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Review: Dream Magic by Joshua Khan

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Dream Magic by Joshua Khan

Dream Magic (Shadow Magic #2)
Joshua Khan
Disney-Hyperion
Published April 11, 2017

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Dream Magic

People throughout Gehenna are disappearing, even the feared executioner Tyburn. Many of the nobles believe the kidnappings to be the work of the northern trolls, raiding south for the winter, and when Baron Sable and others head off to fight them, Castle Gloom is left guarded by only the squires.

Lily is struggling with her growing necromantic powers. The castle fills with ghosts, drawn like moths to a flame by the brightness of her magic. Zombies roam the country, some left over from those raised in SHADOW MAGIC, others awakened by Lily. Families are troubled by the returning dead, so Lily tries to incorporate them into day-to-day life, much to the resentment of the living.

Then Lily is attacked in her own castle by a mysterious sorcerer known as Dreamweaver, a young man determined to conquer Gehenna using jewel-spiders, strange crystalline creatures whose bite doesn’t kill, but sends victims to sleep. Lily soon discovers that Dreamweaver is harvesting dreams to fuel his magic.

Lily enters the realm of sleep known as the Dream Time, in an attempt to awaken all the captive dreamers. Instead she finds herself trapped within a dream, one where her family is still alive. With the help of Thorn and the ever loyal Hades, she must somehow overcome the evil Dreamweaver by using his own magic against him – and reclaim her kingdom.

My Review

This is one of those books I wanted to review because it sounded so original. I had not read SHADOW MAGIC before reading this one, but I had no trouble following the plot and characters of DREAM MAGIC, the second book in the series. I absolutely loved the writing. It’s dark, for sure—I mean, Lily’s magic interacts with the dead. Zombies, ghosts, and trolls fill the pages of the story. But it’s also cheeky and off-beat and fun! Maybe a little bit of a Nightmare Before Christmas kind of tone, though obviously a completely different story. (It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie, so don’t quote me on that.)

Both Thorn and Lily had me from their earliest scenes. I loved his courage and her determination to bring justice and fairness to every one of her people. There’s a gentle romantic pull between them which was really fun, too. Their struggles to figure out what their roles are in the midst of their crazy world felt real and compelling.

Another thing I really enjoyed were the illustrations at different places in the book. I liked getting to see drawings of some of the critical moments, and character depictions brought the story even more to life.

Thorn and Lily’s ages (Thorn is twelve and Lily thirteen) make this more of a middle grade read, but the writing struck me as more like young adult. I guess it’d be considered upper middle grade, but I think it’d have strong appeal to young adult readers as well. Definitely a great fit for fifth and sixth grade readers especially.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Representation
DREAM MAGIC takes place in a fantasy landscape without a lot of racial descriptions. Some of the names sounded reminiscent of Asian culture. The biggest and most interesting social conflict in the story relates to Lily’s magic. Rumors of curses on women with magic leave people with strong prejudice against any woman who uses magic. Lily faces some harsh criticism and fear simply for being a female with magic. The conflict is well-grounded within the story. Other groups like trolls and zombies face discrimination as well. Lily and Thorn advocate fair treatment and acceptance for all creatures.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild and in context. For instance, a couple uses of Hell refer to the actual place. One use of damned refers to those cursed.

Romance/Sexual Content
A brief kiss between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Lily, a necromancer, rules a kingdom closely associated with death. She possesses powerful magic that controls the dead and can summon ghosts and interact with undead creatures. Other kingdom rulers possess different types of magic—one controls wind, another light, etc.

Thorn possesses the ability to summon a giant bat monster named Hades to help him in battle. He doesn’t control Hades’s actions, but it’s clear he does have some influence and a relationship with it.

Violent Content
Battle scenes. Some creepy stuff related to zombies falling apart and such. Lots of spiders!

Drug Content
Brief references to drinking ale at a celebration.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places by Peter Begler

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Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places
Peter Begler
Capstone Books for Young Readers
Available March 1, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When a skull-shaped cloud kidnaps Nell’s mother and turns her into a bird, she and her brothers vow to get their mother back. To do this, they must find a powerful Fearless Traveler and persuade him to take them to a land of nightmares. Once there, they will have to make the dangerous journey to see Ravenhead, the only Dreamer who can undo the curse and return Nell’s mother to her real form. Along the way, Nell and her brother battle nightmares both outside and inside themselves. The only weapons they possess are the wisdom in the Fearless Traveler’s handbook and the truths they learn about themselves.

This story reminded me a little bit of The Thickety books by J. A. White in its lyrical prose and scary-whimsical storytelling. I liked the voices of each character—Nell and her brother George especially. George cracked me up with his snarky, arrogant-but-cute commentary. I loved the message about mothers and their connection to their children. Nell is told over and over that even if she’s able to transform her mother back to her human form, she’ll have no memory of Nell or her brothers. Nell refuses to believe this. She clings to her mom’s earlier words that a mother cannot forget her children, and that her body becomes the memory of them. The whole story has themes like this—where belief in things that are true trumps fears we hold. I liked that message.

One of the things I struggled with a little bit is the fact that for much of the journey, Nell and her brothers depend on an adult to fight their battles and help them through some obstacles. Especially in a story with a female lead, to have a male adult character taking the hero’s role sort of grates on me a bit. It feels like a statement that says she couldn’t do this on her own. I don’t think the author was trying to say that, but the story came close to feeling that way to me.

However, by about the halfway mark, Nell leaves her adult mentor behind and begins a journey alone. Soon she’s joined by a male friend who takes on a bit of a leading role as far as the fighting goes. Again, I’m not sure if this was deliberate, but I felt like Nell deserved a little more of the spotlight instead of being pushed into more of a support role yet again. I also kept waiting for the song shared between Nell and her mom to become a significant element. At several points it was clear that Nell and her mother’s relationship was special and it seemed like a song was part of their special bond, but that didn’t end up becoming a part of the story’s resolution. Maybe something saved for book two?

Overall, I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the truly unique story-world. I thought the characters were really fun and I couldn’t help investing in them and hoping they won the day. If you liked A Path Begins by J. A. White or Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman, you should definitely pick up this book.

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Cultural Elements
Nell and her brothers are white. The witches come from Iceland.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Nell sees things on the people around her. Sometimes their faces change to that of an animal. She refers to this as seeing their “inner animal” and can dispel the vision by saying her name out loud.

Evil witches capture human mothers and intend to kill them as part of a ritual. Sometimes the witches are referred to as demons or in one instance a succubus.

Nell and her brothers cross over to another realm controlled by Dreamers who possess powerful magic. One of the battles they fight is one of transformation. Nell and her brothers transform into animals (their dream selves) at random and inconvenient times. Nell’s dream self is a fox who desperately wants to devour the yellow bird Nell must protect. Nell and the boys learn to combat the change by forcing themselves to remember who they really are. The story places a lot of emphasis on this idea—that there is power in clinging to truths like this or the Fearless Traveler’s motto.

Violent Content
A frightening cloud which sometimes looks like wolves and other times looks like a skull seems to be kidnapping women from Nell’s town. Nell fights a creepy octopus/wolf-like critter and takes on a team of creepy witches. Battle lines form between Nell and the Dreamers and the Witches and their allies, including some scary clowns.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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