The Waking Dreamer by J.E. Alexander

The Waking Dreamer

by J.E. Alexander

 

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.


I received a free copy for review from Netgalley.

I really wish I could have gotten into this book more.  The writing style was ok and I liked the pop-culture references.  I just couldn't get into the story at all for some reason and I lost interest fairly early in the book.  I couldn't connect with any of the characters and because of that I didn't care about what was happening to them.  I think it may be a good read for anyone who likes a book with more outward focus and interesting monsters.  But don't expect huge amounts of character development.