The Land of Good Dreams is a young middle grade fantasy read about a young girl, Samantha, whose parents were killed in a house fire. She lives now with her foster parents who mourn the loss of their baby girl. She struggles with nightmares until she gets a dog named Midnight who leads her to the Land of Good Dreams.
There are two major plots happening in this book. One is with Samantha and her journey into the Land of Dreams. This is a really good plot line for young readers. It had a lot of potential for this fantasy world, but it never really expanded to what it could be. It also has a second plot line that goes into depth of the foster parents recovery of losing their baby. This theme is too much for young readers and I felt it would have been better used in a completely separate book. I believe that a book should have one central plot. This book does not. It also introduces many other plot points that are never expanded on. One chapter in the middle of the book ends with a very ominous foreshadowing statement that is never brought up again or expanded on. The author also included a scene with the child’s therapist that makes it seem as if there is a major plot point that should be happening, but it is never mentioned again besides the one chapter. The author tries to create this fantasy world in the child’s dreams, but she just doesn’t create a believable world. It is too cliche and never expanded on. The book also ends with a chapter from the point of view of a character we’ve never had the point of view from before.
The writing style seems a bit choppy. It consistently tells more than it shows any details. This makes it really hard to become engaged in the story.The young girl, Samantha, is supposedly middle school aged, but does not act like it. Sometimes she is way too childish and immature for a middle school aged girl and is presented more as an elementary aged child and then other times she is presented with the maturity of an adult. It is inconsistent and not true to the age level that Samantha is. This led to a lot of cliche scenes and inconsistent characterization.
It should also be noted that this book poorly portrays therapy and portrays it very inaccurately.
I gave this book two stars because of the inconsistent themes. I think that this author would do very well in writing adult books and I would love to read more books of hers that are geared more towards adult audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment