There's a really fine line, when writing stories set in dream worlds with nightmarish denizens and frustrated teens, between well-crafted worlds that make a certain kind of necessary sense even if it's not obvious to the reader at first, and self-indulgent whimsy that may have made sense to the author upon writing, but doesn't hold up for a general audience read.

This book falls into the latter category.

I think it's fitting to share the author's description of the book from Goodreads here (in part, I admit, because I'm not sure I could sum this up):

Emmett’s dream is always the same. Tingling with half-forgotten memories, he stands in an unknown room surrounded by mirrors, curio cabinets, and nesting dolls. A painting, Belshazzar’s Feast, hangs on the wall, its disembodied hand numbering the King’s final days. Then comes the stranger, the serpent-wielding young woman with the glittering amber eyes. Her words are always the same. Emmett will soon save her. Then the supposed hero awakens to his unremarkable life, awaiting the next night and the same maddeningly familiar dream.

Seventeen-year-old orphan Emmett Brennan remembers nothing of his past—not the boiler room in which his needle-ravaged mother gave birth to him, nor the Druids who tenderly delivered him. He can’t remember the cabal-summoned Revenant that clawed itself from shadow to hunt him, or why his mystical midwives hid him from the necromantic creature. Approaching adulthood, he is unaware of the dark forces that still search for him or the mysterious sentinels who secretly protect him, but on the eve of his eighteenth birthday that will change. The Revenants will find him. Only the young woman from his dreams can help him confront all he was once made to forget. Together, they will brave the nightmarish landscape Emmett’s waking world will soon become.

It's been a decade since I received a copy of this book to read and review and there's a reason it's taken me so long to get to it. I've struggled and struggled and finally decided I just needed to do it.

Aside from the randomness of the dreams, our central character just isn't worth reading about. I happen to like horror and dreamworlds (when done well) - I still think about some of the early Tim Waggoner books I read. But there's got to be something, anything, to give us a reason to want to follow this story. Usually that's character, but Emmett is so unlikeable and so ... stupid (I saw some other reviews refer to him as TSTL and I had to look that up) ... that I really had hoped he was going to lead us to the real protagonist. Alas, no.

There's a 'romance' - if you can call it that. It's a boy and girl who fall immediately in love - which was so unnecessary and, I felt, simply trying to cling to a trope for extra readership.

Although listed as a Book #1, there's been no second volume so if you should happen to read and like it, don't be too eager for more.

Looking for a good book? This isn't it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not have a chance to read this book, but it is effecting my feedback rating. I am giving books 5 stars that I haven't read to improve my feedback rating. I am not recommending the book for my classroom or students since I have not read the book. There needs to be a better system of leaving feedback for books not read.

I wish I had liked this book more. The cover is awesome and the concept sounded extremely intriguing. I enjoyed how it started off immediately without much buildup and stayed pretty face paced throughout the whole read. I loved the urban fantasy, dreamlike aspect of it but it started losing me a bit when it became too paranormal and supernatural. It's not that I don't like the supernatural, but there wasn't enough background so I felt myself feeling confused and getting detached from the content. I do wish there was more focus on the female characters, as they seemed to have more depth had we gotten to spend more time there. I have to wonder if that had been a plan for the second book that never seemed to be written/released. Although this wasn't my favorite, I would have continued on reading the series if it existed.

I wanted to like this but just didn't. It was well written but the story was just okay. Maybe the wrong book at the wrong time? I don't want to judge it because of that so you try it. I hope it works for other people in better reading times.

Emmett Brennan is a seventeen year old orphan that has the same surreal dream over and over. There is always the painting of Belshazzar’s Feast, marred with words scribbled overhead, and there is always the amber-eyed woman with the serpents around her neck.

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*