Review: The Gods of Dream by Daniel Arenson

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

All my life I’ve held the opinion that fairy tales come to us from the darkest depths of imagination. They are stories of suffering and grief wrapped up in a bundle of cutesy imagery, mythical beasts, and social disorder. They come as warnings: Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel against the allure and dangers of child predators, Jack and the Bean Stock against the perils of experimentation and exploration without first understanding the consequences…and these are only a few examples. They are at their core disturbing, grim tales, meant to pass along a necessary social message.

This is what The Gods of Dream, written by Daniel Arenson, accomplishes. In spades.

The Gods of Dream is the tale of Cade and Tasha, twins from a never-disclosed, war-torn country, whose parents were killed during a bombing at a local market. They are forced to leave their home and travel to a new country, where they are alone, afraid, and despondent. Tasha hates life and has tried multiple times to end it. Cade does his best to support and coddle her, his own war-ravaged hands constant reminders of the past they left behind. He does everything he can to give his beloved twin a reason to live.

Well, they have one. For reasons never fully explained (and thankfully so), Cade and Tasha have been granted access to Eloria, the true land of Dream. In this reality they are Talon and Sunflower, children of the illusory wilderness, unscarred (both physically and emotionally) by their guilt, sorrow, and the horrors of their past. When in Dream they cavort like the free youths they should have been, before the real world cruelly tore all that away from them.

This carefree existence is not to last long, however, for it seems that Phobetor, the ruler of Nightmare, obviously the counterpoint to Dream, has set his sights on conquering the sleeping paradise. Cade is recruited into the fight, told he must defeat the evil prince, and heads out on a long, long quest. Tasha, for some reason left out of the original plan (actually there is a reason, though it’s never spoken, and that reason is sublime and necessary), sneaks in and joins her beloved brother on his journey, disguised as a mouse.

Along the way Cade and Tasha meet all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures. They are the gods of Dream, and they’re fantastic creations with roots firmly planted in Native American (or any other naturalistic culture’s) lore. Each resides in (and is master of) a certain location and aspect of Dream. These gods have lived for thousands of years, and they take it upon themselves to assist Cade and Tasha in whatever way they can.

The twins journey for weeks (possibly months) through the landscape of Dream and enter Nightmare. I could go on and on describing every step of their journey, but I won’t. This review would be ten pages long if I did that. Just believe that there are a great many plot points in the book that are worth mentioning, but what interests me more than anything are themes, and that’s what I’m here to discuss right now.

One of the first things I noticed when the chapters started shifting between events happening in Dream and Nightmare, respectively, was the paradigm of these realms. Just as Dream’s gods are constructs of the “real world” – elks, cats, lions, hippos, pandas, etc – so is the landscape. It is filled with earthly trees, grass, rivers, and gardens of flowers. There is a day and night. There are oceans and beluga whales. There is also a natural order to the land, represented in pockets that depict the seasons of Earth. The lands of Nightmare, on the other hand, are cracked and burnt in some places; in others, the ground is covered with what could be skin. The trees there are likewise fleshy, covered with eyeballs. The creatures that inhabit it are gruesome, beasts of fangs, spikes, hooks, fur, and bodies that don’t seem to follow a natural order (aka shark head on a wolf’s body, etc). These unsavory citizens carry themselves with utter hatred and intend to harm, and every emotion is taken to the extreme. To break it down, Dream is the land of balance and healthy imagination; Nightmare of radicalism and brooding darkness. Sure, at first glance one might say, “But doesn’t the existence of Nightmare balance out Dream?” And the answer to that would be no. Some of Nightmare’s inhabitants were born in Dream, and they were born the way they are – wicked, cursed, unsavory – and at least one was told he did not have to leave despite this. That, in and of itself, demonstrates that the world of Dream is evenhanded. Because of this, Nightmare is actually a weight that tips the scales toward darkness.

(Not to mention that Dream exists seemingly of its own accord, while Nightmare needs a motor. It’s powered by a subway system that runs beneath its soil. I won’t explain what this subway system is or how it operates, because I wouldn’t want to give that away, but trust me when I say it’s one of the most inspired and original ideas I’ve ever set my eyes upon.)

