Monday, April 4, 2011

BOOK REVIEW - DREAMWALK by SARAH MACMANUS

By : Sarah Macmanus
Published By: Young Rebel Publications
Released : March 14th 2011
Details: Ebook , 242 Pages ( Adobe Digital Reader )

RATING : 4.75 SHANE STARS !!

Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

DREAMWALK is a romantic mixed beat of time travel and mythology for both teens and adults. After the death of her mother, Chloe Hawthorn is haunted by terrifying nighttime hallucinations. Determined to take control of her dreams, she uses them to find Shane Anderson, a charming and troubled musician whose online videos have been holding her in thrall. ......

Note: There is more to this book blurb but it contains waaaayyyy too many spoilers so I have cut it short.

BOOK REVIEW:



Sarah approached us and asked if we would read/review her book ‘Dreamwalk’. I must be honest and say the cover didn’t grab me. It is beautiful , but it didn’t make me want to step outside the genre of books I mostly but not exclusively read. From the title and cover art I thought well, it obviously has an aboriginal theme so it must be an aboriginal story. I am 100% Australian but I haven’t been drawn towards aboriginal themes.


This book BLEW ME AWAY!!!!! I have learnt a lesson. If Sarah had not given me this digital book to read, I would have over looked it, tad sheepish to admit.


I was talking to Sarah as I read it as I was excited about it. Once I had finished I admittedly ranted rather openly and rawly about couple things that I felt strongly about, but I will get to that shortly.


Dreamwalk is a most unique read. Full of originality, but also not YA. There are reasons. Heroin (drug) being one of those. I have had to sit back for a couple weeks to wrap my head around how I was going to write this review.


I noted every chapter as I read the book. Chapters 1 to Chapters 14 , could have been YA genre. It was heading towards older YA but it could have been either Adult or YA. Chapters 15 to Chapters 33, sealed the story as Adult read in my mind. The story got a lot darker, drug use more detailed.


Sarah has managed to write dreamtime with koala, roo, cockatoo into a book about a boy , Shane and a girl Chloe who is his inevitable saviour. It is a story with drug content and dreams, a dimension where they meet and can touch but there is soooo much more. Sarah has blown my mind with her imagination. If this were a movie it would look brilliant, original, disturbing, challenging.


I have to break this book up into 2 parts.


Chapters 1 to Chapters 14.


The story travels from Adelaide ( Australia) , know it well, I lived there 20 years to New York. I don’t usually tell too much in my review about story line but in this case I make an exception.


Chloe’s mum has passed from cancer. She now lives with her father in New York. He is a T.V psychiatrist ( like Dr Phil) to the stars. She a student. Chloe has dreams where she is falling, plummeting.


Trish is her bff who lives in St Louis where she lived before New York. They email regularly. Trish gives Chloe a link in an email that takes her to a video about a boy.


“His eyes were frank, huge brown saucers of chocolate syrup and when he glanced down at his fingers placement, they were briefly eclipsed by a thick curtain of thick , black, breathtaking eyelashes. ...”


Trish sends more video links of this mystery boy. This is when Chloe’s life gets interesting. She starts to obsess about the boy, Shane and the videos . Chloe finds she can touch him in her dreams, they can do things.


The dreamtime comes into play with characters like koala and cockatoo etc but it is written subtly. Chloe’s mother joins her in these dreams . Very ‘cool’ to read the dreamtime scenes.


The Journal entries are Shane’s voice in this book. Shane has a life that he is battling. He writes his words, his lyrics, his emotions into books. He feels he is hallucinating from the methadone. Chloe is his hallucination, or is she?


The story unfolds and the mystery boy Shane Anderson begins to emerge more clearly.


Enter Sid. Sid’s character to me is like a cult leader. He has this allure about him that welcomes the weak. He is disturbing in all his theories on life, but a powerful weapon of distruction for Shane and his followers. He is almost certain death to those who worship him.


A lighter scene that had me chuckle was with Shane and Boris. That was my last chuckle......


Chapters 15 to Chapters 33


This is the half of the book where the story takes a lot darker, sinister much heavier path. I think I had trouble with Chloe’s character in this half of the book as she was the Angel, the saviour, the determined one. She still is but Sarah wrote her character in a way I personally didn’t want her to take that path. She is still the saviour, but.... I have spoken to Sarah about it. It’s not my book . Just my personal feelings. I think you have to read the dreamtime scenes a bit slower in this half as they are awesome but I just had to wrap my head around it slower. As I said the second half of this book is darker. There is a lot of pain for the characters in these chapters. Very realistic !!!


The use of Journal entries I found very rewarding to read. I almost looked forward to being in Shane’s head. This book showed such a struggle for Shane and other characters. The temptations. The Sid’s in this world and the damage they can do. The ending I liked but .....I think I wanted more time on it. Again this is just how I personally felt.


I wish Sarah all the success with this book. I highly recommend Dreamwalk. It is a read that is not a light read, it is a tense, at times disturbing but very unique read that is continually moving forward. It keeps you thinking the whole time. I doubt you would have read anything quite like it.










Michelle

2 comments:

  1. This sounds awesome, thanks for the review.
    Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Brandileigh,

    Your welcome. It's a pretty mind blowing read, powerful and wow!!

    Michelle

    ReplyDelete

COMMENTING HAS BEEN TURNED OFF

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.