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The Dream World #2
Dream Paris
Anna Sinfield marched into the parks, when Angel Tower burned and Dream London fell. She marched to free the city, to end the madness, to find her mother and father. The day was won,. but her parents--and thousands like them--are still missing, lost to the Dream World.
And now she has a chance to get them back. A man with gemlike eyes has walked into her life, wearing a bespoke suit and bearing a terrible scroll. Mr Twelvetrees claims to know where the missing Londoners are; but to find them, Anna has to give up a life she's started to rebuild and go into the Dream World itself. Into another Paris, where history has been repeating itself for two hundred years.
Vive La Révolution!
And now she has a chance to get them back. A man with gemlike eyes has walked into her life, wearing a bespoke suit and bearing a terrible scroll. Mr Twelvetrees claims to know where the missing Londoners are; but to find them, Anna has to give up a life she's started to rebuild and go into the Dream World itself. Into another Paris, where history has been repeating itself for two hundred years.
Vive La Révolution!
443 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 25, 2015
12 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Tony Ballantyne
75 books73 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Anthony Ballantyne, is a British science-fiction author who is most famous for writing his debut trilogy of novels, Recursion, Capacity and Divergence. He is also Head of Information Technology and an Information Technology teacher at The Blue Coat School, Oldham and has been nominated for the BSFA Award for short fiction.
He grew up in County Durham in the North East of England, and studied Math at Manchester University before moving to London for ten years where taught first Math and then later IT.
He now lives in Oldham with his wife and two children. His hobbies include playing boogie piano, walking and cycling.
Anthony Ballantyne, is a British science-fiction author who is most famous for writing his debut trilogy of novels, Recursion, Capacity and Divergence. He is also Head of Information Technology and an Information Technology teacher at The Blue Coat School, Oldham and has been nominated for the BSFA Award for short fiction.
He grew up in County Durham in the North East of England, and studied Math at Manchester University before moving to London for ten years where taught first Math and then later IT.
He now lives in Oldham with his wife and two children. His hobbies include playing boogie piano, walking and cycling.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 24, 2018
This book couldn't be more different from its predecessor. Where Dream London was whimsical, imaginative and laugh-out-loud funny, Dream Paris is perpetually grim and often grotesque, bordering on horror. (There is a long dining sequence that gives Monty Python's The Meaning of Life a run for its money.) The Dream World isn't particularly dreamy; there's some odd stuff here and there but nothing to compare to what was seen in the previous novel. But the worst thing about it is the protagonist and narrator, a miserable misandrist teenage girl who never misses an opportunity to insert a snide remark about how men always are, or how they are always doing this or that to women. A perfect opportunity for a character arc, you would think, but despite a wake-up call late in the story, she doesn't really change. She continues to take maximum offense at everything men say to her, no matter how innocuous. There must have been some microaggressions that I missed.
November 30, 2016
I read ‘Dream Paris’ in one go on a long train journey, of which there have been quite a few recently. It’s a sequel to Dream London, which I didn’t have great expectations of then really enjoyed. As I like Paris much more than London and the protagonist has my name, I was more excited about ‘Dream Paris’. On balance I think I enjoyed the two books an equal amount, for only slightly different reasons. They are both clever, weird, and engaging allegorical fantasies. ‘Dream Paris’ has a better protagonist (an excellent Anna), however the depiction of Paris was less atmospheric than that of London. I have an ongoing obsession with the French Revolution, so was hoping for more references to that. Instead, the focus is on allegorising contemporary economic problems, which admittedly I’m also a big fan of. For example, here’s an unsubtle colonialism metaphor, courtesy of a conversation between a literal china doll, our heroine, and her bodyguard Francis:
Thus the china dolls end up trapped in debt. Although the writing style can sometimes get a bit unwieldy, it is also very witty at times. Memorable comments include:
And this is a neat summary of the aftermath of the 2007/8 financial crisis:
I won’t quote every bit that I appreciated, but will note that the conversation with veal, the cocoa solids social index, frog racism, a programmer named Dave (I know two such), and the integer bomb were all highlights. The terroir/terreur wordplay was fun; actually, the terroir business reminded me slightly of the Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy. On the other hand, and I don’t often say this about novels, there weren’t enough ants. The treatment of the French Revolution was quite effective for our cynical times, rather than being historically grounded. No simple counterpoint to financialised neoliberal Dream capitalism is proposed, indeed it is made clear that breaking free from such a system is incredibly difficult. Nonetheless, the ending is very satisfying and I liked the fact that the most powerful and revolutionary act in the whole narrative is an impulsive kindness. I hope there will be further entries in this series, ideally featuring Anna as protagonist.
