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Behind the Walls of Sleep #1
Messenger
When we close our eyes at night, we all see the same ancient place. Exploring Astra is like living a video game. Tomorrow, I’m going goblin-tipping with some of the other wizards. The first rule of being a dream wizard is “no photos.” You don’t want the bad guys finding you where you have no powers. The waking world sucks.
Since Mom went to prison, the Nevada foster system sent me to Minnesota to meet an Uncle Joe I never knew I had. Snow loses its charm after five days. Only music and the dreams make my life bearable.
The weird thing is that elements of the worlds are bleeding into each other. Someone is trying to kill me, and I’m not sure who: the criminal underworld, the elves, or the crazy wizard causing these freaky storms.
Since Mom went to prison, the Nevada foster system sent me to Minnesota to meet an Uncle Joe I never knew I had. Snow loses its charm after five days. Only music and the dreams make my life bearable.
The weird thing is that elements of the worlds are bleeding into each other. Someone is trying to kill me, and I’m not sure who: the criminal underworld, the elves, or the crazy wizard causing these freaky storms.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 8, 2014
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Scott Rhine
39 books58 followersScott Rhine wanted to find a job that combined his love of reading with math problem solving, so he studied both short stories and computer languages. As a techno-gypsy, he worked on optimizing some of the fastest and largest supercomputers in the world. A couple of degrees, patents, and children later, at forty-eight, he still didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up. When his third publication "Doors to Eternity" unexpectedly hit #16 on the Amazon epic fantasy list, he decided to retire from engineering in order to become a full-time author. Humor is a part of every story he writes because people are funny, even when they don't think so. In the real world, something always goes wrong and people have flaws. If you can't laugh at yourself, someone is probably doing it for you. Strong female characters also play a major role in his stories because he's married to a beautiful PhD who can edit, break boards, and use a chainsaw.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 14, 2014
Book Info: Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: Fans of character-driven YA fantasy, sword and sorcery, alternate worlds, role-playing games, Native American legends and lore
Trigger Warnings: fighting, bullying including attempted murder, violence, killing, murder
My Thoughts: This is book 1 in the Behind the Walls of Sleep series. While I normally edit for this author, I was unable to do so for this book due to my recent cancer diagnosis, so instead I am reading it for review.
This is not a book for someone who likes a lot of shoot'em up bang-bang action, as a great deal of the story revolves around Daniel learning who he is, both in the waking world and in Astra, and his abilities and talents begin to manifest in both areas. Overall this is quite different from most of Rhine's other works, but still a great story. If you like strongly character-driven coming-of-age YA fantasy, including elements of sword and sorcery, role-playing and even Native American lore and legends, then snatch up this new book. It actually just became available on Amazon today, 4/13/14.
Meanwhile, book 2, Shaman, should be out by summer, if not sooner. Watch for it.
Disclosure: I was given an early version of this book and asked for my opinion. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: When we close our eyes at night, we all see the same ancient place. Exploring Astra is like living a video game. Tomorrow, I’m going goblin-tipping with some of the other wizards. The first rule of being a dream wizard is “no photos.” You don’t want the bad guys finding you where you have no powers. The waking world sucks.
Since Mom went to prison, the Nevada foster system sent me to Minnesota to meet an Uncle Joe I never knew I had. Snow loses its charm after five days. Only music and the dreams make my life bearable.
The weird thing is that elements of the worlds are bleeding into each other. Someone is trying to kill me, and I’m not sure who: the criminal underworld, the elves, or the crazy wizard causing these freaky storms.
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: Fans of character-driven YA fantasy, sword and sorcery, alternate worlds, role-playing games, Native American legends and lore
Trigger Warnings: fighting, bullying including attempted murder, violence, killing, murder
My Thoughts: This is book 1 in the Behind the Walls of Sleep series. While I normally edit for this author, I was unable to do so for this book due to my recent cancer diagnosis, so instead I am reading it for review.
