dreamquake

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Dreamquake

Elizabeth Knox

Knox, Elizabeth. Dreamquake. France Foster Books. London, United Kingdom. 2007.

Dreamquake is a mystery that lets readers delve into the world of dreams and twisted fantasies; the story is set in old England. Dreamquake is about a legendary dreamwalker, a person able to witness dreams of other sleeping beings and, although he has a kind nature, twist them to his will. It is not a surprise that Elizabeth Knox won the award for America’s Best Young Adult Author, and has catapulted her novel to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. As her debut novel, America looks forward to more.

Lucifer is a normal person; except for the fact that he holds a dangerous secret. He walks in the dreams of others and twists them to whatever he pleases; usually he changes good dreams to nightmares, and makes other nightmares worse. It seems that he was taught to punish normal humans as such by someone—or something—else.

When Lucifer turns nineteen, he no longer wants to continue to torture humans with their own dreams. As Lucifer tries to control his own power, a force of nature fights to take ahold of his mind. We learn that there is a secret network of dreamwalkers around the world, their minds set to not recognize each other. These dreamwalkers have been made by the demons of the Underworld, for only one purpose: to slowly take control of Earth as we know it, from the humans own fears deep inside their minds. As Lucifer starts losing control of himself, he seems to be turning into a savage around his neighborhood, and scaring all of the humans.

Poor Lucifer is trapped inside the Dream Realm, a strange and terrible place inside one’s mind where nightmares are brewed. Demons hack at Lucifer’s conscience, but he eventually comes back from the living hell that he had been sent to in his mind. He wakes in a mental facility, and accidently kills a doctor during his desperate escape. He drags himself into the woods, where he confronts a terrible demon there waiting for him. The demon has a mysterious glass pendant, that Lucifer finds holds connections to dream walkers all over the world.

Elizabeth Knox forms a rather twisted story that suggests Lucifer, known to us as the legend of a demon, may have once had good intentions. Readers are pulled into the story, wanting Lucifer to win his many battles against the world and himself, although Lucifer is not the most likable character.

4 out of 5 stars

Contributed by L. Hansen

October 9th, 2012