”Do you know the history of the China people?”
“Kaolin told us,” I said, “There was a bank of mud by the river. The Banca di Primavera loaned it intelligence so it could become.”
“That’s right. The Banca di Primavera loaned intelligence to a bank of mud. The mud learned how to form bodies such as mine… The mud learned how to use those bodies to make other china artifacts. Cups and crockery, vases, and all manner of ceramics. The Banca di Primavera took a percentage of the profit of the sales of those artefacts as payment for the loan of intelligence. There were only four bodies back then, and they would have quickly repaid the loan, but the Banca wanted to make more money. ‘Listen,’ it said, ‘At the moment you are making money from making cups and crockery. Are you happy with this?’ ‘We are!’ said the four bodies. ‘Surely this is just a lack of ambition on your part! You make some money, it’s true, but over in Dream Delft they have constructed a whole village made of china. Imagine that! Houses and inns and shops and cafes all built of china! They have people travelling from all over the Dream World to visit them and to buy their produce.'... 'But we’re happy as we are!' 'But with more money, you could be even happier!'”
Thus the china dolls end up trapped in debt. Although the writing style can sometimes get a bit unwieldy, it is also very witty at times. Memorable comments include:
She looked like a deflated set of bagpipes, and like a set of bagpipes, the thought of her being put to her intended purpose was enough to fill any rational person with a sense of horror.
And this is a neat summary of the aftermath of the 2007/8 financial crisis:
”Dream London is mostly gone. We would wish for property in London itself.”
“That could be arranged.”
“No!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You can’t be serious! You can’t be thinking about letting them back in! Remember what happened last time?”
Mr Twelvetrees raised a hand. Calm down, dear!
“Anna, this is perfectly normal business practice. We shall be trying to establish premises in Dream Paris, too.”
“I’m sure that’s what they said last time! Mr. Twelvetrees, you can’t be serious! You can’t let the Dream World in again! It will take over.”
“Last time we were caught off-guard. This time the incursion will be controlled.”
I won’t quote every bit that I appreciated, but will note that the conversation with veal, the cocoa solids social index, frog racism, a programmer named Dave (I know two such), and the integer bomb were all highlights. The terroir/terreur wordplay was fun; actually, the terroir business reminded me slightly of the Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy. On the other hand, and I don’t often say this about novels, there weren’t enough ants. The treatment of the French Revolution was quite effective for our cynical times, rather than being historically grounded. No simple counterpoint to financialised neoliberal Dream capitalism is proposed, indeed it is made clear that breaking free from such a system is incredibly difficult. Nonetheless, the ending is very satisfying and I liked the fact that the most powerful and revolutionary act in the whole narrative is an impulsive kindness. I hope there will be further entries in this series, ideally featuring Anna as protagonist.
October 3, 2015
You can also find my review of Dream Paris on my speculative fiction book blog.
Dream Paris is the story of Anna, a teenage girl living in the slowly redeveloping ruins of London, which has only just re-established its reality after a takeover attempt by the Dream World.
Her parents are absent, having marched into the parks at the end of Dream London (the first novel in this series), while Anna only narrowly escaped from the march. She's coming to terms with life on her own, looking after lost and vulnerable neighbours from time to time, and vaguely looking forward to passing her A-levels and moving on to university.
Dream London has not passed without leaving some aftereffects behind. People take an undue interest in the social lives and virtue of women. Social mores have reverted by a generation or two (in Dream London, women were either housewives, whores, or, much more rarely, femme fatales), so Anna is not entirely surprised when a social worker shows up at her door, tasked with taking her into care.
