Dreamside

Graham Joyce was not an author I was aware of until Neil Gaiman tweeted about his untimely death. So I sought out this book, his first novel, since he seemed to operate in an area of fiction I like.

This is a story about lucid dreaming, the ability to control one's dreams consciously and even interact with other dreamers. Focussing on four students, Ella, Lee, Honora and Brad, who take part in a study on lucid dreaming run by a professor Burns in the 1970's, we follow their struggles to gain and then control the ability to affect their dreams. Joyce's writing here (this part of the story is told in flashback) is wonderful, poetic even. The picture he paints of “Dreamside” is idyllic and the four are excited by the possibilities that lucid dreaming offers.

It is only when the experiment comes to an end, when they decide, rashly, to carry on without supervision, that things take a darker turn. The sexual tensions within the group ultimately lead to tragedy and they splinter.

Thirteen years later (which is when the book opens), the four are troubled by dark dreams again. Someone, or some thing, is stalking them. Something has crossed over from Dreamside and, led by Ella, they must return to undo what was done. The second half of the book is much darker, horror dripping from the page as they struggle to separate reality from dreaming.

Joyce is a good writer and the story rattles along but at one point you are asked to suspend disbelief in order for the plot to advance. And it's a big ask. Some will go with it, as I did, and some won't. But the whole latter part of the book hinges on that choice. For me, at the end, things are never quite explained properly, loose ends never quite tied up satisfactorily. But as a first novel its a million times better than some of the drek that clogs up the best seller shelves. I'll be reading more of Mr Joyce, and if you enjoy fantastical fiction with a dark twist, I'd urge you to do so too.