Dreambound by Dan Frey
In this thrilling contemporary fantasy novel, a father must uncover the secret magical underbelly of Los Angeles to find his daughter, who has seemingly disappeared into the fictional universe of her favorite fantasy series.
When Byron Kidd’s twelve-year-old daughter vanishes, the only clue left behind is a note claiming she’s taken off to explore the Hidden World, a magical land from a series of popular novels. She is not the only child to seek out this imaginary realm in recent years, and Byron—a cynical and hard-nosed reporter—is determined to discover the whereabouts of dozens of missing kids.
Byron secures a high-profile interview with Annabelle Tobin, the eccentric author of the books, and heads off to her palatial home in the Hollywood Hills. But the truth Byron discovers is more fantastical than he ever could have dreamed.
As he uncovers locations from the books that seem to be bleeding into the real world, he must shed his doubts and dive headfirst into the mystical secrets of Los Angeles if he ever hopes to reunite with his child. Soon Byron finds himself on his own epic journey—but if he’s not careful, he could be the next one to disappear…
Told through journal entries, transcripts, emails, and excerpts from Tobin’s novels, Dreambound is a spellbinding homage to Los Angeles and an immersive and fast-paced story of how far a father will go-even delving into impossible worlds-to save his daughter.
Review:
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m going to admit, I almost gave up on this one early on. The book is not a narrative but made up of various types of documents like emails, notes, transcripts of conversations, police reports, Reddit posts and web articles. I had a really difficult time settling into it, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I ended up really enjoying the story.
How many times have we, as readers, found ourselves completely obsessed with a book series? I have several. When I was a kid, I crawled into my grandmother’s wardrobe and fell asleep while I waited for the back to open up to Narnia. In high school, I fantasized about moving to Sweet Valley so I could be friends with Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield at Sweet Valley High and who didn’t want to get a letter from Hogwarts?
In this book, 12-year-old Liza Kidd disappears one night, leaving only a note telling her parents that she’s left their home in Boston and gone to find The Hidden World – the setting in a very popular book series and one that Liza is obsessed with. Her investigative reporter father Byron is desperate to find her. After six months, her mother is doing her best to move on and accept that Liza isn’t coming back, but Byron is certain she’s still out there. When he learns her cellphone pinged somewhere in Los Angeles, he packs a bag and takes off across the country to find his daughter.
Byron’s initial thought is that Liza fell prey to some sort of human trafficking crew, but the further he immerses himself in the lore of The Hidden World, the more he reluctantly realizes that this fantasy world of faeries and magical creatures might just be real – and more dangerous than he could have thought. And could the author of the books be behind it all?
The story is wildly inventive. Once I got about 75 pages in, I was invested in the story and the style of the book started to grow on me. Would I have preferred a more narrative approach? Absolutely, but in the end, this style, while annoying in the beginning, ended up working.
I will say that I had several questions and doubts toward the end, and when I would find what appeared to be a continuity issue, the author quickly corrected it. I tend to over-analyze and find plot holes and consistency issues very easily, but the author did a great job of threading things together and making it make sense – even for an overly critical reader such as myself.
One thing that I did find somewhat annoying were the redacted bits when the character of Byron was journaling about what was happening. He often thinks that something fantastical is at play, but then crosses these thoughts out to keep himself grounded in reality. Style-wise, I get why the author added these bits, but I got annoyed with them because they felt almost like road bumps that would temporarily take me out of the story. The further Byron goes, though, the fewer redactions there are as he begins to accept that maybe something magical is at play.
If the premise of this one interests you, I would definitely recommend checking it out. It reads as a blend of crime and fantasy – something I’ve not read before. If you get frustrated, stick with it. Once you get used to the way it is written, you’ll be in for a fun ride.