The creative inventions of the world aside, the emotional threads are spectacularly done as well, in fact more so. Cade and Tasha really feel like damaged souls. They’re full of doubt and guilt. Tasha is nearly pathetic in her unhappiness, and you pity Cade for how hard he tries, even while he’s doubting his every action. In every way it makes sense that these two were the ones chosen to save Dream, because they needed to be saved just as much. They needed to rediscover beauty even in the face of ugliness and evil. And I think that might be the main point: that there is splendor all around you, that if only you’d take the time to actually deal with the hardships that come upon you, you’d bust out on the other side realizing all you’ve had and all you could have. Tasha, herself, embodies this. She is small in soul and scope at the start of the novel. In this way, it’s no wonder that she chooses to be a mouse when she crosses into Dream. For she is afraid of everything, her fear and sorrow have made her as insignificant as a creature that makes its home in shredded bits of discarded paper. In this case, that discarded paper is her life, both former and present.

All of this is sad yet beautiful to read, and I have to admit that on more than one occasion I found myself getting teary – especially at the beginning and end of the book. The middle is where the action is, and it is wonderful, but let me tell you…the emotions that run through these opening and closing segments are just about perfect. We see Tasha staring at her bandaged, scarred wrists, and we sob for her, when it would be very easy, if the work wasn’t crafted as well as it is, to say, “Just get it over with, already.” The writing helps in this regard, with flowing sentences and vivid description. Really, I can’t say enough good things about it.

So why, one might ask, did it not receive a perfect score? (Yeah, I have to be a little bit critical.) Two reasons. First of all, author Arenson has a habit of repeating things, important points that need to be remembered (such as the reminders that Cade and Tasha have to save Dream…or else.) Now, I get that, but I thought it was done just a tad too much. I understand that this is the author’s style, however, and it really doesn’t distract from the story. The second is the character of Phobetor, the ruler of Nightmare. His repartee his demon wife is eerily similar to the interplay between a pair of characters in another one of Arenson’s books. Now, I almost didn’t mention this, but I felt the need to, if only to assure readers who’ve read the author’s other works that these sections are short and few. In fact, there are only two scenes that actually have both characters in them. However, they’re both towards the beginning of the book, and I want to tell any who might notice that the characters are, in fact, quite different, as the meat of the tale bears out and their interactions cease. I wouldn’t want anyone to put the book down because of something minor such as this.

On a whole, The Gods of Dream is a very impressive, nearly impeccable work of art. It’s The Neverending Story meets The Dark Crystal meets The Odyssey. It surges in parts, lingers in others, and always leaves the reader with the impression that they’re taking in something important. It teaches a lesson about pain and what it takes to withstand it. It shows how important life is, how important love is, how important family is, be them blood or otherwise. It takes you on its journey of imagination and leaves you both panting and sighing at the fantastically bittersweet, yet hopeful, ending.

In other words, it’s magnificent. And I have a sneaking suspicion The Gods of Dream is going to end up being one of the best books I read in 2011. It gets the highest recommendation from me that a single book could possibly ever get.

Plot - 10

Characters - 9

Voice - 10

Execution - 9

Personal Enjoyment – 10

Overall – 48/50 (4.8/5)

Purchase The Gods of Dream in ebook format for the:

JOA Book of the Day

JENNY POX
by J.L. Bryan

-------------------------------------------------------------

Jenny has a secret. Her touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague. And she can't turn it off.
She devotes her life to avoiding contact with people, until her senior year of high school, when she meets the one boy she can touch, and falls in love.

But there's a problem--he's under the spell of his devious girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.

Now Jenny must learn to use the "Jenny pox" she's fought to suppress, or be destroyed by Ashleigh's ruthless plans.

***

The sequel to Jenny Pox will be available by summer 2011.

Winner of a Red Adept Indie Award: #1 in Horror for 2010.

