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mxlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
I first read "Dreamhunter" and "Dreamquake" a number of years ago, back in my middle school/high school days. And I don't remember what I thought of it then, but I imagine I liked it well enough. As "The Invisible Road", however, it was a lot more difficult to get through the book. Some parts certainly dragged on, and the logic, such as certain characters knowing things that they perhaps shouldn't have made it more difficult. The ending, while perhaps a little cheesy, did make up for some of the slower parts though, and allowed me to rate this as three stars rather than two. I think the omnibus edition is good to have as a single book, but certainly seemed like the two books smushed together, rather than one large book.
erebus53's review against another edition
3.0
I am a little bugged by the fact that I am doing the Goodreads yearly challenge, and yet when I read collected books in one format, they only count as "1 book". (wry smiles aside... onward!)
This is a review that includes , two reviews really. This is a collection of 2 books, published under the titles Dreamhunter, and Dreamquake, (known as the Dreamhunter Dust novels).
CW: convict labor, guns, torture, asphyxiation, burning building, burn scars, violence, pregnancy, hypnotism, drowning
The story is set in the early 1900s in an alternate version of New Zealand where the country is instead called Southland. Teasers of the book say that it varies in one regard, that it contains "The Place" which is an alternate dimensional dreamland that only those with the gift of it can enter. Some of these gifted few can catch special dreams in The Place and bring them out to share with others, similar to full sensory movies, and sometimes with special properties, such as relaxation, healing or idea manipulation .
The teasers are over simplifying it of course. As well as there being other magic traditions and differences in religious faith, Southland was also settled much earlier than New Zealand, and we are told that there were no indigenous people there before those settlers. This leads to all references to the native flora and fauna in the book being under the English names.
It's taken me quite a bit of unpacking to come to grips with my complex feelings about the setting.
I know this is a reimagining, but I am seriously bothered by the names used in the books, because of the way the author has erased the Māori people from this country. All birds and plants are referred to by English names, because in this imagined world, the Māori were never here first. This is a little hard for me, because I deeply value he original indigenous names for these iconic plants and animals and work hard to normalise the usage of those names - names that were beaten out of indigenous tangata whenua o Aotearoa by Colonisation.. by war, "re-education", disease and violence.
In this particular book we see plants such as manuka, mahoe, pikopiko, ponga and birds such as kererū (woodpigeon), tui (parson bird), titipounamu (rifleman), tākapu (Ausralasian gannet) and rūrū (that unnamed owl with a two-note call). I wish I could resonate with the setting more, as I hear of the nor-west wind, chuckle at the Wellingtonian habit of holding hats before stepping around buildings so as to avoid the wind, and summertime Christmases.. but every mention of the native wildlife rubs me the wrong way.
I didn't get as much out of it as I might have if I had been well. I think that much of my impatience with it was because I had a cold. I found myself recapping entire chapters just to get my head straight after my attention had wandered off somewhere. Even with that caveat I found the pace a little frustrating. 'Chekov's gun' was a major feature, in that whenever anything happened or a hint was dropped, I was waiting to find out when the rest of the book characters were going to find out what had just been hinted, or interact with the thing that had just been left in plain sight.
For quite a bit of the book I am torn between what makes a good story, and what makes an immersive world. Much as I would love to believe a building fire where people can see quite a bit of what is going on, and faff about deciding things.. in my, ok, limited experience, fire (especially in a wooden building) is never that slow or predictable. That which should be gripping an exciting leaves me feeling flat and bored because it all feels so fake.
The start of the blaze and the happenings that surrounded it touched me. I think I was overwhelmed a little because I had caught a hint earlier and was waiting for something awful to happen. I could see how the story would flow from there and even that there would be an easy twist incorporated (if I was writing it :P ). Dislodged from my reverie, I was a little disappointed because it took half the book to reveal to the characters the things that I had guessed at so early in the proceedings.
