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The Dream Slayer (Volume 1)

The Dream Slayer - Jill  Cooper
3.5*

The cover art on this book is really appealing and had I seen it in a book shop I would be instantly drawn to it, after scanning the blurb I would have bought it, and after reading the book I wouldn’t have been disappointed.

The Dream Slayer is an interesting story, Natalie Johnson has two lives. Her real life is quite depressing she is bullied by the ‘popular’ girl Sarah, she lives with a drunken, verbally abusive father and a mother who is too tolerant of his brutish behaviour. Her other life is in the dream world where she is strong and confident, the slayer of all things evil and the protector of her town. When Sarah turns up at the pep rally cut bruised and dying, Natalie has a sense of de ja vu and remembers Sarah died in her dream too. It soon becomes clear that both her lives are blending into one and she has to find a way to save her family and the town for real.

I couldn’t help but think of ‘Buffy the vampire Slayer’ while I was reading this, obviously there were differences, the dream world and the real world etc but once the picture of Sarah Michele Gellar was planted in my head it was the only image I had for Natalie and the story played out for me like an episode of that show. There were a few places once the dream world seeped over that I got a little confused and wasn’t sure which dimension I was in but it kind of sorted itself out in my brain with a little mind juggle and deep thoughtsy!

I enjoyed the writing style it wasn’t heavily laden with big words and unnatural dialogue, the teenagers sounded like teenagers and the adults sounded like adults so it was a comfortable read. The ‘dream’ slayer part of the book was new to me but like I said the actual slayer didn’t feel so unique. I enjoyed the read and was able to escape for a few hours while I read it, it left me satisfied but not overly excited about the book. I would definitely read more work by this author and more tales about Natalie and her friends should there be a sequel.

Copy supplied for review