Selected by Geeks of Doom for Top 10 Urban Fantasy and Horror Books of 2010

If you enjoy Jenny Pox, you might enjoy books by Stacey Wallace Benefiel and Amanda Hocking.

Purchase Jenny Pox in ebook format at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

REVIEW SNIPPETS

This is one of the best novels of the year I’ve read so far, and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. The ending has a satisfying resolution, and I think that Bryan is one of the most talented writers I’ve had the privilege to read. - Hellnotes.com

This book has it all: teenage angst, sex, drugs, hiding an evil agenda disguised as a religious quest, evil cheerleaders. - Bewitched Bookworms

This story is intensely emotional, brilliantly told, and absolutely worth reading. - Supernatural Snark

NOTE FROM THE JOURNAL

This is a book that's been on my "wish I could read if I had the time (or if the author submitted to me)" list for a long time now. I'm a sucker for horror and Buffy-esque stories, and everything I've heard about this book is that it's very close to emotionally perfect. Friends whose opinions I trust have told me it's one of the best, if not the best, book of the recently departed 2010. So to say that I'll eventually be getting around to reading it would be a severe understatement. It should be on your list, too.

Review: The Stasis: Powerless Book 3 by Jason Letts

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Growing up. It’s hard. It sucks. Our heroes are revealed to be mortal and flawed, our presumptions about the world are constantly proven untrue, and the evils that surround us, which we’ve been gleefully naïve of in our younger days, slowly trickle into our consciousness, threatening to crush our spirit. Often, when I look back on this myself, I wonder how I was able to keep a positive outlook on life. But the thing is, that positive outlook was learned. It came from realizing that I didn’t really want to dwell on the bad, that I wanted to appreciate what I had, the people who loved me, while they’re still here.

That, in a nutshell, describes the atmosphere of The Stasis, the third of the Powerless series by Jason Letts.

As with book two, the story picks up where the previous volume left off, with Mira, the powerless girl in a world where everyone else has superpowers, leading her fellow students from Dustfalls Academy into the war after her failure to win the Rite at Shadow Mountain.

In book two, Mira learns her rather sordid history (which I will not disclose here for fear of a major spoiler for those who haven’t read it), and in The Stasis her emotional deconstructions is complete. Whereas she was once full of wonder and innocence, she now carries herself with a coldly logical hardness that is difficult to see from a character that’d once been so glowing. But it makes sense; her definition of self has been stripped away, leaving behind a skeleton of her former life that she’s ill equipped to reconstruct. So she does what people do when they’ve been abandoned by hope – she latches onto an ideal (to free her sister from the clutches of the army her people are fighting against) and pushes tirelessly and fearlessly for that goal, all else be damned.

Along the way she alienates her friends, becomes involved in a great many battles, and gets wounded (physically as well as emotionally). From there, the meat of the story deals with Mira trying to rediscover the love and purity she’s lost.

This is a very dark book, especially for something in the young adult genre. Quite a few characters are killed off (thousands, actually, if you count all the soldiers fighting in the war), and those that do survive are stricken with such difficult circumstances that their guilt threatens to overcome them. You have to remember that these are sixteen-year-old kids the author has written about here, and they’ve been asked to risk their lives for what amounts to opposing principles they haven’t the maturity to grasp. The senior officers of the army treat them like fodder and are willing to sacrifice them at a moment’s notice to simply prove a point, which brings to mind some very real circumstances that have occurred in our own military during the last ten years or so.

And yet these kids do fight, they do push themselves to the limit, and that aspect of the storyline owes itself to simple survival. When the chips are down and you don’t understand what everyone’s fighting for in the first place, it’s your own life and the lives or your friends that end up mattering more than anything. I couldn’t help but think of World War II and the stories my grandfather has told me of the young people in his platoon stepping up when their superiors went down and all seemed lost. Like the characters in The Stasis, my grandfather fought to keep his friends alive. In that way, this book acts as homage to the stories of these wars past and the grand sacrifices much-too-young individuals had to make during battle, when death surrounded and threatened to swallow them whether or not they stayed on their toes.