This is not a book for someone who likes a lot of shoot'em up bang-bang action, as a great deal of the story revolves around Daniel learning who he is, both in the waking world and in Astra, and his abilities and talents begin to manifest in both areas. Overall this is quite different from most of Rhine's other works, but still a great story. If you like strongly character-driven coming-of-age YA fantasy, including elements of sword and sorcery, role-playing and even Native American lore and legends, then snatch up this new book. It actually just became available on Amazon today, 4/13/14.
Meanwhile, book 2, Shaman, should be out by summer, if not sooner. Watch for it.
Disclosure: I was given an early version of this book and asked for my opinion. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: When we close our eyes at night, we all see the same ancient place. Exploring Astra is like living a video game. Tomorrow, I’m going goblin-tipping with some of the other wizards. The first rule of being a dream wizard is “no photos.” You don’t want the bad guys finding you where you have no powers. The waking world sucks.
Since Mom went to prison, the Nevada foster system sent me to Minnesota to meet an Uncle Joe I never knew I had. Snow loses its charm after five days. Only music and the dreams make my life bearable.
The weird thing is that elements of the worlds are bleeding into each other. Someone is trying to kill me, and I’m not sure who: the criminal underworld, the elves, or the crazy wizard causing these freaky storms.
July 11, 2014
Daniel’s had a rough life and when his mother went to prison he’s sent to live with his Uncle Joe’s family. Daniel does have a secret – when he goes to sleep he wakes in Astra, a whole different world which is like a video game. Astra and his music make life bearable at Uncle Joe’s house. Yet Astra and the real world are starting to blend together and this is not a good thing. Can Daniel figure out why this is happening and make the right choices – not only in a land where almost anything goes, but in real life, too? MESSENGER is the first book in the Behind the Walls of Sleep series featuring Daniel Proud. Daniel had been in a horrible car accident which cost him a lot physically, as well as the life of his little brother. With his mother in prison and no other family, Daniel gets shuffled around like so much paperwork. Until he goes to live with his Uncle Joe – his mother’s brother – and also discovers Astra. MESSENGER is a coming-of-age story told in a very different way. I can see it appealing to video game and fantasy fans. There are a mixture of different spiritual beliefs and cultures contained within the story, which help to shape Daniel as we follow his adventures. Even with the abrupt ending (leading into a sequel), MESSENGER had a steady pace, a good message, and interesting characters. I’ll definitely be reading the sequel!
July 26, 2014
After a car accident leaves his younger brother dead and sends his mother to jail, fourteen-year-old Daniel discovers he is one of those rare people with the ability to travel to an alternate world when he sleeps. Forced to spend his days with an adopted family that could be described as a midwesternized version of the Dursleys (ala Harry Potter), Daniel looks forward to his nights when he can escape his mundane life and travel to this strange new world in pursuit of action and adventure.
The first half of the story plays out much as you’d expect, with most of the story focusing on his adventures in the dream world, interspersed with short scenes demonstrating how crappy his life is during the day. Once Daniel comes up to speed with his new surroundings, he joins a band of adventurers (other people with the same dreamwalking ability) and embarks on quests to build up his experience and bank account. Anyone who has played MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) will feel right at home with this book. Plenty of unusual things are happening in this alternate world—mysterious storms, political intrigue, unexplained deaths—and it appears that Daniel will be the hero destined to set things right.
But then the story throws you a curve. His adoptive family stops acting so Dursleyish, Daniel discovers he has a knack for music, and suddenly his day life becomes just as important to the story as his nighttime excursions, especially as he struggles to keep the two worlds from affecting each other.
What I liked: The writing was good and tension continued to build throughout the story. I found the world imaginative and fun to explore, and it was refreshing to see a story that utilized folklore from less used sources (Native American, for example) instead of depending entirely on European mythology. Also, in these kinds of stories it’s usually the lessons the main character learns in the alternate world that teach him how to behave in real life. By the time you get to the second half of the book, it’s his real life experiences that are teaching him how to behave in the alternate world. A nice twist.
What I didn’t like: The story felt a little disjointed at the beginning, although it smoothed out by the end of the first chapter, so don’t base your opinion of the book on the early pages. And Daniel seemed to accept this whole dream world concept much too easily for my tastes. I suspect the author just wanted to get on with the adventure, but a little skepticism on Daniel’s part at the beginning would have seemed more realistic to me and could have revealed more about his character.
I also felt some of the rules explaining how or why various things worked in the dream world could have been described in more detail. I’m not asking for infodumps, but there were times when complex concepts were summed up in a single sentence that might leave some readers confused. It’s not necessary to have played role playing games to follow some of these explanations, but it helps.
To be honest, my biggest disappointment was with the ending. I’m not going to give away any spoilers here, but after spending most of the book setting up all sorts of mysteries for Daniel to solve and introducing us to the bad guy who grows ever more powerful over the course of the book, the story just kind of ends, leaving most of these issues unresolved. Apparently, some of these plotlines are addressed in the next book, but I would have liked more of them resolved in this book.
Still, I enjoyed the book, which is as much about Daniel growing up as it is about his adventures in a strange world. I’m giving Messenger a 4 out of 5, knocking off a half star because of the ending.
The first half of the story plays out much as you’d expect, with most of the story focusing on his adventures in the dream world, interspersed with short scenes demonstrating how crappy his life is during the day. Once Daniel comes up to speed with his new surroundings, he joins a band of adventurers (other people with the same dreamwalking ability) and embarks on quests to build up his experience and bank account. Anyone who has played MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) will feel right at home with this book. Plenty of unusual things are happening in this alternate world—mysterious storms, political intrigue, unexplained deaths—and it appears that Daniel will be the hero destined to set things right.
But then the story throws you a curve. His adoptive family stops acting so Dursleyish, Daniel discovers he has a knack for music, and suddenly his day life becomes just as important to the story as his nighttime excursions, especially as he struggles to keep the two worlds from affecting each other.
What I liked: The writing was good and tension continued to build throughout the story. I found the world imaginative and fun to explore, and it was refreshing to see a story that utilized folklore from less used sources (Native American, for example) instead of depending entirely on European mythology. Also, in these kinds of stories it’s usually the lessons the main character learns in the alternate world that teach him how to behave in real life. By the time you get to the second half of the book, it’s his real life experiences that are teaching him how to behave in the alternate world. A nice twist.
What I didn’t like: The story felt a little disjointed at the beginning, although it smoothed out by the end of the first chapter, so don’t base your opinion of the book on the early pages. And Daniel seemed to accept this whole dream world concept much too easily for my tastes. I suspect the author just wanted to get on with the adventure, but a little skepticism on Daniel’s part at the beginning would have seemed more realistic to me and could have revealed more about his character.
I also felt some of the rules explaining how or why various things worked in the dream world could have been described in more detail. I’m not asking for infodumps, but there were times when complex concepts were summed up in a single sentence that might leave some readers confused. It’s not necessary to have played role playing games to follow some of these explanations, but it helps.
To be honest, my biggest disappointment was with the ending. I’m not going to give away any spoilers here, but after spending most of the book setting up all sorts of mysteries for Daniel to solve and introducing us to the bad guy who grows ever more powerful over the course of the book, the story just kind of ends, leaving most of these issues unresolved. Apparently, some of these plotlines are addressed in the next book, but I would have liked more of them resolved in this book.
Still, I enjoyed the book, which is as much about Daniel growing up as it is about his adventures in a strange world. I’m giving Messenger a 4 out of 5, knocking off a half star because of the ending.
May 26, 2014
“Messenger” by Scott Rhine is the first book in his YA fantasy series entitled “Behind the Walls of Sleep”. It is Rhine’s first attempt at writing for the YA market and I can easily see how it could tap into the mind-set of online game playing teens the world over. The story follows Daniel, a young teenager who has suffered a terrible accident in his past which led to his mother going to prison and his movement between foster families before his unknown relatives took him in. Whilst living with them, Daniel soon discovers that whilst he dreams he can pass through into another world reminiscent of a roleplaying video game where wizards and barbarians roam. However, before long it becomes clear that what he is doing in one world is upsetting people in the other and Daniel’s life is far from being safe in either place.