The meeting with the social worker does not go as expected: another person shows up, a representative of the government with a clear history with the Dreamworld, and he has plans for Anna. She is given a fortune, a relic from Dream London. Fortunes are absolutely deterministic: what is foretold must happen. Unfortunately, the fortunes are in short snippets and impressions: an argument with her mother, a night of passion, a death...
Anna's fortune foretells that she will meet her mother in Dream Paris. The British government has an interest in revisiting the Dream World, as the incursion into London has left Britain reeling. They send Anna on her quest, accompanied by a soldier / bodyguard.
Dream London, if you haven't read it, is a mesmerising, evocative novel. Surrealism and dream logic intermingle effortlessly with an adventure story. It's a novel that reminds the reader of Dark City, of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. It's very archetypal, with patriarchical gender roles and a strong sense of location / London.
Dream Paris, by comparison, is different. This time, too, there is surreal dream logic at work. The plot successfully balances the unpredictable nature of crazy dreams with the predictable shape of a regular story. Having a good structure with plenty of thrills makes it satisfying to read.
Once again, there is also a strong sense of location. Paris is a different city, with different archetypes. Dream Paris is caught up in perpetual revolution. Eiffel Towers spring up everywhere and need to be repressed, while La Terreur and Madame Guillotine lurk just around the corner.
Dream Paris stands up to reading on its own. It is a slightly superior novel to its precursor: Dream London made the reader feel like being sucked further and further into a dream. It was a sinkhole of surrealism, a huge credit to writerly craftsmanship, but, towards the end, it was so surreal that the reading experience stopped being pleasurable and started feeling more than a little nightmarish. Dream Paris, on the other hand, is set in an established Dream City. It is not trying to take over real Paris. There is less of a sense of spiralling, exponentially growing surrealism, as this city is more or less set in its ways. People are still shaped by the Dreamworld, but citizens here have lived their entire lives in Dreamworld: they are not brutalised by a shifting reality. Dream London turned women into whores, ethnic minorities into primitives. It did this, fairly rappidly, to people who were modern Londoners to begin with. Dream Paris may be full of iconic characters, but they have grown into their roles over their lifetimes. They have more agency, are less the victims of a traumatic invasion of their psyches.
Dream Paris is full of interesting, quirky ideas. Scary clowns, porcelain dolls, sinister banks, edible duels, integer bombs, non-continuous mathematics, sexism and morality... it's a novel that positively fizzes with originality.
If you enjoyed Dream London, I think you'll love Dream Paris. If you found Dream London interesting, but not quite to your liking, you will probably enjoy Dream Paris more, And if you haven't read Dream London, I would recommend it, and recommend Dream Paris more.
Rating: 4.5/5
Dream Paris is the story of Anna, a teenage girl living in the slowly redeveloping ruins of London, which has only just re-established its reality after a takeover attempt by the Dream World.
Her parents are absent, having marched into the parks at the end of Dream London (the first novel in this series), while Anna only narrowly escaped from the march. She's coming to terms with life on her own, looking after lost and vulnerable neighbours from time to time, and vaguely looking forward to passing her A-levels and moving on to university.
Dream London has not passed without leaving some aftereffects behind. People take an undue interest in the social lives and virtue of women. Social mores have reverted by a generation or two (in Dream London, women were either housewives, whores, or, much more rarely, femme fatales), so Anna is not entirely surprised when a social worker shows up at her door, tasked with taking her into care.
The meeting with the social worker does not go as expected: another person shows up, a representative of the government with a clear history with the Dreamworld, and he has plans for Anna. She is given a fortune, a relic from Dream London. Fortunes are absolutely deterministic: what is foretold must happen. Unfortunately, the fortunes are in short snippets and impressions: an argument with her mother, a night of passion, a death...
Anna's fortune foretells that she will meet her mother in Dream Paris. The British government has an interest in revisiting the Dream World, as the incursion into London has left Britain reeling. They send Anna on her quest, accompanied by a soldier / bodyguard.
Dream London, if you haven't read it, is a mesmerising, evocative novel. Surrealism and dream logic intermingle effortlessly with an adventure story. It's a novel that reminds the reader of Dark City, of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. It's very archetypal, with patriarchical gender roles and a strong sense of location / London.
Dream Paris, by comparison, is different. This time, too, there is surreal dream logic at work. The plot successfully balances the unpredictable nature of crazy dreams with the predictable shape of a regular story. Having a good structure with plenty of thrills makes it satisfying to read.
