Wakeworld (A Book of the Between)
Vivian Maylor is, according to her grandfather, the last Dreamshifter. Weston Jennings is also a Dreamshifter, but he’s always denied the power—especially since a mysterious tragedy in his youth. Vivian loses the man she loves in a dreamworld battle to retrieve a mysterious Key, and is brutally forced back into the waking world and prevented from passing back through dream doors. Meanwhile, Weston returns to his childhood home after losing the two people he was guiding on a hunting trip, and meets Vivian. Weston and Vivian must work together to reenter the dreamworlds, and attempt to prevent the use of the Key by those who would destroy the dreamworlds and thus the very fabric of reality. All the while, Vivian has to fight to find the balance between her human half and the dragon she could become. Weston is facing his own demons, both those of his past and his recent failures. The premise is engaging enough, and while the execution is uneven, it does entertain. The open ending hints at interesting mythological development in store for future installments. --Regina Schroeder