Customer Reviews

Dreaming Creek

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

 

 

"Danny Wakeman always believed his friend, Marcus Gaines, saved his life. But Danny's perspective on the world gets turned inside-out when he and his lover, Sara McBride, drink from the mystical waters of Dreaming Creek, and trade bodies..."

This book starts off slowly, as we get to know Danny, Sara, and Marcus. But once Danny and Sara make their fateful switch, all hell breaks loose.

Imagine "Freaky Friday" but with all the discovery implied by switching genders. Cross that with mystery, intrigue, and good old fashioned terror, and you've got Schubert's "Dreaming Creek."

One hell of a read. Highly recommended.

I bought Dreaming Creek after reading the author's collection of short stories, The Trouble With Eating Clouds. I had heard that Dreaming Creek was billed as a mystery with a Twilight Zone twist (Schubert seems to have an affinity for TZ type stories), and it's an accurate description. However, this novel has some much darker scenes/moments than the collection of short stories. I enjoyed it immensely; but while the short stories would be rated PG to PG-13, this is definitely an R rated novel and readers should know that going in. Having said that, I really enjoyed the twists and turns Schubert takes his readers through, and there are some fun and funny moments to balance out the darker ones. Overall a highly enjoyable novel.

Edmund R. Schubert is the editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show magazine. He's published dozens of short stories, which I have gobbled up. Now that he has a novel out, perhaps he'll get the attention he deserves.

Dreaming Creek isn't your usual sci-fi/fantasy book. Schubert goes in depth into the characters with a wisdom and compassion that still manages to have some really funny moments. The story, although clearly outside the realms of what is possible, is rooted in the reality of a couple's lives together.

If you haven't read this yet, what are you waiting for?

A well written, easy read that I didn't want to put down. As some of the other reviews state, I would have it on my mind until I got back to it.

Dreaming Creek is not the genre of book I usually read, which made the fact that I couldn't put it down all the more thrilling. There's just the right mix of mystery/thriller/romance to intrigue a mix of readers. The main characters of Danny and Sara are likeable and--more importantly for a book that asks us to believe the main characters switch bodies--believable. I prefer character driven stories and while Dreaming Creek has several strong plots, for me the author succeeded most in creating for me, the reader, an attachment to his characters. I cared what happened to them and found myself holding my breath at several key scenes, scrambling through pages to find out what happens next.

I know I have a winning book if, when I set the book down to deal with... life... I can't stop thinking about it and am willing to place life on hold so I can re-enter the world created for me. I put life on hold to read Dreaming Creek. I recommend you do the same.

Edmund Schubert's DREAMING CREEK is rife with the kind of tension that can, for several hours, drive me into a mad frenzy of reading--unwilling to read on but unable to put the book down and give it a rest. The novel arrived tonight. It's now 5am in the morning, and I just finished reading it.

The premise of the novel is an old one and calls to mind the three (count them) FREAKY FRIDAY films that were made over the last 30-odd years. "What if you swapped bodies with a loved one?" But don't worry. FREAKY FRIDAY this is not.

DREAMING CREEK offers this twist on the old idea: Not only are the characters swapping bodies members of the opposite gender, they're also lovers. When Danny Wakeman and Sara McBride drink from the titular magic creek while on a Canadian vacation, they make a wish to experience what it's like being someone of the opposite gender.

What follows is a much more honest and insightful take on body-swapping than I've ever seen before, with plenty of laughs and drama to go with the numerous realizations the characters make seeing things from a truly different point of view. Schubert displays a remarkable ability to see from both sides of the gender divide, and numerous moments throughout the story will make you sit back, blink, and say, yes, that's right, that's true.

He also crafts the magic here expertly. It has rules, and the rules make sense, as much as magic can. When Danny and Sara get stuck in swapped bodies, there's a reason for it, and the reason makes perfect sense.

But there's much more to the story. Danny and Sara have a life at home, and that life seems determined to assault them from every corner when they return, still in each others' bodies. What follows is an emotional thrill ride that will keep you flipping pages right up until the end.

Although the entire book is taut with tension, the pace really picks up toward the conclusion, and the climax will leave you breathless. The plotting is masterful, and it's paired with great characters you'll really want to root for.

The one real notch I'll cut into the "cons" pole is this: Throughout the story, Danny is unwilling to believe ill of his childhood best friend, Marcus Gaines, who he believes saved his life. Owing your life to someone does indeed give that person a little leeway, but Danny seems so steadfastly determined to trust Marcus that he behaves in profoundly stupid ways regarding the man throughout the novel. It was enough to cut into the sympathy I had for Danny during the story, though not enough to make me stop liking him as a character.

With that said, I feel confident in saying that DREAMING CREEK is the best novel I've read this year, and quite possibly the best debut novel I've yet read. It's worth both your time and your money, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.