Customer Reviews

The Dreaming Collection

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

 

 

Reason for Reading: Boarding school horror? Hello? I am so there!

Anyone who missed out on this manga trilogy the first time around is in for a treat with this omnibus edition that includes all three volumes plus an extra short story. The book also starts with gorgeous full colour illustrations and ends with an in-depth interview with the author.

Written by an Australian, set in the Australian Bush in an eerie Victorian Boarding School in the middle of nowhere, this is a classic Gothic horror tale. Twin sisters arrive at the school after there parents divorce via the ministrations of their aunt, but they must pretend they are one year apart as the owner of the school does not permit twins entrance. The creepy looking, old and violent tempered Mrs. Skeener isn't fooled for one minute though. The girls find the school strange right from the start when they see the room at the end of one of the halls that has been sealed off and wall-papered right over with a small but creepy painting on it. In fact the entire school is hung with an art collection done by an anonymous former student; the paintings are Victorian in nature but very macabre. The dreams begin right away. Both girls start having the same dreams and then they start to vary slightly. Then it happens, a girl disappears but she's not the first. Over the years a girl has disappeared every year or so, way back to the school's Victorian origins when a party of ten girls and a schoolmistress vanished in the bush. At this point the twins realize that their dreams may have some connection to solving the sinister secret of Greenwich Private College.

Holy wow! This was fantastic! I love boarding school stories and this is as creepy, eerie and Gothic as it gets. A story that sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages but not too fast as I just loved Queenie Chan's art, especially her architectural details of the building both inside and out. I was hooked with this manga and read the entire book in one sitting, getting up only for a couple of stretches. There is a lot to the story including background on the characters, foreshadowing and creepy reveals. The main characters are wonderfully portrayed; both through text and illustration we get a clear sense of their personalities, even the twins are distinctly unique persons. The plot unravels slowly through the first volume and then picks up speed very fast in volumes 2 and 3 ending in an eerie fashion typical of the genre. The added short story is wickedly fun and I'm sure fans will enjoy owning a copy of this new collected edition. This is a treasure I'll go back and read again sometime.

I'm a strange kind of manga aficionado: I'm a little embarrassed about liking what are basically comic books, since I consider myself to be a BOOK lover, not a COMIC BOOK lover. To make me feel a little more comfortable about reading manga, I've begun to read some josei, seinen, psychological, and mystery manga instead of the flowery shoujo manga that makes up the bulk of most book stores' manga sections. So when I saw a sneak peek of "The Dreaming" in the back of a volume of "Bizenghast", I was itching to pick this up and read it. It's true that age rating for "The Dreaming" is T (13+), but that doesn't mean that the mystery will be dumbed down and be of poor quality. After all, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was originally intended for children, and its plot and mystery are superb!

On to the review! (contains spoilers)

I won't discuss the summary of the series, since you can find that on the product description above. Instead, I'll go straight to my thoughts and impression of the book.

I am always happy when a good series is short, because I don't have all that much money and individual manga volumes are expensive. Therefore, I was overjoyed to see that this series came in an omnibus edition! This book may be thick, but the spine is firm and well put together, and hasn't split, even after I've finished reading the whole book. The design and covers (front, back, and spine) are very attractive, as well, especially the front cover, since the artwork was made specifically for this edition of "The Dreaming". In addition, the omnibus contains an interview with Queenie Chan, a bonus short story that goes deeper into Millie's background, and far more manga advertisements than you would ever find in any single volume of "The Dreaming" (I think that last one's a good thing, but that's just me...).

As far as my impression of the story goes, I really enjoyed it. It kept me guessing and in suspense, especially during the last third. I especially liked that though Jeanie and Amber are (identical?) twins, they're not joined at the hip, and one isn't overtly clingy toward the other; they act like regular sisters, except they have the intuitive bond that twins possess. I also appreciated that the cause of all the horror weren't ghosts or some force of magic or a creature particular to this series' universe, but instead a traditional mythological creature of Australian/Aboriginal folklore.

When it comes to the characters, I did like them on the whole, but I thought them to be somewhat static (unchanging) not very well-rounded. Also, most of them seemed to be a bit too nice all the time, and this made them seem a little unrealistic to me. On the other hand, I thought Mrs. Skeener and Schala to be more lifelike, since their emotions and actions were believable in regard to their situations.

Another quibble I have is that clues and information are given in such volume that it seems almost like exposition, and sometimes this information is given by people who are near strangers. The way the clues are revealed seems too convenient to be believable. Also, mysteries are revealed in the way of monologues, and I find it hard to believe that the person(s) that are being spoken to don't interrupt AT ALL. However, to be fair, most revelations in books/movies are done this way. I guess I just have a beef with this trope. I'm also just a little confused as to why all the bodies of the girls that disappeared were never found (since they turned in quinkans) except for Millie. Does her background as a witch have anything to do with this? And why did she end up in the water??? Another thing that confused me was in the short story "The Barret Family". I know this is supposed to be ambiguous (to maybe spare the reader from seeing possible gore and disturbing imagery) but what exactly is the "spell" that Millie performs on her nephew Edward? I'm sure it's something disturbing, but I want to know more! It took me a few reads of that scene to realize that she wasn't (maybe I'm wrong) abusing him.

When it comes down to it, I really liked the series, and this omnibus. I encourage manga readers who love a good mystery or horror story to pick this up! You won't be disappointed!

The revealed secrets of this mysterious plot seems to tie together awkwardly. There were some scenes that seemed unnecessary, and there were places where I felt an extra scene should have occurred to explain some plot points. There were often situations where another character casually says something relevant to unraveling the mystery at hand, but when it's spoken it feels too much like a LARGE red hint flag is waving over their heads as they relay their information. Basically it never really felt like I turned a corner and felt surprised at what was there.

With regard to the art style, at times I REALLY like the ornate details put into certain objects/scenery. I also really like a lot of the elegant scenery within the school. The artist pays particular attention to the gowns of the noble women, some of the gown styles are quite unique. I also like the chosen vintage hair styles on some of the characters. But at other times I'm completely turned off by how a character's facial expression and body poses are drawn. It seemed that usually the more secondary characters that are just simply classmates aren't drawn with as much care. There was one casual female classmate that had a face that was drawn in a way that made me shiver more than any of the actual horrors within the school.

I don't recommend this series, there are many more surprising horror stories out there. BUT that's JUST my opinion, I'm positive there are people out there that really enjoyed this series and you might be one of them. After all, there were still aspects about The Dreaming that I liked even if in the end I didn't care for it as a whole. If you're going to read this series I HIGHLY recommend that you get the omnibus volume (or all 3 single volumes at one time) and read it in only a few sittings. If I had read this in three separate volumes over time, I'm sure my confusion about the plot typing together would only have been escalated.