My first impressions of the book was that the sections in the dreaming world really did feel like I was following someone’s adventure in a game such as World of Warcraft with respawn points, loot, NPC style characters and quests clearly evident throughout. All you would have needed to was switch the going to sleep for powering on the PC and it would have easily fit. The interesting bit here is that I found most of the charters in this world to be rather flat and uninspiring but I actually found that this enhanced that online game feel and made it all feel very familiar.
The real meat of the story to me however was in the real world; it was here that I found some more development in the characters which contrasted wonderfully with the dream world. It is also here that Rhine really tries to tap into the YA writing elements of showing Daniel’s attempts at discovering who he is and what he wants to truly wants become.
It was actually nice to see Rhine slowdown his pacing with this book as many times in the past I have found his work to quickly launch the reader from one fast paced section to the other which can be fun to follow but does sometimes leave the reader feeling dizzy. Yes, the dream world still seems a bit madcap and fast but this worked due to the nature of the world itself and was again wonderfully contrasted by a slower and further developed real world story.
My biggest issue with the story is the ending which left me feeling rather disappointed as it is all rather sudden without any real resolutions. I know it is setting up for the sequel but I do still like to see some sort of reasoned ending to a book in any series and I felt that this was missing from this novel.
Overall, this was a very different book from what I have seen before from Rhine which was actually nice to see. I think he has done a great job in trying to reach the YA audience, especially those who enjoy online gaming and fantasy adventures. Personally, whilst I am not the target audience I still appreciated the story, helped along I am sure by my own love of gaming so I know that I will be picking up the sequel when it is released.
My first impressions of the book was that the sections in the dreaming world really did feel like I was following someone’s adventure in a game such as World of Warcraft with respawn points, loot, NPC style characters and quests clearly evident throughout. All you would have needed to was switch the going to sleep for powering on the PC and it would have easily fit. The interesting bit here is that I found most of the charters in this world to be rather flat and uninspiring but I actually found that this enhanced that online game feel and made it all feel very familiar.
The real meat of the story to me however was in the real world; it was here that I found some more development in the characters which contrasted wonderfully with the dream world. It is also here that Rhine really tries to tap into the YA writing elements of showing Daniel’s attempts at discovering who he is and what he wants to truly wants become.
It was actually nice to see Rhine slowdown his pacing with this book as many times in the past I have found his work to quickly launch the reader from one fast paced section to the other which can be fun to follow but does sometimes leave the reader feeling dizzy. Yes, the dream world still seems a bit madcap and fast but this worked due to the nature of the world itself and was again wonderfully contrasted by a slower and further developed real world story.
My biggest issue with the story is the ending which left me feeling rather disappointed as it is all rather sudden without any real resolutions. I know it is setting up for the sequel but I do still like to see some sort of reasoned ending to a book in any series and I felt that this was missing from this novel.
Overall, this was a very different book from what I have seen before from Rhine which was actually nice to see. I think he has done a great job in trying to reach the YA audience, especially those who enjoy online gaming and fantasy adventures. Personally, whilst I am not the target audience I still appreciated the story, helped along I am sure by my own love of gaming so I know that I will be picking up the sequel when it is released.
Read
August 24, 2014This review is for the Kindle edition ebook.
Disclosure: I was given my copy of this book by the author as a review copy.
An exciting, fast-paced dream world story that makes you think about your dreams.
An individual in the foster care system, since Mom went to jail, is placed in the care of unknown to him relatives. Expecting the worst, he discovers the world of dreams can come alive, sometimes. Once a person enters that world, you find that you do not want them to see your real appearance. The more you can hide from them, the less chance of being killed in real life.
I like the way the real life of this individual is portrayed. Life sometimes throws more lemons then roses in its challenges. For the teenager, those challenges can seem like the world is coming to an end. It is not always easy. As to the dream world, what an opportunity! A place where you can be "perfect", where no one sees your defects, and where anything might be possible.
Scott Rhine seems to want to make the reader enjoy a good story. He also wanted to blend different cultures together, to help the readers understand that different is not bad. Blending Sioux and Japan cultures, we can see that when we dream, the world of dreams is the same for everyone.
If you have teenagers and are planning to move, this might be a great book for them to read. It will help them to understand that many of us are scared of the unknown, even when we appear to be excited that we are going to experience something new. It is also a great story for those that enjoy fantasy. I have grabbed the next book in this series.
Disclosure: I was given my copy of this book by the author as a review copy.
An exciting, fast-paced dream world story that makes you think about your dreams.
An individual in the foster care system, since Mom went to jail, is placed in the care of unknown to him relatives. Expecting the worst, he discovers the world of dreams can come alive, sometimes. Once a person enters that world, you find that you do not want them to see your real appearance. The more you can hide from them, the less chance of being killed in real life.
I like the way the real life of this individual is portrayed. Life sometimes throws more lemons then roses in its challenges. For the teenager, those challenges can seem like the world is coming to an end. It is not always easy. As to the dream world, what an opportunity! A place where you can be "perfect", where no one sees your defects, and where anything might be possible.
Scott Rhine seems to want to make the reader enjoy a good story. He also wanted to blend different cultures together, to help the readers understand that different is not bad. Blending Sioux and Japan cultures, we can see that when we dream, the world of dreams is the same for everyone.
If you have teenagers and are planning to move, this might be a great book for them to read. It will help them to understand that many of us are scared of the unknown, even when we appear to be excited that we are going to experience something new. It is also a great story for those that enjoy fantasy. I have grabbed the next book in this series.
May 8, 2014
A fast paced action story based around concepts of online gaming, Messenger is sure to appeal to anyone who enjoys World of Warcraft and similar games. The book follows the fortunes of Daniel, a teenage accident victim, alternating between his life in the mundane and game worlds.
My first impression was that the characterisation in the game world was weak, and I was inclined to view this as a fault, but as the book progressed I came to see how this low-key characterisation gave the game world a flat, manga-like quality that beautifully complemented the setting and provided further contrast with the everyday people and events in Daniel's real-world life.
The one real criticism I have of this work is that it stops abruptly, with no resolution of the various problems faced by the protagonist. It is clearly leading to a sequel, but that is of no benefit to the hapless reader who has just been turned off like a tap. No matter how common this technique has become in the world of independent fiction,k I cannot but deplore it. It is a grave flaw in a novel that it cannot stand alone, and the implied disregard for the reader in this cliffhanger technique is something that always reduces my desire to read further.
My first impression was that the characterisation in the game world was weak, and I was inclined to view this as a fault, but as the book progressed I came to see how this low-key characterisation gave the game world a flat, manga-like quality that beautifully complemented the setting and provided further contrast with the everyday people and events in Daniel's real-world life.
The one real criticism I have of this work is that it stops abruptly, with no resolution of the various problems faced by the protagonist. It is clearly leading to a sequel, but that is of no benefit to the hapless reader who has just been turned off like a tap. No matter how common this technique has become in the world of independent fiction,k I cannot but deplore it. It is a grave flaw in a novel that it cannot stand alone, and the implied disregard for the reader in this cliffhanger technique is something that always reduces my desire to read further.
April 15, 2014
The first of a trilogy, fifteen-year-old Daniel Proud discovers things about himself and humanity in general as he explores the dream lands. I enjoyed when he finds out the yokai had been kicked out of their lands just like the American Indians. This spurs him to the best messenger and community member he can be, but he still doesn't quite fit in and someone is trying to kill him. By the end, he finds his calling as a shaman (the title of book two).
I weave Sioux, Japanese, and Hebrew lore to show that when we close our eyes, we all see the same thing.
I weave Sioux, Japanese, and Hebrew lore to show that when we close our eyes, we all see the same thing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews