Dreamwalker

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

I???m a big fan of C.S. Friedman, so I was eager to get my hands on her latest novel, Dreamwalker. This is Friedman???s first Young Adult offering and while it doesn???t match the level of elegance, intelligence, inventiveness, and beauty of her adult novels, it???s better than most of what???s available on the YA shelves.

Jesse Drake is a high school student who stands out only because of the fractal-like art she produces. Her art is inspired by her dreams in which she visits other worlds. Nobody knows this except her little brother Tommy who sometimes uses Jesse???s dreams as inspiration for his gaming. Neither Jesse nor Tommy are aware that her dreams may have some earth-shattering significance until her estranged father asks for a paternity test and Jesse notices that someone is stalking her. She???s alarmed, of course, and when she begins to investigate she discovers that there are other strange kids like her who???ve been chatting together on the internet. When her house catches fire and Tommy is kidnapped, Jesse and a couple of her new friends have to enter a frightening and dangerous parallel universe to get him back. There they begin (only begin) to discover who Jesse really is and why she and her art might be important to the multiverse. Read the rest: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/dreamwalker-2/