Once again, there is also a strong sense of location. Paris is a different city, with different archetypes. Dream Paris is caught up in perpetual revolution. Eiffel Towers spring up everywhere and need to be repressed, while La Terreur and Madame Guillotine lurk just around the corner.
Dream Paris stands up to reading on its own. It is a slightly superior novel to its precursor: Dream London made the reader feel like being sucked further and further into a dream. It was a sinkhole of surrealism, a huge credit to writerly craftsmanship, but, towards the end, it was so surreal that the reading experience stopped being pleasurable and started feeling more than a little nightmarish. Dream Paris, on the other hand, is set in an established Dream City. It is not trying to take over real Paris. There is less of a sense of spiralling, exponentially growing surrealism, as this city is more or less set in its ways. People are still shaped by the Dreamworld, but citizens here have lived their entire lives in Dreamworld: they are not brutalised by a shifting reality. Dream London turned women into whores, ethnic minorities into primitives. It did this, fairly rappidly, to people who were modern Londoners to begin with. Dream Paris may be full of iconic characters, but they have grown into their roles over their lifetimes. They have more agency, are less the victims of a traumatic invasion of their psyches.
Dream Paris is full of interesting, quirky ideas. Scary clowns, porcelain dolls, sinister banks, edible duels, integer bombs, non-continuous mathematics, sexism and morality... it's a novel that positively fizzes with originality.
If you enjoyed Dream London, I think you'll love Dream Paris. If you found Dream London interesting, but not quite to your liking, you will probably enjoy Dream Paris more, And if you haven't read Dream London, I would recommend it, and recommend Dream Paris more.
Rating: 4.5/5
September 20, 2015
This was an incredibly unique book that started out compelling but grew frustrating as it dragged to its conclusion. The fantasy elements of the story included a malicious urban Wonderland-type world on the edges of the modern world, the kind that would be formed if Haruki Murakami, Isabelle Allende and Stephen King had a book baby. The plot featured seventeen-year old Anna who journeys through the world to search for her mother along with a soldier that carries a backpack with a never-ending cord tethered to the real world. Compelling, right?
Unfortunately, Anna’s character is an infuriating bundle of clichés that make it very hard to keep at the book. She is one angry, anti-establishment virgin (the author's point, not mine) who, we are frequently told, is actually very clever, despite constantly making idiotic choices. She spends the entire book angry at a guy for saying one single thing, and constantly engages others in pointless back and forth arguments despite seemingly having no interest or opinion on anything. At first, I looked forward to a character arc. Then, I lost hope. I wanted to murder her. Like a campy B rated horror movie, I stayed with the book just so I could see her killed off in some gory fashion. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the satisfaction.
Plot-wise, there was also a lot of build up but no one got off (except Anna, and only literately). There were some strong female characters, but they were mostly evil. They were some noble male characters, but they got punished for it. It felt like the dream world and the real worlds were full of terrible people and organizations to begin with, and then those people and organizations did terrible things, resulting in others doing terrible things, and no one learned anything. It is very hard to create hopeless characters and a hopeless world, and expect us to care about saving them.
There were also a lot of radical western political ideas blatantly thrown all over the place without a clear sense of purpose. Regular readers will be confused, political scientists will be too put off by the fantasy elements of the book to actually bother, and female readers will want to toss the book at Anna or at the author for writing her.
Even so, I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and loved the idea of the Dream world and how it might impact regular humans. If the author writes another fantasy book that addresses political and social issues subtly through action, events or symbolism rather than deadpan inner and outer dialogue, I would love to read it. Provided, of course, that the main character is less annoying.
Unfortunately, Anna’s character is an infuriating bundle of clichés that make it very hard to keep at the book. She is one angry, anti-establishment virgin (the author's point, not mine) who, we are frequently told, is actually very clever, despite constantly making idiotic choices. She spends the entire book angry at a guy for saying one single thing, and constantly engages others in pointless back and forth arguments despite seemingly having no interest or opinion on anything. At first, I looked forward to a character arc. Then, I lost hope. I wanted to murder her. Like a campy B rated horror movie, I stayed with the book just so I could see her killed off in some gory fashion. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the satisfaction.
