Square Fish | May 2016 | 352 pgs
Translated from the German by Anthea Bell
Translated from the German by Anthea Bell
Source: Purchased
For readers who have read Kerstin Gier's bestselling Ruby Red Trilogy and loved them would be delighted to see her new book - Dream a Little Dream, the first book of The Silver Trilogy. I am new to Gier's books and I figured this book would be a good start of getting to know more about her stories and her writing; plus a story about dreams usually makes an intriguing read, isn't it?
Fifteen-year-old Olivia "Liv" Silver is used to be on the move all the time. Her parents are divorced and Liv, together with her younger sister, Mia, got to live with their mother who is a professor of literary studies and her job requires her to travel frequently as to teach at different universities almost every year. Their latest destination is London. But that is not all, they are going to move into their mother's partner's house; and Mr Earnest Spencer himself has two teenage children - Grayson and Florence. And the two Silver sisters are going to attend the same school as them.
While Liv tries to fit into her new school life, something strange happens when she found out she has gotten into Grayson's dream one night after she had borrowed his sweater. It is a strange dream with mysterious doors but what most intrigued her is finding herself in a graveyard and watching Grayson with his three other friends who tried to conduct a dark magic ritual. Liv thinks nothing about the dream thereafter, but the boys seem to know a few things about her in real life, especially things they couldn't possibly know. How could that be unless they are all in the same dreams?
Dream a Little Dream may be a book about dreams but it has a paranormal/fantasy theme to it. There are some scenes about demonic works but they are not elaborated and I felt there wasn't much elaborations of the world building so I had only this vague understanding that the mystery was revolving around the resurrection of a demon who could grant their wishes if they are to give their oaths and fulfill the seals stated in an ancient book. I thought the overall premise was intriguing but alas, it fell short of character developments and the world building as I had mentioned earlier. However, the good thing is I enjoyed reading the exchanges among the characters and I thought Liv was quite a courageous young lady who isn't afraid to go out of her way to solve a mystery, even if it is a dangerous one.
There is also romance in this story and though there is no triangle love, I felt the romance between Liv and Henry (one of the four popular boys) was a bit rushed. That said, I did like the way Grayson was being protective of Liv, though his main intention remains a puzzle to me and I sensed no romance between them. All in all, it was an enjoyable read given this was the first installment. I am very curious where this story will go given the cliffhanger and hopefully the second installment would be better with the character developments as well as that world building.
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It's an interesting premise. Hopefully the second book in this series is even better. Is it out yet? Or do you have to wait a year?
Lark - It's already out; the title is "Dream On".
Books about dreams are intriguing, I agree. As long as they aren't overly surreal, I usually enjoy them. This doesn't sound like it goes in that direction though. I hope the next book will be better. Perhaps you will appreciate it more after reading the next book (if the author fills out the characters and world more).
I have seen more dream-themed paranormal YA novels lately than you can shake a stick at! But this one sounds excellent -- the last one I read was Brenna Yovanoff's Places No One Knows, and I was, let's say, not wild about it.
Like everyone else, I find books about dreams catch my attention. This sounds like one I might enjoy!
Wendy - I was OK with the premise, just that it needs a little more elaborations on the world building part. Hopefully the next book will have it.
Jenny - LOL. As I said, this one isn't bad, just a bit more on world building. I hope you'll enjoy this if you get to it.
Jenclair - I like reading books about dreams. I often wonder how do our minds do that. Hope you'll enjoy this one!
This sounds like a good YA even if it wasn't quite a 5 star book. Hopefully the second one will be even better!
Iliana - It was interesting and let's hope the second book will be a better one. :)