Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately it’s not the book for me. DNF @ 23%.

Vincent Cruz has already lost his daughter and it looks like he may lose his mind next. He’s spent the past few years haunted by the memories of the day his daughter, Clementine, drowned but now he’s suddenly facing a new nightmare. And this one has the power to reach not only into the real world but beyond the grave. If Souls Can Sleep introduces a hidden world who gifted individuals possess the power to invade the dreams of others. Rival factions have transformed the dream world into a war zone where all reality is relative and even the dead can’t rest in peace.

Honestly, I wanted to like this book a lot more than I ultimately did. It sounded like such an interesting concept and I looked forward to reading it. But, for some reason, I just couldn’t fully connect with the plot line or the characters. The story does have a good bit going for it. For instance, the characters are well written and I did like Vincent, Jerry, and Leigh. Alternating between the dream world and reality was an interesting idea, and it reminded me, vaguely, of Ted Dekker’s Circle Series, only this time it was a bit confusing and disjointed. Maybe because it also alternated between not only Vincent’s and Valenthor’s points of view, but also Milton’s. Instead of adding to the story as much as it could have, it ended up detracting from it. The storyline was interesting and had real potential and that’s what, ultimately, kept me reading. I was interested enough that I had to find out what happened in the end and what was going on with Vincent that was causing his crazy dreams. Honestly, this author has a great deal of potential.

My review can also be found at https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2018/1/24/if-souls-can-sleep-the-soul-sleep-cycle-book-1-by-david-michael-williams

Sleep is I think we can all agree both precious and weird. We all experience mysterious time loss when we shut out eyes; we are essentially not here and then suddenly back a few hours later. On top of that we have the mystery of dreams – those odd narratives that can appear to make perfect sense until we wake up and some always give a nagging sense as to whether are we still asleep now? In this new fantasy thriller David Michel Williams uses sleep and dreams to create an engaging thriller that is not uncomfortable with wrong-footing a reader’s expectations.

The story starts with Vincent Cruz a troubled grieving parent now nearly divorced, working as a janitor and sharing a flat with his stoner friend Jerry. He comes across as a man who has given up on life but then Vincent begins to fall asleep often without warning and wakes up in a seemingly medieval tavern as Valenthor a drunk grieving parent who is required by an elf for what looks to be a mission that has major consequences for the world! While that is going on we also meet Milton running through the snow from his enemies; his only friend a mysterious cynical traveller known as DJ who seems to know a lot more about Milton’s past than even Milton does. As Vincent begins to investigate why he keep returning in his dreams to the life of Valenthor with the help of Leah Chedid a sleep disorder specialist there seems to be a lot more going on than a simple case of narcolepsy.

I really must commend this book because when I first read it I thought I was about to read a slightly twee portal fantasy as Valenthor uses ALL thee tropes from taverns, Knights called Angus, prison brawls and an unhealthy stack of Forsooths and Verilys! But slowly we start to see Valenthor’s life is chiming with Vincent’s who gains increasing awareness of himself in this dream-world. It becomes apparent that it’s not quite a parallel world but more of a stranger creation that clearly has a purpose for Vincent lined up but it’s not quite clear as to what purpose that will be for. It was also quite amusing when Vincent and Jerry use a trusty online source known as The Master of Fantasy to work out what the likely plot points will be in the dream as it seems to so closely follow epic fantasy plot points! Obviously, I will would never wish for such a resource for a book reviewer (polishes halo).

What I think pushes the book into what became a very engrossing read was the addition of two other features that broaden out the story. The strange night time encounters between Milton and a young man calling himself DJ are a mix of sinister cat and mouse conversations balanced with some interesting action set pieces. A shadowy group obsessed with Norse mythology are also stalking Milton and they also seem to be able to start to enter Vincent’s dreams; gradually we see the lines between the groups converge and I was quite impressed how the plot was constructed. It is a really well paced tale with the various clues and revelations slowly unveiled and this is supported by some very nice characterisation from larger cast from the just plain untrusty DJ to the loveable stoner friend Jerry and I was very pleased to see a clever competent professional female lead in the character of Leah who does the harder work trying to work out what is going on in Vincent’s head.

