Dreamlander

By: K.M. Weiland

Narrated by: C.J. McAllister

What if it were possible to live two very different lives in two separate worlds? What if the dreams we awaken from are the fading memories of that second life? What if one day we woke up in the wrong world?

In this fantasy thriller, a woman on a black warhorse gallops through the mist in Chris Redston’s dreams every night. Every night, she begs him not to come to her. Every night, she aims her rifle at his head and fires. The last thing Chris expects - or wants - is for this nightmare to be real. But when he wakes up in the world of his dreams, he has to choose between the likelihood that he’s gone spectacularly bonkers or the possibility that he’s just been let in on the secret of the ages.

Only one person in a generation may cross the worlds. These chosen few are the Gifted, called from Earth into Lael to shape the epochs of history - and Chris is one of them. But before he figures that out, he accidentally endangers both worlds by resurrecting a vengeful prince intent on claiming the powers of the Gifted for himself. Together with a suspicious princess and a guilt-ridden Cherazii warrior, Chris must hurl himself into an action-adventure battle to save a country from war, two worlds from annihilation, and himself from a dream come way too true.

©2012 K.M. Weiland (P)2019 K.M. Weiland

Great Book

struggled to start but then it was great. Narrator was great with accent's but not so good with English narration a but stiff

A very different Fantasy!

I was interested in this story because I use the author's website as writing reference and wanted to read one of her fiction novels. It's so much fun and departs from many tired fantasy tropes, making it fresh and exciting. The author, K.M. Weiland, is working on the sequels and I can't wait to read/listen to them.

An Average Parallel World Story

A moderately interesting premise about parallel worlds accessible through dreams; and something that many fans of the fantasy genre have either encountered, or perhaps even imagined, in our youth. In fact, I find echoes of the Thomas Covenant series … except that the protagonist here is actually a descent human being and not a miserable twit. Of course, the world building more a lot more simplified here, so I am tempted to call it even … except I hated Thomas so much that I was never able to finish that series … so the win goes to Dreamlander here.

Lael is an alternative world accessible to earth through our dreams, provided we exist in bth worlds. In other words, when we sleep on earth, we are awake in Lael and vice versa … ignoring the obvious problem of time asleep vs time awake not being one for one between the two worlds. If your doppelgänger dies, the survivor stops dreaming. Leal differs from earth with its more primitive and/or limited technology that gives it a steam punk feel in a basic feudal society on a word with only two waring nations (Lael and Karod [sp?]) . There is a mysterious shape changing (or size changing) proleptic being known as The Garowai that doesn’t seem to add much outside of a typical McMuffin. Stir in a blue blooded master warrior race called the Cherazzi and their companion Riever race that contributes a few support characters to play the cat’s paw and that is pretty much the extent of the world building.

Once in each generation, there appears a prophetic human able to actually (physically) travel between the worlds using an artifact (magic rock) called the Orimere. Only in this case, Chris Redston is the Second of the generation, with the first setting the scene for the coming conflict between the only two nations known on Lael that puts both worlds “out of balance.” If Chris can’t defeat the enemy warlord, both worlds will be destroyed. Oh … and apparently Chris is also The Gifted … who is some form of messianic figure that is supposed to do something in Lael. The two other players in this drama are The Seeker, a minor love interest whose job is to find The Gifted when they appear, and the Keeper, a treasonous Cherazzi who keeps the dream rock until The Gifted comes. There is a lot of hand waving here to gloss over the things that make you go huh, but the pacing of the story is fast enough that you don’t have much time to dwell on any of it, so it mostly works … until you get to the end.

The narration was strong, but there was an aspect that didn’t feel natural to me and was an ongoing irritant throughout. The character voices were actually pretty good though. At 21 hours, there is a lot of entertainment here.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Dreamlander #FreeAudiobookCodes

Two worlds connected through dreams

It was well written and enjoyable. I have to read a book quite like it before. I found the idea of being connected by dreams very unique.