Wakeworld by Kerry Schafer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was asked to read Wakeworld by my editor, and provided with a free copy for my honest review.
Wakeworld is a beautifully written modern fantasy, with concepts and themes that resonate in the subconscious and the waking world. The characters are engaging and endearing, and the story itself is a wonderful mix of drama, action, and dreamlike allegory, along with some quirky lighter moments. (I was sold by page 2, meeting the penguin Poe, who still is sitting, still is sitting…)
The story follows a rather kickass lady protag with some unique abilities. Not only is Vivian a dream shifter with the ability to travel to the dream world and manipulate dreams into anything she can ‘dream’ up, she’s part dragon. (See the neat scales on her shoulder?) With these twin abilities, she’s trying to navigate these new worlds and keep a lid on the fantastic and sometimes horrifying forces that threaten to leak into “Wakeworld,” our world, the one we see when we’re not asleep. She teams up with Zee, a pragmatic artist-warrior, torn between his hatred of dragons, and growing love for Vivian. Vivian herself is a refreshingly multifaceted female protagonist - her fire-breathing tendencies are contrasted by her day job as an ER paramedic, and ultimate drive to heal. I admit I’ve become pretty jaded with most main characters, but these two kept my interest. (Not to mention my general ambivalence toward hetero romance… but these guys just fit.)
My only issues came from the fact that I was not aware this was the second book of a series, so entered not sure what was going on, or who these people were. That being said, you should definitely start with “Between,” the first book of the “Between” series!
The disconnect wasn’t too glaring though, and certainly didn’t keep me from enjoying it. The book does a good enough job of explaining things that I initially just thought it was a case of extreme in medias res! Once I figured that out, however, and accepted the fact that I was going to find references to things I didn’t know, everything made much more sense. If others read this (which I highly recommend), it might be good to make it clearer to them that they are reviewing the second book of a series, and point them to the first one! (“Between” by Kerry Schafer!)
I am thoroughly interested in this story, and will be picking up the first book to read ASAP, and eagerly awaiting the next one!
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