I know I'm late with my review but I'm a mood reader so it took awhile to get to this one. I did enjoy the myth of the Sandman and the new take on it, but I wasn't completely enamored overall.

I didn't get into this one. DNF. The world building was clunky and I could already tell that the romance was going to induce so many eye rolls.

The Sandman is seventeen-year-old Nora’s closest friend and best-kept secret.

What a whirl-wind of a novel - surprisingly so for one about the Sandman. Perhaps my preconceptions are why this novel impressed me as much as it did, however, between the elegant composure, literary creativity and daring, and the simple ability to keep the reader enthralled, this series encapsulates the very essence of YA, and I didn't want to wake up.

This book starts off really strong and creepy which I loved. I would have liked the world building to have been fleshed out a bit more because I found the descriptions of the nightmare realm and The Sandman’s realm confusing; a description and explanation of the magic systems would have helped a bit there too. I loved The Sandman and definitely wanted more from his perspective. Overall it was an enjoyable read.

3.5 stars.

I enjoyed reading through this however I felt like the concept was good but execution is so-so. The beginning and end of the book was great but the middle part not so much. It kinda dragged and was too focused on reassurances and the romance. A bit cliche on some moments but I did like that it didn't shy away from the gore and death as well as the description of the creepy nightmares. Each problem was conveniently solved and was done in a page or so despite pages of planning for the worse.

As for the characters, they were fine to me but I wasn't a big fan of how the Sandman was too obsessed and protective of Nora (not in a toxic way). And I wish his name wasn't the Sandman, I kept laughing in serious moment because of how ridiculous I found his name to be.

What I hated the most is how the last 100 pages or so was all just planning for the ending which ended in a page or two in the end. The ending was predictable but I'm interested in what the author will do with it in the next book.

Overall, it was cliche and convenient but I like the writing style. I'm interested in how things are going to change and what will Nora do in the next book.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

The plot of this book is so unique. I've read soooo many books and never come across one with the sandman before. This is a good, creepy read. It definitely keeps you on your toes and guessing. The author is a wonderful writer and creates such a magical story.

**SPOILER ALERT!!!**
This is one of those "You've got to turn your brain off to read this" books. There are so many things that could have been saved with better editing, but ended up being mediocre as is.

First of all: the Sandman, an eternal being that is thousands of years old, ~falling in love~ with a 17-year-old girl that should, by all accounts, be an infant in his eyes, is cringey at best, problematic at worst. I know that stories about mythical beings falling in love with humans are suuuper common and have been since, well, ancient civilizations, but that doesn't mean that we don't know any better in 2k19.

Secondly: the Weaver and the nightmares are pretty pathetic. We're supposed to take them really seriously, especially after the Weaver kills a few people and (conveniently) only kidnaps Nora's sis (instead of killing her too), buuuut. The horror/ death scenes aren't written with the necessary amount of intensity or payoff, so they're kinda just... there... and we're kinda just told just how much of a threat the Weaver is.

In the scenes he's actually in, he's not much of a threat at all, and Nora keeps outsmarting him easily. The scene most guilty of this was when he met her alone with no backup while knowing full well she was planning to betray their deal, so he was left just watching her take her sister back AND a thread from him, and didn't do anything about it, at all. Laughable.

The nightmares are interesting in concept, and the scenes in the Nightmare world were some of the ones I enjoyed the most, but they're still not given enough love to shine. Rowan and Kail were what made that last part of the book "pop" for me, and I enjoyed their scenes quite a lot (thank God, because for most of the book, I was VERY aware of every single word I was reading, the book never flew by), but, again, they're hardly even there.

And thirdly: the climax of the book, arguably the most important part of it, is disproportionate to the rest of the book in length and quality. It feels rushed and the conclusion basically happens out of the blue, with zero foreshadowing or suspense, I could hardly even tell what was happening WHILE I was reading it. Not to mention that the entire conclusion is, painfully, very clearly a setup for the next book(s), since this is supposed to be a series.

The writing is fine and it does its job, but I can't help but feel that such a fantastical world needed a bit of purple prose, of detailed descriptions of fantasy settings, or terrifying monsters. It felt a bit detached and flat.

The characters are also flat, and most of the book is Nora and the Sandman awkwardly skirting around each other, conveniently not talking about things they SHOULD be talking about, and later making out. They're both cookie-cutter characters that have little to no chemistry, but still, we HAD to have some romance in there, so here we go, I guess.

As I said above, I was very, very much aware of every word I read to finish this, and that's never a good thing about a book. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't offensive, I didn't hate it, but it really doesn't bring anything new to the table. I don't think I'll remember it in a few months.

I received this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I have read by the author and I have to say I really liked it. It was fast paced and kept me interested from page 1. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

I wanted to like this more, I truly did. I LOVE the premise, I adore the characters, but, it just wasn't fleshed out enough for me. I didn't care about the people being killed because the author didn't give me any reason to care, not even about the protagonist's sister. If there's more to this series I'll absolutely read them, in the hopes the author takes more time to build the world.

