Summary: Goodreads


Odea Donahue has been able to travel through people’s dreams since she was six years old. Her mother taught her the three rules of walking: Never interfere. Never be seen. Never walk the same person’s dream more than once. Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.

Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town and Dea finally starts to feel normal. As Connor breaks down the walls that she’s had up for so long, he gets closer to learning her secret. For the first time she wonders if that’s so bad. But when Dea breaks the rules, the boundary between worlds begins to deteriorate. How can she know what’s real and what’s not?
 


A quick review:

'Dreamland' is another book I'm feeling a little conflicted about.  In general I enjoyed the story, and it certainly is a little different.  However, as the story progressed, things started to fall apart a little for me. I couldn't make up my mind if the story was supposed to be horror or fantasy, and I was never completely in tune with the characters.  I may have been expecting too much from it, but in the end I was  disappointed.  

I'm realizing that I get a bit frustrated with novels where parents don't tell kids things 'for their own good' or to 'keep them safe'.  How can they possibly be safe if kids don't know what they are facing  In 'Dreamland', Dea's mother has set a very few rules and then tells her nothing else, nothing at all, so she's left to flounder in the dark - literally and metaphorically.  How frustrating is that?  It's no wonder she breaks the rules.

I did finish 'Dreamland', but now that it's over I'm not sure why I bothered.  I'm certain that there are many readers out there who will love this one, but not me.  I'm curious to know what others thought of it.

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