Dreamhunter: Book One of the Dreamhunter Duet

By Elizabeth Knox

Laura comes from a world similar to our own except for one difference: it is next to the Place, an unfathomable land that fosters dreams of every kind and is inaccessible to all but a select few, the Dreamhunters. These are individuals with special gifts: the ability to catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace, the Rainbow Opera. People travel from all around to experience the benefits of the hunters' unique visions.

Now fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose, daughters of Dreamhunters, are eligible to test themselves at the Place and find out whether they qualify for the passage. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to discover. For within the Place lies a horrific secret kept hidden by corrupt members of the government. And when Laura's father, the man who discovered the Place, disappears, she realizes that this secret has the power to destroy everyone she loves . . .

In the midst of a fascinating landscape, Laura's dreamy childhood is ending and a nightmare beginning. This rich novel, filled with beauty, danger, politics, and intrigue, comes to a powerful crescendo, leaving readers clamoring for Book Two.

Dreamhunter is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

"It is like nothing else I've ever read." -- Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Saga

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781466886704

Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Knox has published several novels for adults and children, as well as autobiographical novellas. Her acclaimed adult novel The Vintner's Luck (1998) was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 1999, and was made into a feature film in 2009. In 2008, her YA novel Dreamquake won an American Library Association's Michael L Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. Elizabeth lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Reviews for Dreamhunter

[peterwhitfield · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book, mainly for the intriguing plot and world. The writing is not anything special, but I want to find out what happens in the sequel!

[jennie_103 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just couldn't get into this one - too futuristic/other world orientated with a world I didn't like and characters I just didn't care enough about.

[robertalea-223265 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting concept for this duet of books. A place where people can go to get dreams to share with the populace. Now only certain people have the ability to hunt and capture the dreams and share them. Many have made money by sharing the dreams in a theater where people can come and sleep and enjoy the dreams If you are a reader of fantasy and haven't read this, you need to.

[renkellym · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dreamhunter is a YA fantasy that takes the genre back to its roots. Gone are the paranormal creatures that we know so well—Dreamhunter introduces a completely new concept. Elizabeth Knox blends the historical setting with the fantasy elements effortlessly, and the world she builds is absolutely incredible. The history of the Place and the dreamhunters is laid out expertly in the first few chapters, and every part of the story is described with vivid imagery.Some readers may give up initially because of the dense and very descriptive prose (Knox’s style is more like that of an adult fantasy than a YA), but the story is completely worth the extra time required to read Dreamhunter. The characters are memorable (especially the adults), and the political intrigue is just that—intriguing.This is my second read-through of Dreamhunter, and I have also read the sequel, Dreamquake. It’s true that Dreamhunter ends on a nasty cliffhanger, so readers will definitely be eager for the second installment. Because I have read Dreamquake, I will say that if you’re thinking about skipping the sequel, DON’T. Dreamquake answers all the questions left unanswered in the first book, and the twists in the story are almost mind-blowing.To sum things up, I most definitely recommend Dreamhunter. It’s a fantastic YA fantasy, and I absolutely love it (Really. I sing its praises in real life, too). If you’re looking for a change of pace from the typical paranormal fantasy, look no further. Dreamhunter’s got you covered. (Originally posted to 365 Days of Reading)

[susan259 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simply beautiful, perfect story. Love the characters, the setting, the otherworldliness of their world...

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the island nation of Southland - a sort of alternative New Zealand settled by immigrants from both Britain and the Aegean island of Elprus - a strange phenomenon had been discovered. "The Place," as it was known, was an alternate dimension, existing alongside the everyday one in the Rifleman Mountains, and accessible only to a few. A strange, dusty world, constantly illuminated by a diffuse light, it was a source of incredible dreams - dreams that could be harvested by those known as Dreamhunters, brought out into the larger world of Southland, and transmitted to others. And so an industry was born, as dream parlors and dream palaces flourished, and an entire infrastructure developed - all regulated by the Intangible Resources Act, and enforced by the Dream Regulatory Body.In 1906, some twenty years after the discovery of The Place by a violinist named Tziga Hame, whose family came from Elprus, and were reputedly descended from Lazarus (ie, Lazarus of Bethany), Dreamhunter opens, following the story of the extended Hame/Tiebold family, and focusing on two young women: Laura Hame, daughter of the famed Tziga, and her cousin Rose Tiebold, daughter of another famed Dreamhunter, Grace Tiebold. As the girls prepare for their Try - in which they test whether they can enter The Place, and possibly become Dreamhunters themselves - their world is shaken by a series of tragic and terrifying events. Tziga, under contract to the Department of Corrections to supply "Think Again Dreams" for prisoner rehabilitation, disappears; only one of the cousins (despite their strong expectations otherwise) is able to enter the place; and a sinister conspiracy, one involving the use of dreams and Dreamhunters to influence the political life of the nation, emerges. As each member of this close-knit family struggles with larger issues, they must also contend with the changing nature of their familial bonds, and their relationships with one another.Thought-provoking, original, and - in the end - deeply moving, Dreamhunter is a book I would recommend to readers who enjoy fantasy with a little philosophical heft. So many fascinating questions are raised, in the course of the story, from the nature of dreams themselves, to the proper response to state misconduct. I appreciated the fact that Knox does not always depict her characters as knowing the correct (or any) answers to these questions, or following the correct path. In fact, the entire final sequence, in which Laura commits an act of mass brutality and dream terrorism, at the behest of her missing father, points to the fact that these characters are anything but generic cookie-cutter cut-outs, firmly in either the "good guy" or "bad guy" camp. On the contrary, Knox's characters, from the Hames and Tiebolds, to figures like Mamie and Cas Doran, are complex and true-to-life, and witnessing their interaction with one another, the ways that they negotiate their ever-changing relationships, is one of the great joys of the story.I thought Knox brilliantly captured the surreal quality of dreams, and the dream-world in this first entry in her Dreamhunter Duet. In fact, she captured that feeling almost too well, something that created a sense, not of being repelled, in the course of my reading, but of being slowed (sometimes almost to a crawl). I found it difficult to read as quickly as I would have, if this had been any other book, as I needed to savor, and to think about what I was reading. I found that I simply couldn't race through it, as I've done with so many other, more plot-centric stories, but really had to think about what Knox was depicting. I found her use of the Lazarus character, and of the golem-like Nown, immensely fascinating, as it raised additional questions about the nature of creation, and of the (porous) division between humanity and divinity: What does it mean, to create a being? What obligations do the creator and created have, to one another?It is this last - the questions raised by the creation of the sandman Nown (and what an inspired thing, that he is a sandman, when one considers that this is also a tale about dreaming) - that really makes the story stand out to me, from an emotional perspective. I found the exchanges between Laura and Nown to be immensely moving, as Laura seeks to understand her creation - how he thinks, why he responds the way he does - and comes to love him. There is a distinct effort being made here - nothing comes naturally, or free from strain - knowledge has to be won, after a struggle. And I think that is true for the reader as well: there is a struggle involved, in reading this book... but by the end, I was convinced that it was worth the effort.

[jeremypreacher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Neat stuff. The "magic" (the dreams and hunting thereof) is fascinating and internally consistent, the characters are well-rounded (particularly the main characters, two entirely believable teenage girls who avoid many of the traps of young-adult-novel teen girls) and the greater implications of the dreams on society are carefully explored.

The "Duet" is basically the a single book and should probably be read as such.

[bunwat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really, really enjoyed this. I think if you are going to write about dreams and dreaming then I really want some flavor of strangeness, of dream logic, of a world altered. I got it here. Lovely prose, strange half understood things, and a golem for goodness sakes, what more could I want?

Between Elizabeth Knox, and Garth Nix I think I'm going to have to start paying more attention to authors from down under! And I've already got the second book of the duet on hold at the library.

[vpfluke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book two years ago, and failed to review it at that time. The basic premise is that dreams can be shared with others, and that special youn people can collect dreams from a sort of forbidden territory, which can be treacherous to explore. There are theaters where these dreams are shared. This is also a coming of age novel. A single significant railroad line links the main town with the coastal areas, and there is almost a hint of steampunk in the way the novel is written. The author is a New Zealander, and one can imagine that the novel's setting is a New Zealand of a 100 years ago. The fantasy does not seem derivative, and the reading of the first book in the series was extremely satisfying.