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and The Parliament House for giving me access.

The Dream Keeper is a fast paced read that will make you sleep with a night light on. I loved how it had a Nightmare on Elm St. vibe to it; be afraid to fall asleep or something will kill you.

The story is the balance of good vs evil with a small twist at the end. It was thrilling and I couldn't put it down. Definitely not your average Sandman story.

2 Stars - DNF @ 52%

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

The premise of Dream Keeper was fantastic. I love anything to do with the concept of dreams, Sandman and Nightmares. I wrote part of my dissertation of Hoffmann’s ‘Der Sandmann’, have (badly) written and read so many stories about dreams and adore Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’ with an extreme passion. I say this to prep you for just HOW excited I was when I read the synopsis. Unfortunately, I felt let down by the execution.

Nora really didn't act the way someone in her situation would. The events unfolding around her would have been traumatising to say the least, and I cant believe she would be flirting instead of trying to process how horrendous the things that were happening to her. Her friends are violently murdered, her sister missing, her whole life is being torn apart and yet… a guy finding her attractive seems to matter so much more to her. Because of this I found it really hard to relate to Nora. I get that she’s a teenager, and hey, someone liking you is great, but I also think that she was in need of grief counselling, not a date. Of course, I know what this book is a YA fantasy romance, but I do feel that the romance aspect could have been more realistic or at least not thrown me off so much had Nora been dealing with the events around her more appropriately. The Sandman and Nora don;t seem to have any real emotional connection. I am aware there is history between the two that spans five years but it doesn’t really present a romantic relationship to me. Nora was 12 when the Sandman met her, and over time he fell in love but she spent most of that time thinking he was a figment of her imagination, and so their romance felt a little forced to me.

I really enjoyed the Dream and Nightmare Realms, and the juxtaposition between the Sandman and the Weaver. There were hints at a back story that had me interested, and I wanted to know what drove the Weaver, why this was happening and how they had been created. Why are the bonds weakening so much, what really happened between the characters? This was what kept me reading as long as I did, but I feel there wasn’t enough of the most interesting characters!

There were a few continuity errors, too many plot holes, and a lot of confusion going on in ‘Dream Keeper’. The police incidents, the lack of grief counselling offered to Nora, the fact she isn’t offered protective custody and just looked at with a bit of vague suspicion ended up meaning I just couldn’t connect to the plot. I wanted to love it but I think there was too much trying to happen that didn’t add up. The Sandman had no reason to hide anything from Nora, there was too little explanation of what was going on, and the police would not have reacted the way they did.

There were so many fantastic ideas in this book, and I think the concept could turn into something really good, and I hope the sequels get to that, and make it work. I probably won’t try and pick this book up again (much as I hate not finishing things), but there was a lot of promise, and I hope that the next books evolve into something better and really make something of a really fun world.

I have to say Dream Keeper by Amber R. Duell was definitely a pleasant surprised. This story was just so different from anything I have ever read before and I have to say I just loved it. I can't wait to read another book by Amber and recommend this book to everyone who wants to read something refreshing and different.

Dream Keeper is an interesting view of the sandman. The beginning of the book has the reader wanting to read more. It captivates and hold the reader’s interest. I believe this book would be suitable for upper level elementary and anyone else that enjoys the dream realm.

I will start by saying that there aren’t many novels that take on the myth that is the Sandman. I found this take interesting and fresh. The plot was great, the relationship between the Sandman and the Weaver was intriguing, and lastly the relationship between Nora and the Sandman was nicely written. I 100% recommend this book.

Thank you to The Parliament House and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc.

I didn’t have a specific expectation for this book. I’ve been following The Parliament House Instagram account and was intrigued by their posts. Their books seem dark and I decided to satisfy my curiosity by finally requesting their books on NetGalley.

I love the cover of this book! Now if only the story I read was as enchanting and mysterious as the cover. The story was creative but as I got to know the characters, it felt like the writing was targeting a younger audience. I get that I’m an adult, reading a YA book, but for a story set in a dream world with a character called The Weaver who is the Lord of Nightmares – I was hoping for darker aspects to the characters. The Weaver is pretty villainous but I was hoping for a hint of it in The Sandman.

The Sandman came off like a sweet teenage boy! He is immortal and stuck in his seventeen year old body but with all the power of dreams at his fingertips, I just wanted him a bit more haunting and mysterious..

Nora is our main character and right away in the book there is action. People start dying around her. And the deaths, are bloody and descriptive. It’s a dark story in that aspect. It reminded me a lot of Nightmare on Elm Street, yes…I’m an 80’s child. Anyway those movies freaked me out as a child! Nightmares indeed! Dream Keeper is creepy and scary in that the deaths in the book are pretty horrifying.

