Dreamhunter

By Elizabeth Knox
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

In a world much like our own around the turn of the 19th to 20th century, there are people called dreamhunters. They are able to go into an invisible land called "The Place" and catch specific dreams at specific spots on the map and then come back into our world and when they fall asleep, their dream is shared by everyone near them (depending on their range of projection). So people can share dreams that are fun or healing or soothing or exhilirating--for a fee, that is. Laura Hame and Rose Tiebold are cousins and are also the daughters of two extremely famous and powerful dreamhunters. At the age of 15, the cousins go to "Try" to see if they can enter the Place, but only shy Laura is able to. At the same time Laura is finding out she is a dreamhunter, her father Tziga disappears. But he left behind for her a sandman, much like the golems of Hebrew lore, created with magic and song, that will be her servant. He also leaves behind a request for Laura to complete a terrible mission. While Laura labors in secret at her father's task, the rest of her family tries to find out what happened to Tziga, for it seems many factions--the government, the Church--are trying very hard to cover up whatever did occur. These is an extremely interesting and inventive fantasy which also highlights family ties along with its fascinating premise of dreamhunting. Readers who love stories by people like Philip Pullman or Madeline L'Engle or Ursula K. LeGuin will find much to delve into here. An original and compelling story. Big thumbs up! This is billed as Book One of the Dreamhunter Duet, and readers will be clamoring for Book Two.