Dreamcatcher Series

By: Lisa McMann
Books so far: Wake, Fade
Grade: B+
Status: Library books

Janie is just 8 yrs. old when she first gets sucked into the dream of a stranger on a train. By the time she is 17 she is quite thoroughly sick of it. She has seen them all -- dreams where she falls endlessly, dreams where she joins classmates who are standing in front of the class/at an assembly/on a football field naked. And the endless sex fantasy dreams that she does NOT want to know go on in her friends' heads. But it is as she is driving down a street to school that she truly learns how freaky and dangerous her dreams can be. For right in broad daylight she is pulled in to a nightmare so powerful she almost wrecks her car.

Meeting the dreamer changes Janie's life in many ways. She gets a new job, a new friend, and begins to discover just what she is and what she can do to effect the world with her powers.

Janie is a very engaging character. Although she has life hard -- her mother should have been caught by social services years ago -- she is upbeat and determined. She is someone who grapples with what life throws at her, who gives it her best bat every single pitch. I liked the aura of mystery to the stories and the way the impending sense of doom creeps up on you. I also like how the author really looked at what Janie does as having real difficulties attached to it-- if Janie is not seated when someones dream sucks her in, she falls. If she is doing something, such as driving, she wrecks. And many dreams are just darn unpleasant for her to be in. She learns things about people she would just as soon not know and she realizes it affects how she treats them in real life -- and that is a touch unfair.

And Janie is not universally popular -- she has friends but not everyone loves her. She is a good student but she has to work at it.

My complaints with the books is that they are short and therefore not as in depth as I would wish and that the author tries hard to be PC, including every thing that can possibly happen in a big city high school. I found those bits jarring.

Still, overall a recommend it read for those into the whole paranormal scene.

Tea: Hot and sweet, take your pick!