I only had two misgivings. Understandably the story revolves around the character of Vincent who having lost his young daughter is clearly troubled, but he more often comes across a sulky teenager rather than tortured soul. Annoyingly he also seems to be irresistible to women (human and otherwise) but as the novel develops we do see characters start to pull him up on his rather selfish behaviour it’s just something I’d had preferred to see happen earlier and more often! He tends to be more a character to whom the adventure happens to rather than often leads the narrative; Leah is the much more interesting character! My other niggle is that as it’s a trilogy many plot points are raised that simply vanish as we reach the satisfactory conclusion. I no doubt these will reappear in future volumes but it felt at times slightly rushed.

But despite these two issues I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I became invested in the story and was often surprised in the directions it took. Williams was not afraid to have a slightly more sober and quieter character-based conclusion than simply an epic battle as seemed initially promised. Overall it was a refreshing read that I think if you’re looking for a fast-paced supernatural thriller that doesn’t take the obvious route then I think this would be well worth a look!

"First he lost his daughter. His mind may be next."
It sounded like a tragically intriguing story so I simply had to read it.

Vincent a seemingly decent guy who has self-destructed since the death of his daughter and all but cut contact with his mother over their different opinions on whether to turn off his criminal half-brother's life support. A reoccurring dream of the day his daughter died has been haunting Vincent for years but those dreams stop just as a new dream begins and this dream is very different to most. The dream is in an unfamiliar fantasy setting, everyone in the dream world calls him Valenthor of the Three Rivers and this dream has the ability to draw Vincent in even when he is awake. After the new dream leads to him losing his job, Vincent looks for help only to discover there is much more to the dream than he could have possibly imagined.

Jerry is Vincent's housemate and the first person to try helping Vincent figure out what the crazy dream by instant messaging the "Master of All Fantasy". The next person Vincent turns to Leah, a sleep therapist with her own interesting sleep disorder. She does her own tests and investigations which leads to some very surprising discoveries. The other character worth mentioning is a rather peculiar man by the name of Milton. He is on the run, but cannot remember who is running from or why and the fact that he cannot remember scares him. They are all interesting characters and the main characters well formed.

The way the book is set up was confusing at first - flicking between dreams and awake without clear indication but also between different points of view. I believe that was the intention as if it had been explained earlier on it would have taken away from the overall story. Once I got halfway through the book I began to pick up on the differences and it is also when the story began to explain itself only heightening my interest in the story. With the exception of that temporary confusion, it was an interesting concept worked into a well thought out story that flowed rather well.

At the end, there was an excerpt from book two. It seems just as intriguing and I look forward to reading more about these dream worlds in Williams next book.

First, he lost his daughter. His mind may be next. This was such a gripping line in the description that I was immediately drawn to this book. I loved Vincent's character and really felt for him throughout the book. His grief was palpable and very well described. The writing was flawless and there was nothing I could fault. The book centres around a couple of characters and we get different points of view which all work wonderfully well. This book kept me guessing right the way to the end with new information added and lots of twists and turns. Emotions were high and I wanted to read more and more. It also opened up a lot of questions as to the possibilities of this really happening to someone and that in itself makes this an excellent sci-fi/fantasy book. I found myself absorbed in Vincent's world and the past that tormented him. All the secondary characters were excellent as well.

Daniel/DJ was well thought out and I loved that he got to redeem himself in the end. Boden was one of those characters that I wasn't sure whether to like or hate especially when he's first introduced. The author does a great job of creating a persona that we are meant to distrust and when we get the real story, it's like, oh yeah, I see that now.

I really enjoyed the end of the book and the resolution that Vincent gets. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I will say, it's perfectly done.

There is to be a second book which I look forward to reading. I found this whole world intriguing and can't wait to read more.