Customer Reviews

Dreamfall

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As far as I know, this is the last book Ms. Vinge wrote about Cat, and I think that's a damn shame. This book does not do him justice. I think Catspaw is one of the best books I ever read about sci-fi psychics, but this book was pale in comparison.

The first problem is the girls. Kissindre and Miya aren't half as interesting as the symbplayer and Elanor taMing (sic). Even Jule had more spunk than Miya, and every time Kiss shows up, I keep thinking, Aren't you the dull student from Catspaw? The answer is yes.

Also, because Cat is so enamoured of Miya, he spends a large chunk of the book being bubbly and happy. That's no fun! Cat is best as a snarky, cynical freak, and I'm not interested in listening to him go on about his 'one true love.' He makes up for this with much suffering towards the end, but still, this section is painful.

The most disappointing thing about this book is that the ending is not a great ending for the trilogy. His life is still up in the air, and he doesn't really grow in his power at all, if you know what I mean.

If you're like me, you pretty much have to read this book if you read Catspaw. Just don't get your hopes up too high. This book does nothing to diminish my very high opinion of Ms. Vinge as a writer (read my other reviews) but I think this is her slightest work.

If anyone's interested, I found Joan's homepage. Looks like it might be kinda old, but still authentic:
[...]

For 90% of the book, "Dreamfall" is every bit as good as "Psion", moments are as good as "Catspaw". Then, in the last chapter, she blows her dismount and landing very, very badly. It's almost like she hit a time or length limit and said "and now, it's over", tying up the remaining loose ends with a couple of totally unbelievable ham-fisted gestures. Ms. Vinge then has Cat surrender to authority and walk away from everything he loves without a fight (completely out of character), presumably to rid him of complications that might hinder future sequels. It really pissed me off, because I had really been enjoying it until then.

I got my copy of Dreamfall on reserve and waited on pins and needles, and I wasn't disapointed. Another fine chapter in the dramatic life of Vinge's amazing character Cat. I was very curious to see how he would fare among Hydrans. Now the burning question - how would he react if he ever met another halfbreed like himself? (hint, hint, Ms Vinge) :-)

Well, she's done it again! Joan Vinge, author of the first two Cat novels, Psion & Catspaw, has produced another gripping, heart-felt masterpiece. Cat once again finds himself the pawn of an ultra-powerful corporate-state. However, _Dreamfall_ delves more into psycho-social emotional issues, dealing with Cat's heritage as a hydran/human halfbreed, how this effects his life and his views, and the psychological and emotional damage he lives with due to the loss of his psi (read _Psion_ for more details), and the consequences of using drugs to reactivate it. Here, Cat comes to a point of self-realization, of having to decide what he believes and how he wants to live his life--as a human, or a hydran? Eventually, he realizes that both have their good points, and perhaps he should accept the gifts of each. And of course, *he falls in love*. _Dreamfall_ yet again (as with the previous Cat novels) leads the reader to ponder the nature of his or her own values and world view. This is a truly beautiful, moving novel, and I've come to expect no less from this very talented woman.

Once again Joan Vinge has managed to combined intriguing and topical sci-fi (ESP, ancient alien races, complex technologies) within an emotionally satisfying plot. She takes us into strange and powerful alternative moralities that are yet plausible enough for us to connect to them with our own humanity. Like all the best writers, she forces us to look at ourselves and our own civilization through telling a terrific story with well developed characters. Though I think Snow Queen and Summer Queen are the best of her novels I've read, I thoroughly enjoy Cat's brooding and painful coming to terms with himself and hope fervently that Ms Vinge is preparing to send us another entry in this series.

I have read all of Joan D. Vinge's books, and my favorite is probably Catspaw, the predecessor to this book. Dreamfall is intense and engaging, like all of her work, and I would recommend it to anyone. But I don't like it as much as Catspaw, because although the protagonist, Cat, is a very real and sympathetic character, the supporting characters are not as well drawn. Catspaw had a much stronger and more exciting cast of characters. In Dreamfall, the chemistry between Cat and Miya is not very convincing, because Miya does not seem like a real person; she is more like a Dickensian paragon of virtue (I felt the same way about Moon in The Snow Queen and The Summer Queen). The relationship between Derek TaMing and the symbplayer in Catspaw was much more believable and much more interesting, even though Derek was a jerk. All this being said, Dreamfall is still an exciting read, and Ms. Vinge is a vivid and talented writer.