Plot-wise, there was also a lot of build up but no one got off (except Anna, and only literately). There were some strong female characters, but they were mostly evil. They were some noble male characters, but they got punished for it. It felt like the dream world and the real worlds were full of terrible people and organizations to begin with, and then those people and organizations did terrible things, resulting in others doing terrible things, and no one learned anything. It is very hard to create hopeless characters and a hopeless world, and expect us to care about saving them.
There were also a lot of radical western political ideas blatantly thrown all over the place without a clear sense of purpose. Regular readers will be confused, political scientists will be too put off by the fantasy elements of the book to actually bother, and female readers will want to toss the book at Anna or at the author for writing her.
Even so, I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and loved the idea of the Dream world and how it might impact regular humans. If the author writes another fantasy book that addresses political and social issues subtly through action, events or symbolism rather than deadpan inner and outer dialogue, I would love to read it. Provided, of course, that the main character is less annoying.
February 9, 2016
I really liked Dream London and in that book Anna's character came off as aloof but competent and brave. Unfortunately as the main protagonist and narrator of Dream Paris, Anna is portrayed as an obnoxious teenager. Most of her dialogue is overly dramatic and followed by exclamation points. It gets old fast and was detrimental to my enjoyment of the story. Her traveling companion didn't have much of a character at all - he was used more as a foil to Anna's arrogance and childishness. I know not all teenagers are annoying, but they often come across that way when portrayed in books and using her as the narrator made this book feel very YA. Pretty much all the characters were unlikable, except for Mr Monagan, who was my favorite character in the last book too. Overall the book was okay and the story interesting enough to hold my attention, but it was a bit of a let-down compared to Dream London.
December 24, 2015
A sequel to Dream London, I expected it with interest. Sadly, this one lacks a bit in humor and ingenuity compared to its predecessor. Still, an interesting read and really compelling story, although a bit slow and hard to follow at times. Would've wished the author kept the hero from Dream London whom I grew to like, instead of moving to his new hero. However, it might be only me and other people who liked Dream London may still enjoy Dream Paris too.
Want to read
July 26, 2016I really enjoyed the first one (my review), and now I'm thrilled there's a sequel!
October 9, 2021
I should start by saying I did not read Dream London. I didn't feel I needed to however. Except I never quite understood what marching in the band had to do with anything. Initially I really liked the story. It is well written and fast paced. But from the point where Anna overhears a conversation between the soldiers while waiting to leave for dream Paris it begins to dissolve. Anna becomes petulant and stubborn. I believe this was done by the author to create a reason for Anna to make one stupid decision after another even though we are repeatedly told how smart she is. There is no character development for poor Francis. No one is very likeable, not even the mother. There was a lot of weirdness but I wouldn't say anything had a dream like quality. In the end this just felt like a book about people shouting over each other and fighting about politics. I was dissatisfied with the ending. I would much rather have read a book about London where Anna is helping her neighbors rebuild and evading the social worker, all while dream London keeps trying to come back.
Want to read
January 20, 2024What does it mean when a suit is bespoke?
With a bespoke suit, a pattern is designed and made from scratch based on the client's measurements, often from 20+ measurements involving multiple fittings, and takes considerably longer to produce than a made-to-measure garment.
With a bespoke suit, a pattern is designed and made from scratch based on the client's measurements, often from 20+ measurements involving multiple fittings, and takes considerably longer to produce than a made-to-measure garment.
February 11, 2018
A most satisfactory sequel indeed to "Dream London".
February 17, 2017
This is the sequel to Ballantyne’s earlier Dream London. Its first sentence riffs on the famous opening line of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Ballantyne’s comes closer to making sense though.
Seventeen year-old Anna Sinfield is trying to get her life together in what is left over after the fall of Dream London and the restoration of something like normality. She is given a fortune scroll by Mr Twelvetrees, a man with faceted, insect-like eyes. The scroll reveals she will meet her mother again, whom she had thought dead in Dream London’s demise; but it will be in Dream Paris. Twelvetrees has his own reasons for wishing her to go to there as he is an agent of the British Government. To protect her on the journey she is assigned a bodyguard, Francis, whose backpack trails a wire behind him - Theseus style - so they can find their way back. Both the English Channel and the rivers in Dream France are infested by aquatic dinosaurs and the French distinction between the second person pronouns tu and vous has become highly elaborate with up to 17 degrees of superiority/inferiority capable of being expressed. (Ballantyne’s treatment of this linguistic quirk wasn’t entirely consistent, though.)
