Review: Dreamfall by Amy Plum

Title: Dreamfall

Author: Amy Plum

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publishing Date: May 2nd, 2017

Pages: 293
Audio Length: 7 Hours and 25 Minutes

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Thriller
TW: Genocide, abuse, anorexia, self harm

Series: Dreamfall #1

Source: Audio

 

Cata Cordova suffers from such debilitating insomnia that she agreed to take part in an experimental new procedure. She thought things couldn’t get any worse...but she was terribly wrong.
Soon after the experiment begins, there’s a malfunction with the lab equipment, and Cata and six other teen patients are plunged into a shared dreamworld with no memory of how they got there. Even worse, they come to the chilling realization that they are trapped in a place where their worst nightmares have come to life. Hunted by creatures from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, Cata and the others will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.

What made me pick this book up: 

I had seen this book at Barnes and Noble and the cover definitely caught my eye.

What did I like about the cover: 

First I love the colors. Of course blue is one of my favorites. I also love how it blends from a hospital looking room into a forest. It looks slightly creepy, and definitely dreamy. It matches the book well.

What made me read this book: 

It sounded kind of scary. I pictured being stuck in a dream and it gave me a lot of anxiety. So of course I had to read it, because who doesn't like books that scare them or give them anxiety?

What did I like the most: 

I liked reading about each of their fears. It was interesting to see who was scared of what, and why. Some of the dreams are terrifying. Mass genocide? Seriously creepy. 

This book is written really well, I could picture everything happening, and I could actually feel the fear and the emotions that the characters were feeling. She made it all seem very very real. 

The characters were mostly likable, a few weren't but that's how they were written. I felt for these characters, I didn't want anything to happen to them, and I felt scared right along with them.

My favorite character was an OCD/autistic (Never quite says if this character is or isn't, but that's how I perceived them) 12 year old named Ant. I also really liked George, Cata, and Fergus.

This book is told from all of the characters point of views (7 of them) and this book is actually not confusing even with all of the point of views. And the narrators each did a really great job. 

What didn't I like: 

Sinclair and Remi. Remi was unnecessarily mean to Ant for no reason. It was awful. Every time he did it made me mad. 

Other than that there wasn't anything I didn't like. Everything seemed to work with this book, but it still just wasn't... more than a 3.5 star rating for me. It was well written and such but still kind of fell flat.

Plus the ending sucks. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I will once I can get the second on audio. I don't plan on buying it because I probably won't ever read it again. 

However there is a few other Amy Plum books I'm interested in.

Fairly interesting well written story that still just fell flat.

“When working with an unknown situation, you have to identify known factors and work within their boundaries.” 
― Amy Plum, Dreamfall

Amy Plum is the international bestselling author of the DIE FOR ME series (Indie Next List pick, Romance Times top pick, and recipient of a starred review from School Library Journal). The books have been translated into thirteen foreign languages. The trilogy is accompanied by two eNovellas entitled DIE FOR HER and DIE ONCE MORE and a compendium entitled INSIDE THE WORLD OF DIE FOR ME.

DREAMFALL, the first book of her YA horror duology, will be released by HarperTeen in summer 2017, with the second book, NEVERWAKE publishing in summer 2018. In the new books, a radical experiment to cure chronic insomnia goes wrong, and its seven teenage test subjects are plunged into a shared coma populated by one another’s nightmares; those who die in the dream will also die in real life.
Amy's action/adventure/magic duology, AFTER THE END and UNTIL THE BEGINNING, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, 4 1/2 stars from RT Book Reviews, and enthusiastic reviews from Kirkus, USA Today, ALA Booklist and School Library Journal.
After being raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in a rather restrictive environment, AMY PLUM escaped to Chicago to an even more restrictive environment at a university that expelled people for dancing. (And where she was called to the dean’s office for “wearing too much black”.) After all of that restrictiveness, she was forced to run far far away, specifically to Paris, France, where she only wore black and danced all she wanted.
After five years in Paris, she ventured to London, where she got an M.A. in Medieval Art History, specializing in Early Sienese Painting (1260-1348) mainly because it promised almost no hope of finding a paying job afterward.
Amy managed to find work in the world of art and antiques in New York. But after almost a decade of high-pressure lifestyle in the Big Apple, she swapped her American city for a French village of 1300 inhabitants.
After signing with HarperCollins for the DIE FOR ME series, Amy left her job as an English professor at Tours University to write full-time. She now lives in Paris with her two kids and her black lab, Oberon.
She is a huge fan of Edward Gorey and Maira Kalman (and collects both of their books/art), as well as David Sedaris, Amadeo Modigliani, and Ira Glass.