Speaking of battle scenes, The Stasis has a few of them, and they’re all pretty grand in scale. They’re confusing to read, what with so many different people having so many different powers that affect their surroundings in so many different ways. This could be looked at as a drawback, but I ended up appreciating the execution. When I found myself being confounded by what was going on, I put myself in the characters’ shoes; if it was difficult for me, the reader, to follow, how must it be for those involved? Reading them actually made me tense, which in books usually only happens during overly emotional scenes.

With all of this violence and the overarching spiral into different facets of the social unrest that started this war, it would’ve been easy for poignant characterization to fall by the wayside. However, the opposite happens. Even with the confusing mess of fighting, the characters actually come more alive, gain more depth, prove more of their usefulness as metaphorical vehicles. Each individual grows and demonstrates just how pure of heart and mind they are, even those that make irrevocably bad decisions. I applaud Letts for this, because he definitely didn’t take the easy way out.

I had very few problems with this book. At times I found the dialogue stilted and robotic, and still the head-hopping persists, but I’ve come to simply accept these as a part of the series’ voice. I’ll no longer dock points for it, considering that if you’re here reading this review it most likely means you’ve already read the first two books. It’s still a wonderful and emotional read, one that I’m growing to appreciate more and more with each installment.

Before I end this review, there’s one last thing I want to mention. With all the death, destruction, and ominous foreboding in this book, there is one particular scene towards the end that jumps out. Letts does something I didn’t expect – he takes these characters that he’s lead through the ringer and allows them to once more rediscover their youthful innocence, if only for a fleeting few moments. I was taken aback and made to feel rather morose. Again I thought of my grandfather, eighteen years old and trapped behind enemy lines. Did he take the time to engage in a games and laughter in the down times, those moments when the fear of imminent death took a much-needed breather? If so, did it help steel him against what was surely to come next? It seems like such a depressing state to find oneself in, and yet I couldn’t shake how real it felt. If nothing else, Letts has a handle on the emotive core of human nature.

The Stasis is a powerful work. It dares to question everything from what constitutes family and the nature of morality. It brings you into the depths of despair and then pulls you out, only to shove you back in once more. It’s a fantastic book, for all ages, and one that I’m not shy at all about giving a heartfelt recommendation to. The best of the series so far, which says a lot. By the end, you’ll think of one line Mira states at the beginning of the novel – The only inevitable truth is death – and hope that the characters will come to realize that despite the nugget of truth of that statement, there are many inevitable truths.

Death is only one of them.

Plot - 9

Characters - 9

Voice - 9

Execution - 9

Personal Enjoyment – 10

Overall – 46/50 (4.6/5)

Available in ebook format for the:

Review: The Tree of Life by Elita Daniels

Rating: 1.9 out of 5

The older you get, the faster life moves. Yes, that’s a cliché, but most times clichés have their roots in aspects of the truth. Days and weeks fly by, and before you know it you’re looking at the past saying, “Maybe I should’ve stopped for a minute to appreciate the passage of time.” When I find myself thinking this, and the limited time I have to do what I need to do, I abhor the things around me that waste my time, things that steal from me precious moments with which I could have been doing something different.

Not the best way to start a review, right? I know. But this is the way I started to feel while forcing myself through The Tree of Life by Elita Daniels.

I received this book as a review copy from the author. When reading the sample, it pulled me in because of the impending sense of sorrow and doom presented during the first couple chapters. I happily accepted it, thinking this melancholy suggested an impending expansion and heightening of emotion over the course of the text.

It turns out I was right. Sort of.

This is the story of Deacon, a young man with severe daddy issues. His father was a great and dangerous necromancer who wanted to use his son and wife’s “Riven” blood (According to the tale, Rivens are a people whose connection to magic exists on a level almost like breathing air for everyday folks) to bring about…something. The particulars of his plan were never really explained, other than he wished to overthrow the governing body of magic that was in place at the time. A young Deacon is kidnapped, his mother injured, and then by the end of this opening sequence the father ultimately sacrifices himself (somehow, again not explained) to save his son, and then Deacon’s mother marries an elf, among whom they live until Deacon is older and his mother passes.

From there, we reach the main gist of the plot. Deacon grows up to be a cynical, detached, and miserable young man. He’s haunted by his father’s actions and abandonment, thrown into fits of anger because of the pain the man inflicted on his beloved mother. So after his mother’s death, when he learns his father is somehow still alive, Deacon sets out, against the will of the elves who’ve helped raise him, to learn divining spells, find out where his father now exists, and kill him. He rounds up his cousins, Derek and Cedrik, and embarks on his quest.

Along the way he becomes more and more grumpy, works on refining his magical abilities, meets up with a beautiful dark priestess named Magenta, falls in love with her, and does everything he can to close himself off from everyone who’s close to him. As far as his quest goes, by the end of this much-too-long book, he doesn’t get very far, at all.

And this is perhaps the most maddening thing about the book. It’s long, it’s slow, and absolutely nothing gets resolved. I understand that this is the first book of a proposed series, but there has to be at least some resolution, doesn’t there? But there isn’t any. By the time we reach the final page, Deacon is right where he is when we start up his storyline – alone, awkward, and full of hate. He doesn’t grow as a character at all. He’s completely unlikeable, a winy brat who can’t let go of the past even though he grew up in what amounts to paradise with the elves. Perhaps this is simply a problem with myself. Maybe others will get something out of it I didn’t. Maybe.

The text in this book is dense. Page after page goes by without anything really happening. At times it seems as if the author is simply in love with her ability to turn a phrase, and she packs the text with allegory and explanation, which makes it read even slower. Not only that, but strangely enough the more exciting parts of the book are rushed through, as if the action is an obstacle to be skipped over. Towards the beginning, as Deacon’s mother is being escorted by emissaries of magical law in search of her husband, the group is attacked by an army of the undead. I got excited, especially considering I was still really into the feel of the author’s style at that point, but then…nothing happens. All of a sudden the scene is over, and we’re back to inner angst and an eventual marriage between Deacon’s mother and the elf (who she’s really just met) that helped save her. Huh?

And that’s another problem. Even with the over-abundance of words used, there are so many things that are simply not explained. The most intriguing aspect of the plot – what was Deacon’s father trying to accomplish, who is he, what’s up with the treachery going on inside the walls of their society’s beaurocracy? – are quickly forgotten about. After 10% of the book, they’re never mentioned again and we’re back to Deacon’s brooding and self-hate.

Now, it’s not as if this book was all bad. There are some interesting themes presented, such as the questioning of what makes us human, the soul-encompassing pain and doubt of love, and the duty one feels to a family member, even if said family member doesn’t seem to deserve it. But these finer points become overshadowed by the endlessly droning words. As I said at the before, the beginning is beautifully written, but it never changes. The tone never changes. It’s like being stuck in the mud and not being able to pull yourself out. In a word, irritating.

And there are writing quirks that get in the way, as well. For one, the author is in love with the word “presently”. Presently, so-and-so does this. Presently, another character does this. Presently, a campfire burns. Okay, I get it. It’s happening now. Also, to further illustrate the author simply packing words upon words, there are many instances of redundancy in the text, long passages that are repetitious or contradictory. Here are a few examples:

Unconscious of anything outside each other, they gazed on one another with an intensity that excluded all else.

Or then we have:

Within the gloom, Deacon knew a quiet grove in which he spent long hours of solitude, finding these woods to be the only place sufficiently quiet for him to escape and become entirely absorbed in his study, without fear of interruption.

And then:

She held him there, and there he remained.

See what I mean? And these are the shorter examples.

Now, I’m not one to sit here and blast a book. I know that it takes a lot of dedication to write. But it took just as much effort for me to read it. It took me three weeks to finish this book, and by the final paragraph I couldn’t help but wonder why I stayed with it that long. Perhaps I’m just stubborn. At the end of the day, the reader is not indebted to the author’s effort. If the execution isn’t there, it just isn’t, no matter how much work was put into it.

