J.A. Ferguson, Dream Traveler

Dream Traveler

J.A. Ferguson

ImaJinn, Feb 2004, $13.95, 240 pp.

ISBN 1893896897

The kingdom of Gayome is at peace now thanks to the Tira Nerienne and her husband the dreamsinger Durgan Ketassian. When the Elasians invaded Gayome, the people gathered under their monarch's banner until the enemy was forced out of the country. The land is returning to its' former state and the ruling couple's child Dariana is First Daughter able to use the life stones she wears around her neck to heal people. She doesn't feel worthy of being First Daughter because she can't dreamsing like her father or believe she can rule like her mother.

One day everyone that Dariana knows disappears and Relezar Vare informs her that she must talk to the hooded stranger to know what happened. She learns that the evil Cha'Kwain once banished from Gayome in the Beginnings has attempted to return by twisting the time thread to change Dariana's present and future. It will be a place suitable to these evil beings so the First Daughter and Relazar Vare must travel into the past and stop the Cha'kwain at the moment the time tear is supposed to happen. Both accept the mission knowing it could mean their lives.

The Gayome of Dariana's time is a beautiful pastoral place that will remind the reader of an Eden without the serpent. The Cha'Kwain in this world represents the serpent that was banished in the beginning. Their attempt to return to Gayome can only be successful if the people give in to the darkness and the two protagonists are the only ones who can foil their plans. There is a lot of symbolism of the creation myth in DREAM TRAVELER, a fantastic fantasy written by a very talented writer.

Harriet Klausner