Being a massive fan of lucid dreaming and everything to do with the subconscious, I picked up Dreamside expecting my mind to be absolutely blown away by the scary imagery, the ridiculously in-depth character background and how their individual relationships with each other.Needless to say, I was rather underwhelmed. Joyce delivered a solid story with a decent plot and believable characters, but I felt that the dream imagery was rather underplayed. There were a fair amount of bizarre moments, and I loved how Joyce incorporated real-life aspects of dreaming (false awakenings, sleep paralysis, etc). However, the dreamscape seemed too similar and bland all the time for me to be truly immersed, and what all the characters decided to do in the lucid dreams were pretty unoriginal. Yet, this opinion is strongly based from taste, and creating a ridiculous dreamscape is a tough challenge for an author, so I'm not going to let this affect the rating too much.The characters had a bit too much of a Dean Koontz feel to them; they were three-dimensional, but seemed to have absolutely no life outside of the plot. Sure, they had professions, personality traits and different dynamics with each other. Yet they weren't complicated, they seemed like plot puppets that were only in the book to move forth the story. I didn't feel any emotion at the end for the characters, which spoke volumes for me, personally.I'm not sure, this book could have handled the dream theme a lot better, but I'm thankful it exists, because I think the topic of lucid dreaming is severely ignored in today's society. The book featuring a part of its story in the past was a very clever idea, and even allowed Joyce to get away with the almost perfect characterisation of Ella (she's much more roughed up in the first section of the book). However, the book still has its glaring flaws, and as a result I can only give it so much.
Finished this one up the other day and really liked it. Interesting premise. If there's one thing I've learned from reading fiction (and watching movies) it's not to muck about with dreams. (Well, that and if you're inside and the axe-wielding maniac is coming after you, for the love of the gods, don't run upstairs. That's just stupid. Oh, and don't EVER assume the bad guy is dead. They're always just faking it the first time. But I digress.) I found the characters interesting -- at first I was afraid they would wind up being too one-dimensional, but the author manages to flesh them out just enough to make them real enough. Towards the end, I must admit, I got a bit creeped out as I was reading all alone in a dark apartment at night. It's been a long time since a book made me a little twitchy that way -- it's always a good sign.
What do You think about Dreamside (2001)?
Very interesting book. The beginning was slightly off-putting. The author's very clear vagueness of subjects and people to come was just a bit too obvious for me to start. He kept phrasing things like, "Who do you think it is, him or her?" when naturally, you'd have used names, especially repeatedly referencing these same people in this way. I almost put the book down because I worried the entire book would be written in this way. There was just no reason for it, really. In fact, it would have drawn a better connection to the beginning of the book if he'd simply used their names and referenced the actual subject matter they were talking about clearly.But, that aside, I've always been intrigued by the subject of lucid dreaming and have experienced episodes of it, though few and far between. It was a bit inspiring to restart an effort to train yourself to lucid dream.The majority of the story is told from Lee and Ella's perspectives with a chapter here and there for Honora and Brad, though I feel the story would have been much more involved if we'd seen more of the world and Dreamside through their eyes.
—Jamie