There are some longueurs, particularly on Anna’s and Francis’s journey to Paris and even some while they are there. To Anna’s disappointment her mother sends several messages to the effect that she should not come. But Anna has the fortune scroll. She will meet her mother no matter what. And it seems everyone, the revolutionary Committee for Public Safety (a very slight adjustment in title by Ballantyne to the one in our history,) the Prussians who have been at war with Dream France for centuries, the British Government, has their own reasons for finding Anna’s mother.
Francis’s wire (in the Dream World its mechanism becomes apparent) criss-crosses the streets of Paris and provides any British citizens stranded in the Dream World - or indeed anyone else - who wish to do so with the means to find their way (back) to London. It also allows travel in the opposite direction.
In the Dream World the counting/numbering system is peculiar. In Dream London there had been no prime numbers, and mathematicians went mad; here there are no fractions, making shapes and geometry different. The chapters count down in the dream numbering system from Silver then Twenty-three through numbers such as blue and (a feeling of fulfilment) down to Zero. Count-downs are of course a harbinger of a significant event. In this regard mention of an Integer Bomb is a foreshadowing.
Dream Paris suffers from the drawback of most sequels in that the unique nature of its predecessor cannot be repeated. The plot here is not so much one of restoration of the natural order of things as it was in Dream London (even if that wasn’t truly achieved) as that of a thriller; albeit one with elements that verge on being bonkers and a vision of an extremely odd Paris.
Seventeen year-old Anna Sinfield is trying to get her life together in what is left over after the fall of Dream London and the restoration of something like normality. She is given a fortune scroll by Mr Twelvetrees, a man with faceted, insect-like eyes. The scroll reveals she will meet her mother again, whom she had thought dead in Dream London’s demise; but it will be in Dream Paris. Twelvetrees has his own reasons for wishing her to go to there as he is an agent of the British Government. To protect her on the journey she is assigned a bodyguard, Francis, whose backpack trails a wire behind him - Theseus style - so they can find their way back. Both the English Channel and the rivers in Dream France are infested by aquatic dinosaurs and the French distinction between the second person pronouns tu and vous has become highly elaborate with up to 17 degrees of superiority/inferiority capable of being expressed. (Ballantyne’s treatment of this linguistic quirk wasn’t entirely consistent, though.)
There are some longueurs, particularly on Anna’s and Francis’s journey to Paris and even some while they are there. To Anna’s disappointment her mother sends several messages to the effect that she should not come. But Anna has the fortune scroll. She will meet her mother no matter what. And it seems everyone, the revolutionary Committee for Public Safety (a very slight adjustment in title by Ballantyne to the one in our history,) the Prussians who have been at war with Dream France for centuries, the British Government, has their own reasons for finding Anna’s mother.
Francis’s wire (in the Dream World its mechanism becomes apparent) criss-crosses the streets of Paris and provides any British citizens stranded in the Dream World - or indeed anyone else - who wish to do so with the means to find their way (back) to London. It also allows travel in the opposite direction.
In the Dream World the counting/numbering system is peculiar. In Dream London there had been no prime numbers, and mathematicians went mad; here there are no fractions, making shapes and geometry different. The chapters count down in the dream numbering system from Silver then Twenty-three through numbers such as blue and (a feeling of fulfilment) down to Zero. Count-downs are of course a harbinger of a significant event. In this regard mention of an Integer Bomb is a foreshadowing.
Dream Paris suffers from the drawback of most sequels in that the unique nature of its predecessor cannot be repeated. The plot here is not so much one of restoration of the natural order of things as it was in Dream London (even if that wasn’t truly achieved) as that of a thriller; albeit one with elements that verge on being bonkers and a vision of an extremely odd Paris.
July 20, 2015
Tony Ballantyne proves once again to be one of the most skilled and original authors of modern British science fiction. Dream Paris follows in the footsteps of its predecessor Dream London, but in no way does it duplicate previous efforts. Dream Paris engulfs the reader in a world both familiar and horrifyingly foreign, vibrant and beautiful, but ultimately extremely dangerous. The Dream World changes people and their surroundings in unexpected ways, bending the rules of reality and society.
17 year old Anna Sinfield survived the rise and fall of Dream London. Her parents were lost, sent to the workhouses in other Dream cities for defaulting on their debts. She holds close to reality taking shelter in the mathematics she loves. Everything changes when a mysterious man appears with a fortune ostensibly found in the ruins of Dream London's tower. Amongst its predictions it states that Anna will meet her mother in Dream Paris. Returning to the dream world is the last thing she wants to do, but she knows she will. With Francis, an English soldier assigned as her escort, she travels the difficult path back into Dreams. She knows not to trust the nature of the those of the Dream, but what of those back in London.
Dream Paris is a masterfully composed piece of satirical science fiction, at times humorous and at others thought-provoking. Anna Sinfield is as remarkable a young woman as she promised to be in Dream London, a perfect foil for the more cynical and exploitive residents of both reality and the Dream world. Dream Paris is an amazing follow up to Dream London, it's equal in writing and originality. Ballantyne is a talented storyteller, and I am eager to see what comes next.
Dream Paris is as unforgettable as its predecessor.
5/5
Dream Paris is available for preorder and will be released Aug 25, 2015
I received a copy of Dream Paris from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Return to the world of Dream London in Ballantyne's sequel, Dream Paris.
http://muttcafe.com/2015/07/dream-Paris/
17 year old Anna Sinfield survived the rise and fall of Dream London. Her parents were lost, sent to the workhouses in other Dream cities for defaulting on their debts. She holds close to reality taking shelter in the mathematics she loves. Everything changes when a mysterious man appears with a fortune ostensibly found in the ruins of Dream London's tower. Amongst its predictions it states that Anna will meet her mother in Dream Paris. Returning to the dream world is the last thing she wants to do, but she knows she will. With Francis, an English soldier assigned as her escort, she travels the difficult path back into Dreams. She knows not to trust the nature of the those of the Dream, but what of those back in London.
Dream Paris is a masterfully composed piece of satirical science fiction, at times humorous and at others thought-provoking. Anna Sinfield is as remarkable a young woman as she promised to be in Dream London, a perfect foil for the more cynical and exploitive residents of both reality and the Dream world. Dream Paris is an amazing follow up to Dream London, it's equal in writing and originality. Ballantyne is a talented storyteller, and I am eager to see what comes next.
Dream Paris is as unforgettable as its predecessor.
5/5
Dream Paris is available for preorder and will be released Aug 25, 2015
I received a copy of Dream Paris from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Return to the world of Dream London in Ballantyne's sequel, Dream Paris.
http://muttcafe.com/2015/07/dream-Paris/
September 8, 2015
Although I haven't read "Dream London" or any other of Tom Ballantyne's books yet, I am very grateful to the publisher, Solaris, and also NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is one of the most original, imaginative, funny, gory and sickening books I have read. I can't wait to read his other books.
This is a continuation of where "Dream London" left off. Anna had marched through the parks as the Angel Tower was burning. At that time, her parents went missing with so many other Londoners. It is up to Anna to try and locate them in the Dream World. On the way to and in Dream Paris, several different people are trying to get her on their side.
This is why I really love the book. She seems to almost blindly trust a stranger who holds her "fortune scroll" that foretells of her meeting her mom in Dream Paris. She believes him and begins her journey with an English soldier who has a backpack that he is told to keep with him at all times. He follows orders without knowing why. Why are they so either gullible or stupid not to question others' motives? All during the book, whoever they meet, I questioned whether the individuals could and should be trusted. Will we ever know for sure?
Mr. Ballantyne does an excellent job of remaining consistently ambiguous throughout the entire book. I also loved that, because I never could predict what was going to happen next. Also, the book has so many unexpected surprises (not all are happy happy joy joy). My stomach lurched at some of these unexpected passages. That, too, is what makes this such an incredible, thrilling read.