I can see how readers might draw a similarity between this book's Laura, and Philip Pullman's Lyra (from His Dark Materials) - the comparison is made on the front cover image. There is definitely a lot more focus for older readers here, with the romance and intimacy angle not present in Lyra's story. I think Lyra manages to pull herself together more than Laura, who can suck it up in the face of bizarre happenings and trials that require grit (lol), but really just comes off as a swoony girl who wants a daddy figure to look after everything for her.
(Too harsh? Maybe. *blows nose* meh I could go on, but I won't)
This is a review that includes , two reviews really. This is a collection of 2 books, published under the titles Dreamhunter, and Dreamquake, (known as the Dreamhunter Dust novels).
CW: convict labor, guns, torture, asphyxiation, burning building, burn scars, violence, pregnancy, hypnotism, drowning
The story is set in the early 1900s in an alternate version of New Zealand where the country is instead called Southland. Teasers of the book say that it varies in one regard, that it contains "The Place" which is an alternate dimensional dreamland that only those with the gift of it can enter. Some of these gifted few can catch special dreams in The Place and bring them out to share with others, similar to full sensory movies, and sometimes with special properties, such as relaxation, healing or idea manipulation .
The teasers are over simplifying it of course. As well as there being other magic traditions and differences in religious faith, Southland was also settled much earlier than New Zealand, and we are told that there were no indigenous people there before those settlers. This leads to all references to the native flora and fauna in the book being under the English names.
It's taken me quite a bit of unpacking to come to grips with my complex feelings about the setting.
I know this is a reimagining, but I am seriously bothered by the names used in the books, because of the way the author has erased the Māori people from this country. All birds and plants are referred to by English names, because in this imagined world, the Māori were never here first. This is a little hard for me, because I deeply value he original indigenous names for these iconic plants and animals and work hard to normalise the usage of those names - names that were beaten out of indigenous tangata whenua o Aotearoa by Colonisation.. by war, "re-education", disease and violence.
In this particular book we see plants such as manuka, mahoe, pikopiko, ponga and birds such as kererū (woodpigeon), tui (parson bird), titipounamu (rifleman), tākapu (Ausralasian gannet) and rūrū (that unnamed owl with a two-note call). I wish I could resonate with the setting more, as I hear of the nor-west wind, chuckle at the Wellingtonian habit of holding hats before stepping around buildings so as to avoid the wind, and summertime Christmases.. but every mention of the native wildlife rubs me the wrong way.
I didn't get as much out of it as I might have if I had been well. I think that much of my impatience with it was because I had a cold. I found myself recapping entire chapters just to get my head straight after my attention had wandered off somewhere. Even with that caveat I found the pace a little frustrating. 'Chekov's gun' was a major feature, in that whenever anything happened or a hint was dropped, I was waiting to find out when the rest of the book characters were going to find out what had just been hinted, or interact with the thing that had just been left in plain sight.
For quite a bit of the book I am torn between what makes a good story, and what makes an immersive world. Much as I would love to believe a building fire where people can see quite a bit of what is going on, and faff about deciding things.. in my, ok, limited experience, fire (especially in a wooden building) is never that slow or predictable. That which should be gripping an exciting leaves me feeling flat and bored because it all feels so fake.
The start of the blaze and the happenings that surrounded it touched me. I think I was overwhelmed a little because I had caught a hint earlier and was waiting for something awful to happen. I could see how the story would flow from there and even that there would be an easy twist incorporated (if I was writing it :P ). Dislodged from my reverie, I was a little disappointed because it took half the book to reveal to the characters the things that I had guessed at so early in the proceedings.
I can see how readers might draw a similarity between this book's Laura, and Philip Pullman's Lyra (from His Dark Materials) - the comparison is made on the front cover image. There is definitely a lot more focus for older readers here, with the romance and intimacy angle not present in Lyra's story. I think Lyra manages to pull herself together more than Laura, who can suck it up in the face of bizarre happenings and trials that require grit (lol), but really just comes off as a swoony girl who wants a daddy figure to look after everything for her.
(Too harsh? Maybe. *blows nose* meh I could go on, but I won't)
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