Dreamfarer

Book One of the Dreamfarer Series
By John B. Rosenman
August 17, 2021
240 pages
B0932D1D3K

In a postapocalyptic world where warfare has been shifted into space to preserve what’s left of Earth, the vast majority of the population sleeps in dream units—vast machines where they spend their adult lives existing within a dream of their choosing. Only a few delay the exercise of their dream option to fill essential roles outside the dream chambers. Fewer still eschew this idyllic life entirely in order to service, maintain, and administer the machines and systems for those who sleep. So when Sam Adams awakens from his dream existence as a gunslinger, he’s devastated. Who would willingly choose to live in a war-blasted world, filled with harsh realities that can’t be programmed into something nicer? Sam thinks he would rather be dead—until he meets Trina and learns that things in the real world are not what they seem to be.

What a good start to this series! Several of the story elements brought to mind other great sci-fi stories: descriptions of the dream machine complexes with sleepers in little dream caskets on multiple levels made me think of Neo’s awakening in the Matrix; a particularly disturbing image in one scene brought to mind the Tleilaxu of Dune; and there were several elements of the story that seemed prescient for current events in the U.S. (no spoilers!).

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started reading. But I was quickly hooked. It was easy to feel compassion for the main character, and to understand his struggle to come to terms with his new life. There’s a lot of depth and intricacy to this tale. Author John B. Rosenman did a great job in pulling all the threads of this tale together in a believable way. While Dreamfarer does wrap up all the author’s promises before the end, it also leaves open the way for Sam’s story to continue. I’ve already purchased book two, Go East, Young Man, and plan to start it today.

Definitely recommended.