This is a continuation of where "Dream London" left off. Anna had marched through the parks as the Angel Tower was burning. At that time, her parents went missing with so many other Londoners. It is up to Anna to try and locate them in the Dream World. On the way to and in Dream Paris, several different people are trying to get her on their side.
This is why I really love the book. She seems to almost blindly trust a stranger who holds her "fortune scroll" that foretells of her meeting her mom in Dream Paris. She believes him and begins her journey with an English soldier who has a backpack that he is told to keep with him at all times. He follows orders without knowing why. Why are they so either gullible or stupid not to question others' motives? All during the book, whoever they meet, I questioned whether the individuals could and should be trusted. Will we ever know for sure?
Mr. Ballantyne does an excellent job of remaining consistently ambiguous throughout the entire book. I also loved that, because I never could predict what was going to happen next. Also, the book has so many unexpected surprises (not all are happy happy joy joy). My stomach lurched at some of these unexpected passages. That, too, is what makes this such an incredible, thrilling read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2017
A city changing, literally different as the day before with no explanation was defeated, but thousands who lived there have gone missing. The sequel to Tom Ballantyne's "Dream London" uses Anna's perspective after the destruction of Dream London. Anna starts as a independent young girl, but as she continues her search for her parents who went missing, she starts to change. Anna is manipulated by others and develops into a character that loses her independence and starts to let others led her. Being led by these people, Anna finds herself in situations that give the book it's creepy tone. When a man tells Anna that he knows where her parents are, readers can feel as if the man is unsafe and harmful as he slowly changes Anna in exchange to find her parents. The conflict of whether Anna should trust this man leaves her mind in an everlasting debate, to leave the find her parents or continue traveling with him to Dream Paris. Trying to trust a stranger, hoping that his words are true leaves Anna confused and conflicted. Readers who finished "Dream London" or those who want a spine chilling story definitely should consider this series.
October 14, 2020
Dream Paris is the sequel to British author Tony Ballantyne’s rather creepy and bizarre Dream London, a novel I very much enjoyed in spite of a sort of terrible and unlike-able protagonist. In this sequel, one of the secondary characters from the first, Anna, takes centre stage as she finds herself partially volunteering, partially forced by fate, to venture back into the dream world, to hopefully find her mother. While Dream Paris suffered from a few flaws that I feel really detracted from its overall quality, Ballantyne hits all the same slightly off-kilter, disconcerting notes that made me enjoy Dream London in spite of itself as well. No matter what you think about the book though, once again, cover artist Joey HiFi frigging knocks it out of the park. Even if the book didn’t have some good things going for it, it’s worth your ten bucks just to get a close look at this cover!
Read the full review at Strange Currencies
https://strangecurrencies.org/2015/10...
Read the full review at Strange Currencies
https://strangecurrencies.org/2015/10...
September 13, 2015
Dream Paris by Tony Ballantyne- This is a sequel to Dream London and carries the story on as the main protagonist, Anna, finds new hope in the news that her parents are alive, but in order to find them she must go back into Dream World with a Mr. Twelvetrees and locate them in Dream Paris. The characters are very well done and Anna is compelling if a bit too trusting at times and then a bit too glib with her rationale. But, as with Dream London, the setting and what is going on in this strange world is the thing. I still haven't read Dream London, but found this didn't hinder this colorful extraordinary story. Of course the non-ending clues you to the set up for the next book, but I'm sure it will be along shortly.
February 1, 2016
A lot better than I expected - not perfect, but had few obvious flaws and was overall a pretty solid fantasy set in a pretty solid universe. The protagonist was pretty likable! It rather reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, but a bit more modern, and while the plot was confusing at times, the writing flowed well and the exposition wasn't drowning. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a pretty good fantasy novel, especially if you like Alice in Wonderland. 7/10.
May 19, 2016
I think I may have enjoyed it more if I had read Dream London first, but when I picked it up I didn't know that it was part of a series. It was in the fantasy section of Chapters, but aside from being in a dream world, there was no magic or whimsy.
June 25, 2016
I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I liked the way the author expanded on the Dream World theme and further developed Anna's character. I'm also glad that there is likely no reason to expect a third book in the series.
August 14, 2020
It's just as good if not better than Dream London
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