Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith

TL;DR war and a religion based on dreams

TBR #1373, added Jul 18 2015

finished 6/7/16

Sorry. I know that TL;DR isn't a very good one. I'm not really sure how to sum up Dreamstrider. 

I'm gonna be upfront: I was not in the kind of mood that Dreamstrider required. I had trouble focusing on it and Rebel of the Sands, and I guess it's the nature of both books. Both are fantasy and it was apparently not what I wanted to read at the time. I'm gonna admit that this most likely influenced my perception of the book. 

I think part of my issue was that I potentially mixed this book up with another one on my TBR, whether because of a similar color or because I go through books to fast when browsing Goodreads. I thought this was going to take place in modern day New York City, so I was a little disappointed when I learned it wasn't. 

The setting was still interesting nonetheless. The culture of Barstadt was unique, but I feel like we didn't get to see too much of it. (Probably the nature of the book, since they spent most of their time on missions.) The religion based around the Dreamer and Nightmare was also a good way to explore the culture as well as their interactions with Farthing and the Land of the Iron Winds. 

I ended up not being attached to any of the characters, but that might just be me. Livia's style of narration didn't click well for me. I wasn't attached to Brandt as a love interest, and I feel like none of the other characters got enough attention to get endearing development. 

The last quarter of the book felt kind of unbelievable even within the established universe. I wasn't happy with how the Farthinger and Iron Winds plot was pulled off -- it was like there wasn't enough detail to reason for everything that ended up happening. I mean, I guess this is reflective of real life, where you can get blindsided, but then the resolution was a little too easy and too final for this huge conflict. There's all this drama and then it's wrapped up really nicely. 

One thing I definitely liked was that Dreamstrider is a standalone. A lot of fantasies are part of trilogies (or multiple) which can make them pretty daunting to pick up in the first place. I disagree with the ending, but it is a nice way to end a book without cliffhangers or too many unanswered questions. The book felt pretty long for me, but once I figured out there weren't any books coming after it, I understood why it's ~400 pages. 

(I've gotten weak. I used to be able to read books this size no problem.) 

TL;DR this probably just wasn't my kind of book. The premise is really cool and I think some people will enjoy it, but I didn't like most of the execution of the ideas.