Review: Dream Eater by K. Bird Lincoln

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Dream Eater by K. Bird Lincoln

Publisher: World Weaver Press

Publication date: April 4, 2017

My rating: 3 stars out of 5

Publisher's description

Koi Pierce dreams other peoples' dreams.

Her whole life she's avoided other people. Any skin-to-skin contact--a hug from her sister, the hand of a barista at Stumptown coffee--transfers flashes of that person's most intense dreams. It's enough to make anyone a hermit.

But Koi's getting her act together. No matter what, this time she's going to finish her degree at Portland Community College and get a real life. Of course it's not going to be that easy. Her father, increasingly disturbed from Altzheimer's disease, a dream fragment of a dead girl from the casual brush of a creepy PCC professor's hand, and a mysterious stranger who speaks the same rare Northern Japanese dialect as Koi's father will force Koi to learn to trust in the help of others, as well as face the truth about herself.

My review

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions shared are 100% my own.

Dream Eater is based on ancient legends. While the legends of many different cultures are referenced, Japanese legends are most represented here along with some Pacific Northwest American legends.
Our protagonist, Koi, has an unusual talent. When she touches someone, she takes a dream fragment from that person. Even the barest whisper of a touch will give Koi that person’s dreams. Koi never knows if the dreams she has at night are her own or someone else’s. But problems arise when she starts being pulled into dream fragments in the middle of the day while wide awake. Enter a mysterious (and sexy) stranger and a creepy college professor and Koi’s carefully constructed world of seclusion falls apart.

All in all, I thought the premise of the story was good. I just wish the author had slowed down a little and spent a little more time building the history, lore and relationships. The book felt very frantic and rushed with little time slowing things down to explain. It seemed as if most things were explained in short sentences of dialogue in the midst of a crisis situation. And, while I was willing to suspend my disbelief about Koi (and her father’s) unusual dream abilities, the speed with which Koi’s relationship with Ken progressed (Ken was the mysterious stranger) didn’t ring true to how the author otherwise portrayed Koi. What the author did quite well was descriptive language. The prose was detailed, colorful and very fitting a fantasy novel. There were times I think she could have used a little less of that and done a little more explanation, but it mostly all wrapped up in the end. It appears there will be more stories in this series and the ending is set up in a way to allow for more adventures with Koi and Ken. Now that the basic premise of the series is set up, I will be interested to read more and see how this storyline continues to unfold.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes a lot of action. Though oddly, much of the action is psychological, not physical, the book reads as an action packed thriller with ancient sea serpents, golden thunder birds and a college girl who can eat dreams.