*This is the middle novel in a trilogy.*
What is art? In a modern world of dreamers, art may be that
object that is impressive in its usefulness, like a car that’s very difficult
to see or an orb that destroys a mighty industrial structure in real life. But
the source of the dreamers’ power, the ley line, is diminished or dying. Ronan
Lynch risks being overcome by nightwash,
Hennessy (not Jordan, Jordan is the dream) risks bringing out the Lace, which hates
her and would destroy anyone and anything in its path, and Bryde, well, Bryde
is an anomaly, even as there is something familiar about him to Ronan. The Lace
fears Bryde. The three are going to save the world, but are they saving it or
changing it for the worst?
Those
dreamt – that know they’re dreamt – want to be their own selves, free of the
constraints of their dreamers (if one’s dreamer dies, the dreamt fall into
permanent sleep). Jordan Hennessy wants to live a life of her own. She wants to
paint a sweetmetal that will allow
her to do just that, but what exactly makes a sweetmetal powerful? Matthew
wants to know that he’s someone other than Ronan’s dreamt younger brother. He
wants to be included in conversations and not be treated like a little kid. He
wants his life to mean something.
The
Moderators want to use their Visionary (Liliana) to find the dreamers (Zeds, like zeroes, to them) and kill
them. One such Moderator, Carmen Farooq-Lane, is afraid of the Zeds (her now-dead
Zed brother did, after all, kill 23 people, including their parents), but she
finds that her feelings are more complicated the longer they pursue these
“Potomac Zeds,” especially after one of the more violent and ruthless
Moderators shoots a maternal-looking dreamer in the head. In that moment, that
woman was the only person Carmen didn’t hate. Will the Moderators retaliate if
she and Liliana go rogue and leave the team? If she takes away their Visionary?
With the
way the dreamers and the Moderators circle each other like scavengers waiting
for an easy meal, readers know there will be an epic battle. It won’t be a
grand, Hollywood-style battle with galactic heroes and invaders or the intense
clashes of armies of Middle-Earth. It’ll be subtle, but nonetheless powerful,
and the impact will be great either way. The middle novel in The Dreamer Trilogy is engaging,
delightfully twisting, but also lyrical. This YA novel is a fantasy meant to
challenge readers to keep up with the storyline as it zigzags through the
twists and turns and upside-down adventure that will both captivate fans and
maybe make them a little dizzy. It’s an intricate fantasy filled with precise
detailing (especially when the POV is from “that boring-ass drone of a prick”
Declan Lynch) with an ending like you’ve been unexpectedly doused in icy water.
I SO enjoyed this book!
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