[ignolopi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Laura and Rose are best friends, each eagerly awaiting to be chosen to be a dreamhunter and have a future catching dreams in The Place. In the world Knox has created, dreams are caught and sold like rare delectable animals. The quality of the dream depends on the type of story, the clarity of images and emotions, the length of the dream. People gather in huge buildings for a little nap as we would gather in a symphony hall to experience the wondrous dreams. While Rose fully expects to be chosen to be a dreamhunter, Laura is unsure of herself, and both are surprised when the choice is made. Laura follows in her family's footsteps to become a dream-hunter... but the dreams she finds aren't the normal kind.Dreamhunter is like a slice out of reality doused with a bit of magic. Immediately after reading you will desire the sequel, Dreamquake, so be sure to have it ready at hand. Dreamhunter falls in the Young Adult category, but, as with books like the Hunger Games and the Thief, I was able to enjoy it and hold onto it as material good for multiple reads.

[fsmichaels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent read and original concept, thought all the way through. Very well done.

[jasmyn9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Place is where dreamhunters go to find dreams. Dreams that are very different than the ones we have ourselves. These dreams can be shared and shown in a way similar to our movies. Only a select few have the ability to capture dreams from the Place and share them with other nearby sleepers. Laura and her father are two of these people.When Laura's father, the first dreamhunter known to exist, disappears she has to follow a strange trail of clues to find out what he was working on. A trail that leads to many disturbing discoveries. Will she have to strength to carry on and follow in his footsteps, or will she instead choose to follow the status quo and let his knowledge disappear as he did?I found the story fascinating. There were so many different levels of relationships and personalities that were explored without making the characters overly complicated. The world was where the author lost me a little. There was so much that I just didn't understand. While it was all made clear as the story continued on, I feel like there were many things that I missed and would have understood or appreciated more had I known more about the world itself. It led to a bit of a disjointed story.3/5

[suzanne520 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Ever have a book you wish you could rate with negative stars???I couldn't even push myself through this one.I originally wanted to read this book because Stephenie Meyer said it was awesome on her website. I figured, well, the twilight series was awesome, the hunger games series which she also rated was awesome, so why not this one? I couldn't have been more wrong.I started this book a week ago and I have been on vacation this week and still only made it to page 260. This book became a chore instead of an enjoyable read.Elizabeth Knox undoubtedly has a vivid imagination. Unfortunately she puts it to use describing hair, flowers, scenery, houses, etc. For every thirty pages of description of scenery, there was one page for plot. Not that I dislike a descriptive book, I often actually complain if a book is not descriptive enough. However, this book felt like she threw an abundance of description in there to make up for the fact that she can't carry a story to save her life.The characters are also weak. I found that I could care less what happened to them, as long as the book was over.I am so disapointed in this book, and would not reccomend it to anyone. Last night, after quitting my attempt to read this book, I found myself wondering what dirt Elizabeth Knox had on Stephenie Meyer to get her to say this book was good. Because I have to believe if Stephenie Meyer actually did read this book she would have posted that it was terrible.

[hmz1505 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I ordered this book for my middle school library about a year ago and never got around to reading it. I kind of forgot about it until recently. It is on the list of book options for a class I am taking so I finally picked it up. I really enjoyed it and I can't exactly say why. It certainly isn't fast paced but it still kept my attention. I think what I liked most was the way that it worked so many elements together without being fragmented....fantasy, social critique, political aspects, family/relational issues....it got me thinking on a lot of different levels. Well done!

[karinaw_19 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Personal Response:This is a very thought provoking book. It has elements of both science fiction and fantasy but is not a light, quick read. The story challenges the reader to analyze whether the dreams, which can be very pleasurable, are really a good thing. The dreams are a form of escapism in some forms and this can happen in real life too. Curricular/Programming Connections:Read with a SciFi/Fantasy book club

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book took me awhile to read. However, by the end of the story, I immediately went looking for book 2. The Place can only be entered by Dreamhunters, to collect dreams and then share them in public performances. When Laura's dad goes missing, he leaves her the task of collecting the dark dream in order to wake up the general public about some dark dealings of members of the government.

[callmecayce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dreamhunter is a book about dreams, but moreso, it's a book about dreaming. Cousins Laura and Rose seem destined to become Dreamhunters, like their parents. Except in Laura's case, she's not so sure that she's going to become one, while Rose is certain. When the time comes to find out, both girls are in for a surprise. While it sounds cliche, it's actually fascinating, especially when the girls realize that something's not quite with their world.

[ceridwynr · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Throughout DreamHunter I kept trying to analyse the writing, which I thought wasn’t working for me. Then I’d get caught up and intrigued by the plot and fail to analyse the book because I was submerging myself in it instead. I always felt at a remove from the characters, probably because I was constantly being told, rather than shown, what they thought and felt. The only character I had my own visceral response to was NOWN, who I adored, because of the lack of explanation as to his thinking. It almost made him my point of view character, which I don’t think was the intention.That being said, Elizabeth Knox has an incredibly individual voice. Sometimes I love it (The Vintner’s Luck, Billie’s Kiss) and sometimes I can’t stomach it at all (Black Oxen). DreamHunter fell far more into the former camp, though I don’t think it’s anywhere near her best work.DreamHunter is an interesting example of the author overtly telling everything about the world that the characters know. It also sometimes tells us about the characters’ emotions rather than letting us figure them out from their actions. Yet strangely it works because of the convoluted and fascinating plot and because the ideas are so intriguing.The world of DreamHunter really feels like an alternate Earth, so everything feels very real. She’s changed the details around the settlement of Aotearoa in a minor way and introduced one ‘magic’ event and that makes it very convincing – especially as she’s obviously well-researched that kind of late-Victorian frontier town. I did wonder, however, about the lack of Maori (or equivalent native people).Laura develops beautifully into her own woman, changing a lot throughout the course of the book; Rose has a lovely strength in adversity and is smart. Neither of them is perfect and both have interesting character flaws that add to the plot and the emotional life of the book. Chorley also feels three-dimensional, I liked the way he was spoilt but determined and the way his non-dreaming ability contrasted with the other two adults and the way that made him active.

[phoebesmum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best and most original fantasies, YA or other, that I've read in years. In a world where 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight' dominate the bestsellers charts, how is it possible that I only stumbled upon this wonderful book by accident?

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laura and Rose have been inseparable since birth. They are cousins, both the daughters of dreamhunters, and expect to soon be allowed into the Place to catch dreams themselves. Only certain people can enter the Place, and even fewer of them have the ability to catch dreams that can then be shared with the populace - exciting dreams like Wild River or healing dreams like Convalescent One. But there seems to be something inexplicably sinister about them...This first book in the Dreamhunter Duet takes awhile to get going, but once it does it's a compelling read. The story sometimes gets sidetracked into history of dreamhunting or other explication, but the world Knox creates is rich as a result. Mostly told from Laura's perspective, we see her change from a young teen who follows her cousin's lead to someone who takes action.

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Place exists next to the real world. Only dreamhunters and rangers can go into the Place, and for the former, there is much profit to be made bringing dreams out to share in the dream palaces. But what the Place is, no one really knows.In a slightly alternate earth, 15-year-old Laura is a newly minted dreamhunter - she can go into the Place and retrieve dreams to share. But there is something sinister brewing. Laura's father is missing, maybe dead, and he's left her a mysterious helper and a dangerous task to accomplish. This is an slow-moving, complex, and extremely dense book. Readers who like it will definitely want to read the sequel, as the first book leaves more questions open than it answers. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, not being light, fluffy and easily grasped, but it was worth the time spent, nonetheless.

[emitnick_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This takes place in what feels like our Earth of 1905, except that the action takes place on an island on which there is a mysterious Place - an oblong section that only a select few can enter. Of these, some are Dreamers, with the ability to catch dreams and bring them out for others to enjoy (or not, if the dreams happen to be nightmares). The action centers around a family of renowned Dreamhunters, including two teenaged cousins. Rose has Tried and failed to become a Dreamer, while Laura has clearly inherited her family's amazing skills. What she has also inherited is the troubling certainty that the Place is trying to warn her about a terrible injustice that is being done.
Although not quite as atmospheric, this fantasy has much of the same imaginative appeal as Garth Nix's Sabriel trilogy. Fans of Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty will also find much to enjoy. Well-written, enthralling, and - lucky us - the first of a duet.

[mrshillreads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I must be getting slow in my old age because I had a hard time figuring out what what happening in the beginning of this book; however, I found the concept fascinating and the family/friend relationships were interesting.

[hoosgracie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in 1906 in an alternative world, where "Dreamhunters" go to The Place to harvest dreams which they present at dream palaces. Laura and Rose are cousins and a part of a famous Dreamhunter family. A very original fantasy, lovely.

[ascexis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not as magical as I thought it could have been. Suffers from the fashion for gritty reality done with a too adult voice. Joan Aiken does this kind of thing much, much better.