Reviews

Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher

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dannb's review against another edition

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3.0

An interesting glimpse into the time and birth of Jesus...an nice coming of age story.

jlynnelseauthor's review against another edition

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3.0

This story is that of a retelling of the tale of the 3 wise men's journey as they followed a star. They are accompanied by two children, children of an exiled king. One child is a girl disguised as a boy to protect herself and forced to live on the street scrambling for food with her brother. Then her brother develops a "gift" of being able to see other's dreams. They come into the caravan of a rich magus who has the boy dream for him and others and they begin their journey across deserts and into Roman lands for the mystery the birth of a new king. I think the author's writing style is fluid and poetic. I would read another story of hers. I do think that she neglected to include transitions of the characters. One scene would end with them arriving at a city and then next they would be in a bed. How did they get there? Did they rent the room or are staying with a friend? People just appear in new surroundings without the reader being let in on how they got there. Mitra, disguised as boy Ramin, goes on a journey of trust, accepting people despite their birthrite, and of coming to terms with her fate. I think the story took the first 1/4 of itselt to get into the plot and really get interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the travels it took me on. I think it ended well. Though I was left mildly wondering about the "shaggy beasts" (I'm assuming they were from the mountains), I think it ended well. Conclusions were not drawn for you, but enough dots were made for you to connect to the ending the author envisioned. I think it was a good book.

hannahilea's review against another edition

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3.0

So it took my until the second to final chapter to realize the historical basis of this otherwise fictional story...

A quick but enjoyable read, with a mostly non-irritating first person narrator.

rgreatreader's review against another edition

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4.0

Labeling the story of the Magi as mostly rewritten from Matthew a retold-fairy tale is a little risky, but that's the category it best fits.

bronkmb's review against another edition

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4.0

YA intertwining ancient practice of dreaming from child's perspective.
spoiler alert - no more details

shantastic's review against another edition

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3.0

My feelings about this one are complicated. On the one hand, the setting was wonderful and vivid, and it wasn't as preachy as I'd feared it could be. On the other, Mitra drove me crazy. She was a selfish bitch, and while that was very true to character and her motivations were understandable, I still wanted to strangle her. Oh, and this one features a tacked-on love triangle with an ending romance that should have worked for me but didn't. So... all in all... meh.