GoodRead - "Mirror Dreams" Review

Dear Dreamer… I mean, Reader.

After tweeting about this book on Twitter a far bit recently (and you can blame the person who uses the Atom Books Twitter [http://twitter.com/AtomBooks] for that) and wanting to review this book for a while, here is me trying to review “Mirror Dreams” by Catherine Webb.

Every human dreams and each of these dreams goes into a kingdom within the Void. Every dream and every nightmare goes into one of these kingdoms. So everything should be well, right? Wrong. People on Earth are falling into comas and don’t wake up, the city of Nightmares, Nightkeep, is growing stronger and there’s something afoot going on in Haven, the City of Dreams. And, against his will, Void wizard Laenan Kite is stuck right in the centre of it…

I discovered this book at an airport. I had read an article on the internet the day before about it and, seeing it, I bought it and that (as well as a slightly battered paperback version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) was my holiday reading.

I fell instantly in love with Mirror Dreams. This book was perfect for a Harry Potter fan who needed a fix while waiting for the fifth Potter book (and whenever I go on holiday from then onwards…). It oozed magic, mayhem, action and snappy dialogue from our highly sardonic hero. I ever love the tagline that on the front cover of my copy – “Laenan Kite Has a Problem – And It All Your Fault”.

This is a strong debut novel from Catherine Webb, who wrote this when she was fourteen and who was sixteen when it got published (and a tiny part of me is very jealous that she got published so young, but also very jealous that my writing is nothing to compared to hers). So much so, that I read all of other novels and was very upset when someone told me, a few days ago, that she wrote under a penname to publish her first adult novel and I didn’t know about it! (The book in question is now on my “To Read” Book Pile…)

If anyone is out there who is looking for magic that might fill the small void that Harry Potter left, this might be the book for you.

PS - Only just remembered this as I grabbed my copy but I met the author (wasn't going to say!) and she signed my Admission Ticket [I didn't bring a book because I didn't know she would be signing!]. It was great to meet her!