DREAM DANCER [Paperback]

Janet Morris (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Co. (1982)
• ASIN: B001BJ7WZU
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 20 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. She has contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves World, in which she created the Sacred Band of Stepsons, a mythical unit of ancient fighters modeled on the Sacred Band of Thebes. She created, orchestrated, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell, writing stories for the series as well as co-writing the related novel, The Little Helliad, with Chris Morris. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A forgotten treasure, October 15, 2000

By 

Alan Deikman (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dream Dancer (Mass Market Paperback)

I was cleaning out the garage and came upon this, which I bought when it was new. This is a rich and complex trilogy about an Earth girl who is swept up into the politics of a vastly powerful space-faring family. The author appears to understand hard science better than most SF authors, and she uses it judiciously. It is a shame this is out of print; it clearly deserves more recognition than it ever got.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A series you can read again and again, February 23, 2001

By 

"11221632" (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Dancer (Hardcover)

The dream Dancer series (Dream Dancer, Cruiser Dreams & Earth Dreams) follows the fortunes of Shebat who is lifted from a life of grinding poverty on decaying earth into the seething morass of intra family power politics, civil unrest and light speed technology that is the "Consortium" run by the charismatic and manipulative Kerrion clan.

Combining a unique vision of a future lived in space with well drawn portraits Janet Morris has created a tale in which you become desparately involved in the twisting fortunes and shifting allegiances of a number of intriguing characters.

I bought Dream Dancer in the 80's on a business trip to the States to read on a flight home to Sydney. I enjoyed it so much and got so involved that (as I knew they were not available in Australia) I rang a colleague in San Francisco from the airport, as soon as I landed, and had him purchase the other two books in the series and express courier them to me the same day - I couldn't wait to find out what happened in the sequels. I wasn't disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intricate, dense and a very different future, December 19, 2000

By 

R. Halvorson "FlyinBob" (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dream Dancer (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book a long time ago, too; recently thinking about internet access, I remembered that this book was one that prophesized in-head database access, so I dug it up via Amazon. Very cool (OK, the cover art did its job!) This is not an s-f skimmer - you have to really slow down and dig into the dense, poetic prose. The author focuses on encounters and critical junctures, and zips by developments she's not really interested in, leaving you pondering the details for yourself. (I'd like to read the 'director's cut'.) Some interesting topics, set in year 2251: sponge space (think: wormholes), old Earth magic (spells); 'internet' access inside your head, if you rate a connection; space cruisers, again with a mental interface, who develop sentience; dream dancers (leave it to your imagination here); power politics (that never changes, does it?); precocious and sexy 17-year-olds dumped into the middle of all this. That's just some of Morris' "vision of the future", as she says in the intro.

The series is an intricate work of art. I'd bet that's why it's not known much now: this is not an easy read, almost filigree in its use of language - but it's worth the effort.