DREAM CATHCER – JULIANNA SMITH

First, a confession. When the e-version of “Dream Catcher” was sent to me, I was apprehensive. Very apprehensive. Firstly, I still believe in the smell of fresh paper – e-books do not appeal to me all that much. Second, though I am a sci-fi and fantasy enthusiast, this was the first time that I had been asked to review a book of that genre. Phew!! I am glad that the experience was not at all as bad as I was scared it might be.

On with the review.

“Dream Catcher” by Julianna Smith is a semi-fantasy, semi-adventure novel. The protagonist is Adam, a person who, somehow, has developed the ability to “latch” onto other people’s dreams. All he needs to do is to press the concerned person’s pillow against his forehead and he moves into that person’s dreams; at times with such intensity as to integrate the persona of the dreamer with his own. He is rather uncomfortable with his uniqueness in this regard, and is almost “pillow-phobic”, if such an expression may be used. However, through a strange turn of events he realizes that he can use this ability to the advantage of people at large, and towards the end of the narrative that is what he is seen to be considering as a career option.

Smith has been very careful in building up the character of Adam; his fears and his passions are dealt with in great detail. There are some highly enjoyable passages where the authoress launches herself to explore and detail the “dream catching” sessions. Adam’s internal conflicts are very well portrayed, especially in the sequence where his sister asks him to read his brother-in-law’s dreams. Smith portrays the stages from his reluctance to his relenting with great skill.

However, the book is not free from clichés. Take the use of the September 11 incident, for instance. One finds it rather difficult to establish some sort of connection between the crisis in New York and the magnification of Adam’s powers.

Further, the book is much too Adam centered – the other characters in the book have not evolved and have just remained in the shadows.

But in spite of it all, the book remains an entertaining post dinner read. The language is lucid, the flow is good, and the plot, though somewhat predictable, is interesting at the very least.

~ Anirban Ray Choudhury

The e-version of the book may be downloaded from www.FLPC.com .