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Dreamer by Paul L. Bates
01/06/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Five Star/Thorndyke Press/Gale Cengage Learning. 326 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US). ISBN: 978-1-59414-642-8. Buy Dreamer in the USA - or Buy Dreamer in the UK  check out website: www.gale.cengage.com
released: 18 June 2008
I read the first book, 'Imprint', a couple years ago. According to the blurb, 'Dreamer' is more a prequel with a little overlap further down the line which roughly translates in not really needing to know what's been going on in the previous book.
This reality is almost a Kafka-like place with a harsh rule and an underground determined to over-throw the regime. Jennie Height has a mixture of abilities that gets her recruited into the Archives for training her talent. Another talented individual, Carpathia Coyle, appears to be playing both sides against the middle. Somewhere in there is a plot to dethrone to leader, Adolph Void.
Beyond the pubs and various fights, you really don't see much else about this reality to determine just why everyone is up in arms or why life is so cheap. Things aren't helped by the fact that author Paul Bates doesn't know how to imbue any emotional content into the proceedings. Whether its violence or the sex scenes, things are so impassive it would be better to wade through a bath of baked beans for all the interest or care you could have in the characters. It's so devoid of emotion it would make a Vulcan blush. In fact, the only reason I persevered outside of me being a reviewer was hoping at some point there was some emotion. It isn't that Bates can't write just that he doesn't invest anything into the characters. They could quite easily be robots for all the difference it makes.
If you like stories with little emotional content then you'll probably be quite happy but otherwise this book probably isn't for you.
GF Willmetts
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