Book of Nightmares

Diadem Worlds of Magic #6

by John Peel

Destiny is not the innocent girl she pretended to be on Earth. She's actually a power-hungry magic-user who has kidnapped Pixel and taken him to a terrible planet called Zarathan - where fears come to life and falling asleep means death!

Helaine and Score embark on a risky mission to rescue their friend. Living skeletons, vampire ghosts, and other mythical monsters from Helaine's imagination attack them mercilessly. But with magic and clever thinking, they manage to fight these ghouls and convince the Fair Folk to lead them to Pixel. But Destiny has blocked their only exit off the planet, and they are exhausted from endless battles. Will the trio find a way off Zarathan before falling into a deadly sleep?

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

John Peel is the author of Doctor Who books and comic strips. Notably, he wrote the first original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Genesys, to launch the Virgin New Adventures line. In the early 1990s he was commissioned by Target Books to write novelisations of several key Terry Nation Dalek stories of the 1960s after the rights were finally worked out. He later wrote several more original Daleks novels.

He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).

Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..

Reviews

[lulzcannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, enough said.

I picked THIS edition of the book to rate, however, because if you arrange all of the books from this publisher in order, placing one beside the other in a line, all of the cover pictures link together. As a kid, I thought this was totally badass.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the last of the original six Diadem books published by Scholastic from 1997 to 1998, after which the middle-grade fantasy series would lie dormant for almost a decade until getting revived under another publisher. Presumably that's also why it's the first volume to end without a cliffhanger lining up the next adventure, just our three exhausted heroes finally sleeping and starting to heal from their latest wounds.

The reason they're so tired is that this story takes them on an endurance trek across the planet Zarathan, where the villain revealed at the end of the previous novel has fled with a kidnapped Pixel in tow and Score and Helaine in swift pursuit. It's a cursed world where nightmares pulled from their subconscious fears come to life and anyone who falls asleep will reportedly never wake up again. That's a particular danger for Pixel, who hasn't exactly been briefed on the deadly circumstances by his devious captor.

It's a fine premise and the atmosphere is spooky enough, but in practice, this title largely amounts to a sequence of episodic combat encounters, none of which seem as revealing as they could have been about the character currently under attack. The best part is that Score and Helaine are on their own for most of the book, which definitely draws them closer together, even if neither is ready to admit their feelings on the subject quite yet. But the overall plot is pretty threadbare, and when the team ultimately reunite and confront the antagonist, she's dispatched fairly easily, without time for any of the last-minute revelations about her backstory and motivations (or Pixel's breakthrough regarding the true nature of their surroundings) to register as especially important. If the saga had ended here for good, I can't say that it would have been at a narrative high point or feeling of significant resolution.

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[Leeanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diadem #6: Book of Nightmares, by John Peel

Pixel's been kidnapped by Destiny and taken to a planet where nightmares become real, a world where if you fall asleep you are lost forever. Score and Helaine, already tired from the attempt on Score's life in "Book of Earth," immediately rush to the planet to save Pixel...but they're in for a constant fight between forces of the planet and their own tiredness.

On a world where bad dreams come true, each must face their own darkest nightmares. However, the key to surviving Zarathon also lies in their dreams, if they can figure out the various puzzles.

For many years, "Book of Nightmares" was the last available Diadem book, and is one of the few to not end on a cliffhanger. If you, and/or your kids love this series, fear not because now there are four new Diadem books for your reading pleasure. But, I have to admit, it is nice to finally see the trio get a rest at the end of this book.

4/5.

[Evelyn (devours and digests words) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why, oh, why is this series so underrated? The world of Diadem deserves more recognition!

[Andrew Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good