So The Sandman helped people sleep, the Weaver gives nightmares and he wants to bring his Nightmares to life in the Day World (the real world). Nora is needed for this to happen so he goes after her and the people she loves.

Now this is a quick read, it’s under 300 pages so it’s a fast read and the writing is actually really good. It flows nicely, and the author drew me into this fascinating dream world. But in the last few chapters of the book we get introduced to new characters! I’m sure they will appear in the second book, but I wish they made an appearance in the middle of the book at least. It threw me off just a little.

And the romance…well…for me at least, it wasn’t believable. The Sandman has been protecting Nora since she’s been twelve and she’s seventeen now. He tells her he fell in love with her a year ago…why? What is it about Nora that he loves? I just didn’t believe their love story.

I think the story is promising, and I loved the creepy/mild horror nightmare scenes. I’ll definitely pick up the second book and read it in the Fall around Halloween maybe – because this would be a perfect mood reading kind of book. I just wanted a bit more depth with The Sandman and Nora, other than I liked it.

“When we were both new to this existence–him, born in the Day World’s shadow, the embodiment of mortal fears. And I, the manifestation of their optimism, their wishes and goodness. Different yet unified, we had laughed together, grown together, and combined our power for the common good more than once.”

I received a free e-copy through NetGalley from the publishers at The Parliament House. Trigger warnings: death, parent death, suicide, torture, body horror, eye horror, self-harm, severe illness, heart attack, violence, blood, threats, mental illness, hospitals.

Every night, seventeen-year-old Nora visits the Sandman in her dreams. He’s her closest friend and best-guarded secret, since talk of the Sandman’s world when she was younger led to a series of doctors and psychiatric exams. But the Sandman has a secret too, and when Nora’s friends begin dying horrible, violent deaths in their sleep, she turns to him for answers. When Nora was younger, the Sandman hid something inside her mind, a dream that has the power to save the dreamworld or unleash its greatest enemy, the Weaver, who is intent on bringing his nightmares into the human world.

If a grown-up Rise of the Guardians met A Nightmare on Elm Street with a dose of teenage romance, you would have Dream Keeper. It’s been a while since I was so captivated by a fantasy world. While Duell’s real world is just like ours, her dream world is a well-constructed mix of whimsical dreams and gruesome nightmares. I wanted to spend more time in it, and I hope the next two novels will do more to explore its dark corners and expand on the rules of its magic. It probably goes without saying at this point that I’m on board for the rest of the series.

I was surprised by how violent the story is right from the beginning. The Weaver isn’t often on-page, but the effects of his nightmares are sudden and almost cinematic in their gore, and the body count rises quickly along with the stakes. I like Nora and the Sandman, but I don’t quite feel like their development comes as far as it could. Nora is a lot like most teenage heroines, and the Sandman like a lot of heroes; she’s brave but doubts herself, his primary character trait is wanting to protect her, and lack of communication is one of their biggest problems as a couple. However, I like that he never pushes decisions on her and lets her make her own choices, even if they pose a risk to her safety.

While the nightmare world itself is fascinating, the Weaver is slightly underdeveloped. (I definitely heard Pitch’s voice when he spoke, but that might be more because I love RotG than because he actually sounds like that.) We don’t really know his motivation for wanting to unleash nightmares on the human world (boredom, maybe?), and the balance between him and the Sandman is hinted at but never fully explained. The end is exciting and leaves off on a gripping plot twist, and I’m looking forward to seeing its consequences play out in the next books. It’s a dark, imaginative, and unusual read, recommended for YA fantasy readers who enjoy those things.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

First off I have to say this book has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen!
I loved that the book was duel POV and I found the sandman’s chapters were my absolute favourites!
I love the plot it kept going with no slow spots and the writing was flawless in my opinion.
The whole concept and the world building was breathtaking I look forward to reading more from this author.
5 stars.

Are you a fan of the Sandman mythology?
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I love the different ways authors take on this particular myth as long as it doesn't drift into toddler fields 😅 Neil Gaiman is a prime example with his legendary Sandman series.
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Having just finished Dream Keeper by @amberrduell, I have found another wonderful spin on the story of the Sandman, packed with creative dreamworld building, interesting uses of dream-powers and themes of mental illness.
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I like this Sandman very much and his relationship with Nora was built upon duty and love. The Weaver is a great villain, and the special connection he has with the Sandman creates an interesting dynamic that is worth it's own tale.
Amber R. Duell's writing style makes it easy to fall right into the story and I love especially the way she wrote Nora, her constant struggle with what's real and a mother who treats her like someone who might break any minute.
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Dream Keeper might at first seem like a magical realism YA romance, but it also deals with mental illness issues, family, and nightmares.
I'd recommend this book for fans of dream/Sandman mythology, Neil Gaiman and also fans of the Guardians of Childhood series. Sandy and Pitch might be familiar 🖤
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Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC.