The story begins in a contemporary setting (the 1980's) and follows Lee, an advertising executive with a dark past that has come back to haunt him. An old lover from his student days, Ella Innes, returns to his life and tells him they must solve the problems created by a lucid dreaming experiment they ran at university.
A long flashback to the 1980s covers Lee's involvement with the dreaming group, along with Brad, an obnoxious medical student, and Honora, a repressed artist. The group progresses under their charismatic leader, Professor LP Burns. There is a sense of wonder but also underlying threat in their fantastic dream world. The well defined characters form relationships or reject them within this group, always under the disciplined leadership of Burns. Then the Professor dies, and four of them continue the lucid dreaming on their own, finding it an addictive experience. Brad's sexual jealousy results in an attack on Honora, and the group shatters apart. Back in the 1980s, Lee and Ella make contact with the group again and face the dangers that Brad unleashed. The dream world is dangerously impinging on their real one, and they tackle this with tragic results. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Horror story? Yes Horror plotlets - bad dreams Descript. of chases or violence - 10 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's If magical mental powers: - mind control Main Adversary Identity: - magical being Age: - a kid Profession/status: Has magical powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - can cast all sorts of spells How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Terrain A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - unfriendly aliens Takes place on Earth? Yes Planet outside solar system? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment scientific jargon? (SF only) - a moderate amount of scientific explanation Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy - licking - impregnation/reproduction - main character impregnated against her will - society controls main character's sexing - actual description of sex - descript. of private male anat. - descript. of non-breast female anat. - rape/molest (yeech!) How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |