mad_about_books's review
This book isn't quite ready for prime time. It needs better beta readers and, definitely, a better editor.
lostlenore_'s review
4.0
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Having missed reading feminist science-fiction from authors who have clearly done their research on the particular genre Bundy’s fiction struck a chord with me. The Dream Sifter falls into this category since from early on the reader is overwhelmed by female and not male characters. At the same time, the institution of matriarchy evidently recalls fiction written by quintessential authors such as Atwood—Bundy’s work reverberates those female authors whose work on gender and speculative fiction has been significantly praised and recognized worldwide.
Since the plot is extremely intricate and it should be appealing to any reader of science-fiction, I will spoil nothing by focusing on the plot line and its twists and thrills. Rather, I would like to emphasize the fact that Bundy’s diction is exceptional—her optimal linguistic exploitation of English grammar and vocabulary have greatly contributed to the production of a well-written novel which you are bound to enjoy from the first page. The copy which I received was flawless, and given the fact that many ARCs lack correct grammar or syntax, Bundy’s work is exceptional in this domain as well.
The Dream Sifter is exquisite in its plot development and characters, it is of original content and much of it resembles the classic sf with which I have fallen in love. Perhaps, the only drawback is the fact that the plot was being unraveled a little late. I remember reading almost one hundred pages and nothing of major significance ever happened.
The writer’s formula is to place Rai in a dangerous path weaved by her superiors. To maintain balance between what is known, implied and unknown the reader needs to be patient in order to decipher what truly goes on in Rai’s world. The novel is cleverly written and it consists a contemporary ode to classic dystopian and speculative fiction—a must-read for anyone enthralled by the mysteries of alternative and distant future worlds.
VERDICT:
Well-thought and greatly planned, The Dream Sifter by Candice Bundy deserves to be featured among classic gems of science-fiction. The author’s linguistic richness and her ingenious world created from scratch compile a novel which promises intense suspense and plot twists.
Having missed reading feminist science-fiction from authors who have clearly done their research on the particular genre Bundy’s fiction struck a chord with me. The Dream Sifter falls into this category since from early on the reader is overwhelmed by female and not male characters. At the same time, the institution of matriarchy evidently recalls fiction written by quintessential authors such as Atwood—Bundy’s work reverberates those female authors whose work on gender and speculative fiction has been significantly praised and recognized worldwide.
Since the plot is extremely intricate and it should be appealing to any reader of science-fiction, I will spoil nothing by focusing on the plot line and its twists and thrills. Rather, I would like to emphasize the fact that Bundy’s diction is exceptional—her optimal linguistic exploitation of English grammar and vocabulary have greatly contributed to the production of a well-written novel which you are bound to enjoy from the first page. The copy which I received was flawless, and given the fact that many ARCs lack correct grammar or syntax, Bundy’s work is exceptional in this domain as well.
The Dream Sifter is exquisite in its plot development and characters, it is of original content and much of it resembles the classic sf with which I have fallen in love. Perhaps, the only drawback is the fact that the plot was being unraveled a little late. I remember reading almost one hundred pages and nothing of major significance ever happened.
The writer’s formula is to place Rai in a dangerous path weaved by her superiors. To maintain balance between what is known, implied and unknown the reader needs to be patient in order to decipher what truly goes on in Rai’s world. The novel is cleverly written and it consists a contemporary ode to classic dystopian and speculative fiction—a must-read for anyone enthralled by the mysteries of alternative and distant future worlds.
VERDICT:
Well-thought and greatly planned, The Dream Sifter by Candice Bundy deserves to be featured among classic gems of science-fiction. The author’s linguistic richness and her ingenious world created from scratch compile a novel which promises intense suspense and plot twists.
daezarkian's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 out of 5 stars. Wow.
Allow me to elaborate.
Candice has crafted a well-thought out, very detailed sci-fi dystopia in "The Dream Sifter". Society has been ravaged by disease, and in many ways has fallen back to older ways. Family "Septs" operate business in the wild, aided and protected by the enigmatic Guardians.
Rai awakens to this world with amnesia, not recalling anything about her past, but terrible nightmares and unique abilities have her rightfully thinking she's more than she seems, and before long she's searching for clues to her identity while trying to fit in with her new Sept.
Candice does a wonderful job unfolding both the story and the setting in a slow and deliberate pace. Nothing is rushed, and while some readers may grow restless in the early goings I found the steady and even rhythm of the novel quite refreshing. Rai is a wonderfully well-rounded character (especially considering how little she knows about herself), and I loved how Candice allowed slow pieces of the puzzle to her identity to fall into place. Other characters (Ponar, Jesse, Bauleel, Graeber) are similarly well developed.
But what really blew me away was the obvious care and detail placed into the world of Az'unda. This place lives and breathes, and Candice wraps elements of post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi and high fantasy together in a world C.S. Friedman would be proud of.
And while stories of this type traditionally build up to an explosive climax, I very much enjoyed the fact that Candice shows you can have a satisfying conclusion without having to resort to fist-fights and explosions. (Though, rest assured, there's plenty of action peppered throughout the story. Watch out for those Iron Wolves.)
This is refreshing, thought-provoking and engaging sci-fi. And while Candice was nice enough to provide me with an advanced copy (because she's awesome), I can say with 100% honesty that I'm very much looking forward to the sequel in what promises to be a terrific series.
Allow me to elaborate.
Candice has crafted a well-thought out, very detailed sci-fi dystopia in "The Dream Sifter". Society has been ravaged by disease, and in many ways has fallen back to older ways. Family "Septs" operate business in the wild, aided and protected by the enigmatic Guardians.
Rai awakens to this world with amnesia, not recalling anything about her past, but terrible nightmares and unique abilities have her rightfully thinking she's more than she seems, and before long she's searching for clues to her identity while trying to fit in with her new Sept.
Candice does a wonderful job unfolding both the story and the setting in a slow and deliberate pace. Nothing is rushed, and while some readers may grow restless in the early goings I found the steady and even rhythm of the novel quite refreshing. Rai is a wonderfully well-rounded character (especially considering how little she knows about herself), and I loved how Candice allowed slow pieces of the puzzle to her identity to fall into place. Other characters (Ponar, Jesse, Bauleel, Graeber) are similarly well developed.
But what really blew me away was the obvious care and detail placed into the world of Az'unda. This place lives and breathes, and Candice wraps elements of post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi and high fantasy together in a world C.S. Friedman would be proud of.
And while stories of this type traditionally build up to an explosive climax, I very much enjoyed the fact that Candice shows you can have a satisfying conclusion without having to resort to fist-fights and explosions. (Though, rest assured, there's plenty of action peppered throughout the story. Watch out for those Iron Wolves.)
This is refreshing, thought-provoking and engaging sci-fi. And while Candice was nice enough to provide me with an advanced copy (because she's awesome), I can say with 100% honesty that I'm very much looking forward to the sequel in what promises to be a terrific series.
chymerra's review
4.0
I am not going to bore everyone with a long intro about how I love science fiction. If you have followed my blog long enough, you all know that. What made me agree to review The Dream Sifter is that I thought the blurb was interesting. Interesting because the world wasn’t newly settled. Instead, the colony had 600 years to settle on the planet. So the colony wasn’t a young one. Also the glimpse into what the society was like fascinated me. I am glad that I did review The Dream Sifter because it turned out to be a fascinating book.
What I liked is that this a matriarchal society. Women ruled the world here, not men. Women were the heads of their Septs (think clans) and they made the decisions. I was excited to read that because I have read few science fiction books where a matriarchal society was portrayed in a good light. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty wrong with this society and the women who run them. Plenty wrong.
I liked Rai but I shared in her confusion over what her past was. The author shared very little information about Rai. Only that she had a tragic miscarriage and became barren because of it. I did think that the author did a great job at slowly revealing Rai’s strange abilities. Little was revealed in her nightmares also. Now that I have read the book, I can see the key elements revealed in those elements but still. They were very creepy.
The plague was very creepy. You never knew when it was going to crop up or who it was going to affect. The plague was making the women sterile. Also, if it wasn’t caught, the people who had the plague turned into being called the Terrors. I thought of the Terrors like wraiths and they were bloodthirsty.
The whole sending girls when they became fertile into the Temple for “service” was creepy. These were 14, 15-year-old girls and they were expected to pop out babies for the next 3-4 years. Then their Temple service was over. If the girls had issues conceiving, the Temple used fertility drugs to help them along. But those fertility drugs came with a price. The men also had Temple service. In my mind, they were more like studs. Plus, they didn’t live at the temple. They got called in. I can understand why the Matriarchs did that. With the population declining, they needed to make sure that the colony survived. Still, that didn’t sit right with me.
I wasn’t sure about the Guardians either. Well, mainly Graeber. The way he was following Rai around bordered was almost stalkerish. He also seemed to know a lot more about Rai then he let on. Which drove me nuts because I needed to know what his connection was to her.
Ponar was the only one who I actually liked. He made mistakes, sleeping with Rai was a huge one since having sex between Septmates was forbidden. He cared about Rai and wanted to help her find out who she was.
I can’t forget Matriarch Bauleel. I didn’t know what to make of her at first. She did seem to have Rai’s best interest at heart. But, as the book went on, it seemed like she knew Rai. It also seemed that she and Graeber were protecting Rai from something or someone. The author did a fantastic job keeping that under wraps too. I was very surprised at who Rai was to Bauleel when it was revealed.
The end of the book was a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers and I was pretty upset that the book ended when it did. I kinda wanted to tear my hair out of my head because I had so many questions!!
The Dream Sifter is an engrossing science fiction/fantasy novel that had me reading it until the wee hours in the morning. The plotline was fantastic. The characters were very fleshed out. Other than the cliffhanger ending, I loved this book!!
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Adult
Why: Sex, violence, and language
I would like to thank Candice Bundy and Lusios Publishing for allowing me to read and review The Dream Sifter
All opinions expressed in this review of The Dream Sifter are mine and mine alone
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
What I liked is that this a matriarchal society. Women ruled the world here, not men. Women were the heads of their Septs (think clans) and they made the decisions. I was excited to read that because I have read few science fiction books where a matriarchal society was portrayed in a good light. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty wrong with this society and the women who run them. Plenty wrong.
I liked Rai but I shared in her confusion over what her past was. The author shared very little information about Rai. Only that she had a tragic miscarriage and became barren because of it. I did think that the author did a great job at slowly revealing Rai’s strange abilities. Little was revealed in her nightmares also. Now that I have read the book, I can see the key elements revealed in those elements but still. They were very creepy.
The plague was very creepy. You never knew when it was going to crop up or who it was going to affect. The plague was making the women sterile. Also, if it wasn’t caught, the people who had the plague turned into being called the Terrors. I thought of the Terrors like wraiths and they were bloodthirsty.
The whole sending girls when they became fertile into the Temple for “service” was creepy. These were 14, 15-year-old girls and they were expected to pop out babies for the next 3-4 years. Then their Temple service was over. If the girls had issues conceiving, the Temple used fertility drugs to help them along. But those fertility drugs came with a price. The men also had Temple service. In my mind, they were more like studs. Plus, they didn’t live at the temple. They got called in. I can understand why the Matriarchs did that. With the population declining, they needed to make sure that the colony survived. Still, that didn’t sit right with me.
I wasn’t sure about the Guardians either. Well, mainly Graeber. The way he was following Rai around bordered was almost stalkerish. He also seemed to know a lot more about Rai then he let on. Which drove me nuts because I needed to know what his connection was to her.
Ponar was the only one who I actually liked. He made mistakes, sleeping with Rai was a huge one since having sex between Septmates was forbidden. He cared about Rai and wanted to help her find out who she was.
I can’t forget Matriarch Bauleel. I didn’t know what to make of her at first. She did seem to have Rai’s best interest at heart. But, as the book went on, it seemed like she knew Rai. It also seemed that she and Graeber were protecting Rai from something or someone. The author did a fantastic job keeping that under wraps too. I was very surprised at who Rai was to Bauleel when it was revealed.
The end of the book was a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers and I was pretty upset that the book ended when it did. I kinda wanted to tear my hair out of my head because I had so many questions!!
The Dream Sifter is an engrossing science fiction/fantasy novel that had me reading it until the wee hours in the morning. The plotline was fantastic. The characters were very fleshed out. Other than the cliffhanger ending, I loved this book!!
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Adult
Why: Sex, violence, and language
I would like to thank Candice Bundy and Lusios Publishing for allowing me to read and review The Dream Sifter
All opinions expressed in this review of The Dream Sifter are mine and mine alone
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
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