Paul Bates Dreamer

Dreamer by Paul Bates is a facinating story about a woman who treats her dream and waking realities as much the same in a post-apocalyptic world on the last city on earth as well as a tale of revolution. A great SF/fantasy/political thriller. There are many interesting characters all interacting.

Jennie has dreams, all kinds of dreams. Some are prophetic, some involve the childhood abuse she cannot remember which drives her life. Her lover, Walter, an idealist, is involved in a seemingly doomed resistance movement against a shadowy totalitarian government. Jennie's dreams warn her to move on and she does, leaving Walter which brings Wyatt the sweeper (and hero of Imprint,) Carpathia the empath, and Splash the master dreamer into both their lives. Soon Jennie's dream powers grow beyond anything she ever imagined while Walter rises through the ranks of the resistance. The magic of Jennie's life and the violence of Walter's are contrasted through their separate journeys of self-discovery until they meet again at the dramatic culmintion of the revolution, both of them very different people. I think there is at least one more book in this series.

It helps to have read the first book in the series, Imprint, to more fully understand some of the plot twists in the middle of the book, because they involve characters only sketched in Dreamer.

Dreamer

Paul Bates

Five Star, Jun 2008, $25.95

ISBN 9781594146428

The government controls everything in the lives of their citizens. They will not allow dissension and harshly eliminate opposition. However, in spite of the government's seemingly total severe control, a rebellious underground exists whose goal is to throw out the current leadership and replace it with their leaders starting with top gun Carpathia Coyle. This opposition has proven at times as ruthless as the government is.

Walter Vellum is rising rapidly up the ladder of the rebels. At the same time of his meteoric assent, his girlfriend and employee at his bar, Jennie Height is beginning to understand her precognitive skills. Her visions are the only thing that keeps the rebels alive as the government crushes their opponents at every turn.

This is an inetresting comination of science fiction and fantasy in a dystopian society. The story line can become a bit bewildering to follow but for the most part is an intriguing tale of rebellion in which the critical players for each side are clairvoyants. Well written and exciting, readers initially will root for the rebels, but soon realize they offer more of the same ruthless oligopoly control as the government does.

Fans of psychic thrillers in a futuristic dystopian world in which the adversaries are two sides of the same coin will appreciate Paul Bates 'fine thriller DREAMERS.

Harriet Klausner