I began The Dream Keeper just over a year ago, when I was running a middle school writing club and we had Mikey Brooks as one of our skyping authors.  I enjoyed many aspects of the story, then, but was also pushed out by a couple things, and allowed it to be set aside as other books took priority.  Recently I came across my copy again, flipped forward to find my spot, and was sucked right in.  I figured that was good enough reason to bring it out into the spotlight!

First on the list of pluses was an instant love of the world of Dreams, which is fascinating in construction, and is peopled with an interesting dynamic of Mares, which are creatures born in the nightmare land, and the fairy-like creatures born in Favor.  Each night, as mortals sleep, their souls (or essence) are taken by a Dream Keeper to either light-filled Favor or Mares.  In their dreams, mortals keep the land of Dream alive through their imagination, while they also benefit from their time in Dreams, without which they’d go mad.  However, in the story there are flaws to how Dreams has been managed, such as children going to Mares and spending an awful night in the throes of nightmares, while horrible people might get to enjoy the wonder and joy of Favor.  This issue of personal choice and what it means is carried throughout the book, and weighs in heavily at the end.  I also really liked the theme of facing one’s fears–and with so much time spent in and among the stuff of nightmares, there’s plenty of opportunity!

The main characters are human tweens Kaelyn and Parker, who go to the same school but draw from opposite sides of the social pool prior to this whole ‘save the world’ adventure.  The third main character is Gladamyr, who was born a Mare but has become one of the good guys in choosing to be a Dream Keeper, and works with them to save both the world of Dreams and their own world.  All of them grow and change throughout the book, and were highly sympathetic.  Appropriately, the character I may have liked most in the end was Parker, and that’s fitting because the necessity of spending time in his head was part of why I set the story down originally.  He’s not terribly sympathetic when the story begins–or at least, the sympathy builds slowly and he’s quick to unravel it.  But by the end I rather liked him, and had fallen deeply for the other characters, whom I’d liked from the beginning.  In saving Dreams and Awake (their word for our world) they are joined by a steadily growing cast of additional characters that are each unique and sympathetic in their own right.

So, what were the problems?  The first is that the book didn’t go through a proper editing.  There are many typos, plus places where the wrong name was accidentally used, and other errors of that kind.  It may not bother the average reader, but at times I found the effort of ignoring them to be almost beyond me.  Additionally…and I cringe to say this, because I like Mikey, but the story core was superior to its execution.  There are small plot oversights, places where the writing is a bit clunky, and a tendency to hit the nail a bit to square on the head and tell the reader too clearly what they’re supposed to think.  Once again, the kinds of things many a writer slips into, and a good editor cleans up.  But, nevertheless, issues which make the book harder to read than it need be.  However, for a fan of fantasy the story is worth working through!

Now, let’s see what the Apricot-kitty thought of it:

“I will always be a cat, but if I weren’t a cat and simply had to pick another form…I’d be a Dream Keeper.  Perhaps even a shapeshifter, like Gladamyr.  That creature took a lot of interesting forms over the course of the book, and was invariably fascinating.  But I have just one concern–do you think I could pull off the purple skin?”

Ahh, it sounds like Apricot-kitty has a bit of a crush! lol  Gladamyr was truly fascinating, and the parts in his pov were the ones I enjoyed the most, despite also really liking Kaelyn and Parker, and finding Kaelyn in particular so intensely sympathetic.  Invariably fascinating are the perfect words to describe Gladamyr, I think!

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday reviews, spotlights, interviews and giveaways, stop by Shannon Messengers blog.  And happy reading!

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