Maybe I’m in the minority here. Maybe others will read this book and think it brilliant. I’m certainly not the be-all-end-all when it comes to this sort of thing. And the author does show a lot of potential. She has a definite grasp of emotional weight and can craft some intriguing characters. If she only refined it, used her words at a premium, then she’d have something I’d willingly dive into again.

Until then, I can’t justify devoting any more time to it than I already have.

Plot - 5

Characters - 6

Voice - 4

Execution - 2

Personal Enjoyment – 2

Overall – 19/50 (1.9/5)

Purchase The Tree of Life in paperback or for the Amazon Kindle.

Dead of Winter Official Release Announcement:

JOA Book Of The Day - The Kinshield Legacy

THE KINSHIELD LEGACY
by K.C. May

-------------------------------------------------

A mysterious stone tablet with five magical gems has sat abandoned in a cave for two hundred years. The kingdom is in ruins, with only warrant knights to keep the peace. But then, the gems in the tablet, one by one, disappear.

Warrant knight Gavin Kinshield is a man of many secrets. He's the one deciphering the runes in the tablet. Unless he can find a suitable replacement, he'll be Thendylath's next king. All he really wants is the letter written by his ancestor Ronor Kinshield, champion to King Arek, confessing the truth of how the king perished... a letter he must earn by tracking down a common thief.

But when Gavin saves a woman's life, what should have been a simple task draws him face-to-face with his nightmarish past... and the truth of King Arek's demise.

Purchase The Kinshield Legacy in ebook format at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

REVIEW SNIPPETS

From the very first page, The Kinshield Legacy grabs you by the throat and propels you into a world of magic, sorcery, jeweled-eyed gargoyles and a sisterhood of female warriors. A world where beyonders savage unsuspecting travelers; where a dark, yet charismatic, wizard covets the king's throne for his own and will let no one get in his way--including the rightful ruler. He who claims the King's Bloodstone shall reign as king. Enter Gavin Kinshield, warrant knight and rune solver, a man haunted by his past, and a hero like no other. A rousing debut from K. C. May, an author worth watching.

~ Carol Davis Luce, Author of Night Passage

"The Kinshield Legacy is a rousing good fantasy tale, with nice characterization and some ferocious action. These days I read primarily for business rather than pleasure, but I found myself eager to return to this novel."

~ Piers Anthony, Author of the Xanth novels

NOTE FROM THE JOURNAL

As an admirer of the author's latest book, "The Venom of Vipers", I know that this will be a fantastic read. Her writing is impeccable, and just looking at the reviews, you can't get much better than that.

JOA Book Of The Day

THE GODS OF DREAM
by Daniel Arenson

--------------------------------------------------

What are dreams? Some think they are figments of our mind. But what if they were wisps of a distant, magical world… a world you could visit?

Twins Cade and Tasha discover Dream, the land dreams come from. It is a realm of misty forests, of verdant mountains, of mysterious gods who send dreams into our sleep. Cade and Tasha seek solace there; they are refugees, scarred and haunted with memories of war. In Dream, they can forget their past, escape the world, and find joy.

Phobetor, the god of Nightmare, was outcast from Dream. Now he seeks to destroy it. He sends his monsters into Dream, and Cade and Tasha find their sanctuary threatened, dying. To save it, the twins must overcome their past, journey into the heart of Nightmare, and face Phobetor himself.

Discover a world of light and darkness, of hope and fear, of dreams and nightmares. Discover The Gods of Dream.

Purchase The Gods of Dream in ebook format at Amazon.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Daniel Arenson in an author of fantasy fiction, from epic to dark and surreal. He's written dozens of stories and poems, and is the author of fantasy novels Firefly Island (2007) and Flaming Dove (2010), and aforementioned Gods of Dream. Visit Daniel's website at DanielArenson.com.

NOTE FROM THE JOURNAL:

This book is currently in my TBR pile, and I'm actually quite excited to get to it. As a reviewer who adores Daniel's work, I would recommend this novel to anyone, sight unseen. Be sure to check back in a couple weeks when my review of The Gods of Dream is posted.