Dreamfall, the last one so far written of the "Cat" series, has left me desiring a quick fourth helping. Psion, the first book was good; Catspaw, the second, was intriguing. But - Dreamfall was so outstandingly entertaining yet so different... Being a telepath (who has somehow supressed his gift, without wanting to) and a halfbreed on his home planet was bad enough, but being on his non-human parents' planet and falling into "Murphy's Law" was excellent, add the uniqueness of the "cloudwhales" - now you have the spice! Ms. Vinge will be added to the special place in my library where I keep all the greats - McCaffery, Lackey, Bujold, Asimov, Hambley and Zimmerman-Bradley; and now Vinge. To be read and reread for years to come

Dreamfall is the third book in the Cat series, and the least enjoyable in my opinion, which makes it about six times better than all books anyway. Dreamfall is the story of Cat's exploration of his heritage. While traveling to a distant planet with his university to study the "cloud whales," Cat goes to the "Homeland" (where the indigenous Hydran population lives, much like Native Americans were pushed off of their land to reservations) and ends up in a mess. His telepathic talent still doesn't work except maybe once in a while, so he finds he isn't really welcome over in the Hydran town because keeping his mind closed is offensive to them. As he is feeling hopeless about not fitting in with either the humans or the Hydrans, a woman smacks into him, running away from security, and drops a child's databand into his hand as she runs away. He helps her escape and ends up taken into custody himself. He is interrogated and briefly tortured, but since he knows nothing he is unable to help them catch the Hydran woman, who apparently kidnapped a human child. It comes out that the child is Joby, a baby with neurological damage that makes him unable to control himself at all, and so his family hired a Hydran companion for him to make him able to move and react the way he wanted to and try to rehabilitate him. The woman, Miya, took off with their son for reasons unclear. Cat feels a connection to the woman, though, and ends up meeting her again very soon, when she explains herself to him. She takes him to the Hydran town and tries to help him get to know the people, though her sister, Naoh, takes an immediate aversion to him. Miya and Cat become lovers, and Cat learns the Hydran language and attempts to act as a go-between for the humans and the Hydrans. But trouble is brewing (of course). The humans see the Hydrans as terrorists holding the child hostage, and the Hydrans--specifically a freedom-fighting radical group of them--see the humans as invaders. They are led by Naoh in a fight against the humans, and Cat is swept up in it, yet again, trying to find his feet. Cat thinks Naoh is wrong and very sick, and tries to stop the Hydrans from attacking the humans, but Naoh is too persuasive and ends up getting hundreds of people to riot. And the humans retaliate with a kind of gas that makes Hydrans unable to use their psionic abilities, rendering them helpless and confused. Cat, Miya, and Joby retreat to a quiet place to heal. There are tons of details I've missed here, of course--Cat's attempts to expose Corporate Security's treatment of their bonded workers; Cat's friendship and relationship with Kissindre Perrymeade, his classmate who is somewhat entranced by him; his relationship with an old woman known as an oyasin who teaches him much about life and himself. But of course it all comes together in an ending that definitely isn't "happy" but just seems right. Cat is much more mature now and his exploration of the Hydran part of himself is fascinating; he always felt very human because of being raised thinking he was only human, and so it's great to see his acceptance of both halves.

I've always liked the Cat series, but I think it has stagnated a bit. I mean, I'm getting a little tired of the "poor little whipping boy" routine. The series has GREAT potential, it just hasn't lived up to it yet. Too many loose ends get created and never really brought to a conclusion. Like Why he has DRACO's logo, who's his father, or just who ARE the Others and where did they go? Maybe in the next book (if there ever is one) the author will get around to tying up these loose threads...

A work of art... written almost as if she were writing for herself rather than for her readers, as if she were concentrating on creating a good book as opposed to just a popular one...