Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Better Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
One Whole & Perfect Day by Judith Clarke  (1)
$11.53
|
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz  (16)
$13.59
|
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (22)
$10.88
|
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill  (6)
$10.87
|
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (2)
|
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9–Laura Hame and her cousin Rose, 14, live in a recognizable early-20th-century society, realistically portrayed but for one thing: the Place, discovered about 20 years earlier by Lauras father. It lies outside geographical boundaries, and only select people are able to enter and experience dreams there. These dreamhunters then perform their received dreams for large theater audiences, and those in attendance go to sleep and experience them. At the time of this story, dreams have become big business and are embroiled in issues of social control (especially the control of prisoners) and power politics. When Lauras father disappears, the girl takes enormous risks first to try to find him, and then to complete his mission. While the author leaves tantalizing clues throughout the novel, the plot moves slowly at first. However, patient readers will find themselves rewarded by the riveting action in the final third of the book. Relationships between the characters, especially Laura and Rose, are given center stage, but their interaction flags in the middle of the book. Particularly touching is the relationship between Laura and a golem-type creature sculpted out of sand in the magical world of the Place. Dry, unchanging, with nothing either fully living or dead, no wind or sounds, it is eerily suffused with atmosphere and powerfully portrayed. This novel, the first of a duet of books, concludes neither with a cliffhanger nor at the end, but in the middle of the action. It will appeal to lovers of fantasy set in the real world, who will eagerly await the resolution in the second volume.–Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 10-12. Readers pining for a fantasist to rival Philip Pullman or Garth Nix may have finally found what they seek in New Zealander Knox, the author of numerous novels for adults. Knox sets her first YA novel in a fictional nation called Southland, where turn-of-the-century society is coming to terms with a geographical marvel called "the Place," a harvesting ground for dreams that can be caught and sold to sleeping customers. Fifteen-year-old cousins Rose and Laura belong to a first family of dream hunting: Laura's father discovered the Place 20 years before, and Rose's celebrity mother is a sought-after dream-palace performer. When a test reveals that only reluctant Laura, not pert, confident Rose, has inherited the gift, Laura must contend not only with her shaken relationship with her cousin but also with the disappearance of her father, who has left behind puzzling messages about the true nature of dreams. Although Laura's transformation from wilting violet to intrepid avenger seems too abrupt, Knox's wide-angle narrative convincingly explores the nuances of the charismatic extended family and the personal and political implications of the dream-hunting phenomenon. Questions are not so much answered as deepened in anticipation of book 2 in the highly promising Dreamhunter Duet. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Grade 5-9–Laura Hame and her cousin Rose, 14, live in a recognizable early-20th-century society, realistically portrayed but for one thing: the Place, discovered about 20 years earlier by Lauras father. It lies outside geographical boundaries, and only select people are able to enter and experience dreams there. These dreamhunters then perform their received dreams for large theater audiences, and those in attendance go to sleep and experience them. At the time of this story, dreams have become big business and are embroiled in issues of social control (especially the control of prisoners) and power politics. When Lauras father disappears, the girl takes enormous risks first to try to find him, and then to complete his mission. While the author leaves tantalizing clues throughout the novel, the plot moves slowly at first. However, patient readers will find themselves rewarded by the riveting action in the final third of the book. Relationships between the characters, especially Laura and Rose, are given center stage, but their interaction flags in the middle of the book. Particularly touching is the relationship between Laura and a golem-type creature sculpted out of sand in the magical world of the Place. Dry, unchanging, with nothing either fully living or dead, no wind or sounds, it is eerily suffused with atmosphere and powerfully portrayed. This novel, the first of a duet of books, concludes neither with a cliffhanger nor at the end, but in the middle of the action. It will appeal to lovers of fantasy set in the real world, who will eagerly await the resolution in the second volume.–Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 10-12. Readers pining for a fantasist to rival Philip Pullman or Garth Nix may have finally found what they seek in New Zealander Knox, the author of numerous novels for adults. Knox sets her first YA novel in a fictional nation called Southland, where turn-of-the-century society is coming to terms with a geographical marvel called "the Place," a harvesting ground for dreams that can be caught and sold to sleeping customers. Fifteen-year-old cousins Rose and Laura belong to a first family of dream hunting: Laura's father discovered the Place 20 years before, and Rose's celebrity mother is a sought-after dream-palace performer. When a test reveals that only reluctant Laura, not pert, confident Rose, has inherited the gift, Laura must contend not only with her shaken relationship with her cousin but also with the disappearance of her father, who has left behind puzzling messages about the true nature of dreams. Although Laura's transformation from wilting violet to intrepid avenger seems too abrupt, Knox's wide-angle narrative convincingly explores the nuances of the charismatic extended family and the personal and political implications of the dream-hunting phenomenon. Questions are not so much answered as deepened in anticipation of book 2 in the highly promising Dreamhunter Duet. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
|