Book Review: Dreamweavers, Minstrels And Nervous Shakespeare

Book Review Introduction

Mark: Today were gonna discus books. Yes Books.

Raymond Steelskin: Oh Joy! Woo hoo. I’m being sarcastic folks. Hey Readers, my name’s Raymond Steelskin and I’m a fictional unused character from the realms of Mark’s mind who Mark is gonna use in this experimental dialogue style book review. It was actually written in 2020 and somehow never used. Probably cause it was a lame idea. By discussing other books that other people actually wrote he will be talking about characters who made it out of the back corners of other’s minds. He is gonna rub it in my face that these other characters live in actual stories and I’m just here to bounce his other dumb ideas off of.

Mark: Quit your whining. In an attempt to expand my limited mind and reach out to independent writers like myself, about 6 years ago I signed up for Kindle Unlimited. I may do this again. I have limited time, money and attention span and KU is a platform that helps me to save all three in my attempt to read a lot of books and comment on them. Ok. So here are my thoughts on some books I read way back then on Amazon Kindle Unlimited by writers from the Catholic Sci-Fi/Fantasy Writer Geeks group on Facebook. It’s actually more reflections and not actual reviews. All Right.

Raymond Steelskin: Enthrall me. And if you want to learn more about me, click on A Dialogue About Writing With My Fictional Character .

Book 1: Dream Weavers

Mark: First up DreamWeavers by Glen Aitken. It’s about a boy whose father is a dream weaver and his mom was a real human. Like Percy Jackson’s mom and Poseidon.

Raymond Steelskin:

Oh dream weaver

I believe you can get me through the night

Oh dream weaver

I believe we can reach the morning light

YARN | Ooh dream weaver | Gary Wright - DreamWeaver | Video gifs by ...

Dreamweaver:

“He had seen it; a world of myth men knew of only in slumber. This world beneath the world moved people, steering humanity’s course, wading in both good and evil. It was real. It was where his father lived. The Dreamscape dwelt just beneath the surface of the conscious mind, or if you knew the way, through a cave at the end of the dirt road just outside of town. He would meet his father in that cave from time to time and hear about the strange lands and fantastic creatures.”

You see, Dreamweavers sew good dreams into dream blankets and fairies bring the dreams to sleeping children to give them good dreams. But something goes wrong and the nightmare world is trying to take over and bring nightmares into the real world. The land of good dreams is dying. Kind of like the land of Fantasia in the Neverending Story was dying. That is the basic idea behind the story.

Raymond Steelskin: It sounds like a good middle grade fantasy book that I could have starred in.

Mark: Actually, it’s more of a gritty edgy novel for teens as it has the main character cutting himself and doing drugs.

Raymond Steelskin: Oh. It sounded like a fun kind of premise. Is it funny?

Mark: It’s a creative premise with lots of potential. But humor… I wish it had had more humor and world building. It was hard to tell what rules each realm followed and why. It does have interesting characters thou, but I would have worked on the world building more and gave more clarity to what the rules were and what the landscape was. The main character is sort of a depressing individual.

Raymond Steelskin: You said his mom was a real human?

Mark: Don’t want to spoil it.

Book 2: Minstrel

And the other book I want to mention is Minstrel by Bernadette Durbin.

Raymond Steelskin: I’ve dabbled in minstrel type music. What’s that about?

Mark: I’m glad you asked.

Raymond Steelskin: Are you though?

Mark: A princess finds out about a plot against her life and escapes the castle. She disguises herself as boy and runs to another kingdom. There she is discovered by the king sitting in the streets playing her harp. He remembers this tune as he has heard her play it before. The king and princess had a thing going once.

Raymond Steelskin: He doesn’t recognize her.

Mark: He doesn’t, which gives the story it’s reason to exist. She becomes his minstrel and best friend.

Minstrel:

“For her part, Lydia felt as though the days were an idyll, a respite from those horrible months on the streets. The people around her seemed glad—glad!—to have her company. It was as though she’d descended from her tower to find those farmers and riders that she had always waved at, and they were as bright and cheerful as she could have hoped. She still had nightmares on occasion, but she had almost grown used to them, used to starting up in the dark, heart pounding and throat dry. She could calm herself by lying back on the rush-filled bed, and stroking the feather-filled pillow. Nightmares and pillows, she felt, had nothing to do with one another.

Raymond Steelskin: Does he find out her secret.

Mark: You’ll have to read it to find out. It’s overall a fun story that keeps you guessing. You really root for the characters. It gets confusing at times and I don’t know if that is because my mind kept drifting or because the book was actually confusing.

Raymond Steelskin: Sounds interesting. What’s next?

Book 3: The World’s a Stage

Mark: Have you been looking for that calm and collective middle grade novel? One that talks about overcoming your fears especially if you are afraid of performing in front of crowds and have signed up to perform in The Tempest with all your friends?

Raymond Steelskin: Well…I once knew the real Puck from Summer’s Night. Puck the Punk we all called him.

Mark: Ok, well Caritas Adams is back from ‘The Locket’s Secret’ in The World’s a Stage by K. Kelley Heyne.

William Shakespeare: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Raymond Steelskin: This should naturally include elves and other such creatures.

Mark: Not only does she live in the real world, she lives in a fantasy world of her own making where she is the hero and a Princess. If you’re an aspiring actor afraid to set foot on stage, this book is for you.

All the Word’s Stage:

“Friends, Romans, countrymen,” Marisol began, looking seriously out into the crowd and striking an orator’s pose. She held the pose for a second and then relaxed and smiled. “Oh, wait, no,” she said jovially, “we’re not burying Caesar this summer. We’re getting shipwrecked. We’re casting spells. And we’re finding justice! Who’s with me?” she cried. Whoops and hollers erupted all through the audience. Carrie watched, entranced. She had never seen anyone rally troops in real life. She felt her heart responding to this admittedly odd call. Marisol’s charisma was enthralling.”

Raymond Steelskin: What a great speech. I’m an aspiring fictional character waiting to be written about in a well thought out story.