Customer Reviews

A Nightmare On Elm Street #2: Dreamspawn

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

 

 

I've read both books in the Nightmare on Elm Street series so far, and while I did enjoy Suffer the Children more, I can't believe how well written this book is. The style, the story, the pacing, the dialogue, and the gore were all top notch. This one does move a good deal slower than the first book, but it has stronger characters because of it.

I was worried that this book was going to be a let down in the gore department. The first Elm Street book was mean, nasty and gritty. From the first half of this book, I didn't get that feeling. Then the massacre starts. Now, I'm not a fan of massacres in these books most of the time. Jason X #2 is the perfect example. Tons of people die very quickly, and you never really care. In this book... well, tons of people die, but their death scenes are all well handled. There are a few silly moments, but at the same time, I didn't mind. Every silly moment was replaced by a nice nasty one. Just wait till you get to the part with the girl and the TV screen. Good stuff.

If you liked book one, then you'll like book two. Now they better bring on book three soon!

Oh, and the description of the book, as stated above, is totally off. There is no Freddy spawn in this book. This has to do with a group of girls using Freddy to get revenge on some bullies, and then it backfires horribly. That comes in book three.

Well, I just finished reading this book. I'm not going to lie and say that I took a shine to it right off the bat, because I didn't. In fact, about 80 pages or so, I stopped reading it and put it away for a few months, because it seemed like nothing was happening.

Then I finished reading "Friday the 13th: Hell Lake" and was in the mood for some more 'scary stuff', though not Jason, and sadly, there are almost no books of my FAVORITE horror movie villain, Michael Myers of 'Halloween'. So I thought, well, I'll give 'Dreamspawn' another whirl.

The prologue had me hooked, but as the story of Jane progressed, it seemed more and more detached from the prologue, until the girl Rose appeared, and FINALLY, everything clicked together. Don't get me wrong, I liked Jane. She sounded a lot like me in school; not popular, rather contemtuous of the clique system that plagues schools these days, and preferring to read than hang out with idiots, though I was glad that she was able to makes some good friends. That's what sorta happened with me. :)

But when Rose appears, all hell breaks loose. :) She is seriously messed up in the head, and it shows from the moment she arrives! When Freddy finally showed up in the book, I couldn't put it down! Each killing had me tingling with excitement (is that demented, or what?) and at times, I was laughing Freddy's laugh. ;) Freddy even manages to sneak in a couple of his one-liners which always make me laugh, and display his sick sense of humor which movie-watchers either love or hate. I'm one of the former. Frankly, I thought this book woulda made a decent movie. If it were, Freddy's total body count would outnumber both Michael Myers AND Jason Voorhees, in just one book!

The ending was good, albeit a bit predictable, as the authorities, in their 'grounded-in-the-mundane' way place the blame for Freddy's carnage on . . . well, I won't say who. Read it for yourself, and have fun!

Well i went into it sureit would be great with an author like christa and it was! somethings were diaappointing though: No elm street, didnt get that "Nightmare on elm street" feel.

but all in all a great read i could barely put it down with out yanking it up and seeing who dies next!

While a number of reviewers here have disliked this book, I can assure you that it is better than advertised. Here is the issue: This is not a mindless book with two dimensional characters living Hollywood high school lives - the characters have depth and even the people you initially hate turn out to have deeper characters and reasons for behaving they way they do. The cast here gets a lot more attention than it does in some other Nightmare books and perhaps that depth - and the time it takes to establish the characters - was too much for people looking for a quick, bloody, campy, story.

This novel has been compared - unfavorably - to "Suffer the Children" by quite a few people here, but I tell you that book read like bad teen fan fiction compared to this. No, this book is not filled with mindless sex scenes and stupidly contrived situations like Suffer the Children is - what it does give you is a maturely written novel in the Nightmare franchise. The only real complaint I had, was Freddy seemed a little less clever and sassy than he is in the films ... which does something of a disservice to his character.

Even so, well worth the read.

This book was nothing like the films... so juvenile and poorly written, I had to laugh when Freddy would make a kill. There were no scary things about this book just a goofy, comically stupid Freddy Kreuger, who wrestles a boy to death in tights,and turns into a zombie and eats the brains of another girl.

Also, this novel took an eternity to go anywhere. The characterization was so painful to get through, I almost gave up on the book 3/4 way through. Then the book gets so far-fetched as Freddy slaughters the whole high school on a crazed rampage.

I would skip this one. It doesnt have any relevance to the movies and is so comically stupid, I cant see how anyone can enjoy it.

This book I have to say was great. Christa Faust did a job so excellent with Freddy that if it were to become a movie, Freddy's body count would outnumber that of Jason's and Michael Myer's put together. Even though we don't see much of Freddy during the first half of the book, she still had me hooked. The things the characters did and said to eachother were funny to the core. she also adds a couple of twists in there. That was fine, but when Freddy entered the picture that's when things started to get very interesting. Freddy killed in ways that would make you gag and laugh at the same time. This is a must read for those who are truly into Freddy. Trust me, if you loved watching the movies, then you'll love reading the books even more.

I read the first two Elm Street novels back-to-back, and I have to say, both about floored me. Never has Freddy Krueger been more evil, more sadistic, more powerful. Though I've got to say, "Dreamspawn" (a title that in no way relates to the story whatsoever) didn't excite me quite as much as "Suffer the Children" did. The writing style is certainly different and what I enjoyed most about the book. The book is written by a female, so there are plenty of real female feelings and emotions, not just the plastic bimbo characters we see in films. The first half of the book is quite slow, but the story is still good. Perhaps the most entertaining portion of the book is the introduction of the main character and the way she quickly befriends another outcast. The best part of this half of the book is the way their plan to destroy the popular girl in school backfires and eventually they welcome her with open arms into their little group. The second half of the book, on the other hand, is a slasher-fest. We're treated to many painful descriptions of slaughterings, though some are somewhat comical (a wrestler dreams that he is dressed in a pink suit in a WWF-style fight with Freddy, an overly fashion-conscious girl is attacked by sketches she's made of her own designs). Pretty much the downfall of this novel is that (spoilers lie ahead) the characters suffer pretty much the same exact fate as the protagonist in "Suffer the Children"...she is blamed for the murders and the book ends with her institutionalized. However, no mention of Freddy's baby is made, making this a separate storyline from the first novel. Overall it's quite an entertaining read, and some parts will strike an emotional cord after getting to know some characters so well. Very effective, but not quite as spectacular as the first novel.

I am a new fan of Christa Faust,I read her earlier books, but this one...wow...I never read or saw a "Freddy" movie...just picked up this book our of curiosity...and I was hooked, hooked by the most interesting characters and stories inside the story, I may now even rent a "Freddy" movie. I look forward to even more of her books...I recommend this to anyone who experiences the joy of reading a good book, and the regret that the book had to end. Thanks Christa...keep them coming.

This book didn't do much for me. Suffer The Children and Protege had me hooked instantly. This book seemed like it took forever to get things going. Some parts were so down-right boring I actually skimmed thru just to see if anything interesting was going to happen.

Just... plain... suck. The opening scene mistakeningly promised a much better book, but once the prologue was over, so was my interest.

It seemed that the Author decided to write ~200 Pages of Story, and added a filler statement relating to how the main character thinks she is fat between every sentance of dialogue.

Speaking of the Fat thing, if the Main Character had such insecurity problems about her weight as the Author insinuates, shouldn't Freddy have played on that? If she hates being Fat, that opens up some great (and completely unused) Nightmare ideas.

Freddy also "forsakes" the glove towards the end of the book, stating "I don't need it anymore". The hints at School killings being more than they were to end the book was not only cliche, but boring.

All-in-all, I am a Nightmare fan, I would have read it anyway, but this novel will just collect dust. In closing, I URGE you not to read this book unless you absolutely must.