Dreamland

by Olivie Blake

DELUXE EDITION—a beautiful hardcover edition featuring sprayed edges, a designed case stamp, and fully illustrated color endpapers.

From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.

The headlines are calling it the "summer of exsanguination" in LA—girls are being murdered, the Santa Ana winds are blowing a strange energy into the city, and all signs point to fire season.

More pressing for Anya Morris, though, is the drudgery of living at home, working part time at the family store, and contending with her mother's disdain for the acting career Anya knows she's destined for but that feels more impossible by the day.

It’s in this suffocating late summer heat that Anya receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Soon, she’s spending her days and nights at their strange villa high in the Hollywood hills, where she meets Jude, a recluse who is both the family’s heir apparent and its most closely guarded secret.

There’s a magnetism to Jude that Anya cannot resist, despite warning signs that scream like sirens in the night. Because the villa holds generations of bloodstained history, and an occult family curse may even live within its walls—or within Jude himself.

In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Gothic, Fiction, Adult, Thriller, Contemporary

368 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication August 20, 2026

About the author

Olivie Blake is the pseudonym of Alexene Farol Follmuth, a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love.
​
Olivie has penned several indie SFF projects, including the webtoon Clara and the Devil with illustrator Little Chmura and the viral Atlas series. As Follmuth, her young adult rom-com My Mechanical Romance releases May 2022.

Olivie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and new baby, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull.

Reviews

[hamna · Rating 2 out of 5]

breathed a sigh of relief that it's finally over. this book is so painfully uninspired, it actually sucked to read for a good majority. i feel like i know /what/ she's trying to accomplish here, what threads the author is trying to pull, what narrative she's trying to create. it just falls apart so abysmally. there's at least three different ways this book veers off into that lead to nowhere.. which is like, okay maybe it was supposed to play a background role, but the constant emphasis...all for a plot that's simultaneously predictable but also very?? messy??...and kinda awful. if i am being honest. the writing feels overwritten too, or maybe it's just that this book doesn't call to be written in the way that it. is. written. there's no drive to the story, the miscontrued and hastily reconstructed narrative doesn't hold any weight to it, and i did not care about the romance. at all. it felt like a chore to read and was too par the course (derogatory) while also, kinda, coming out of nowhere. anyway, yeah. i mean sure what the hell. it's definitely a book. it's just kind of bland..and ultimately, pointless.
thank you to tor for the advance copy. (if you think this review is confusing, just wait until you read the book.)

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, Olivie Blake books hit, or they dont. This, unfortunately, didn't. It's way overwritten. This is for someone who isn't me.

[Asia Paoloni · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Olivie Blake! So odd, but so intriguing! This was a good book, but this would be an even greater movie! If you know you know

[Jaci Giordano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivie Blake continuously impresses me with her ability to write uniquely themed and well executed stories. Dreamland is haunting, thrilling, and intoxicatingly grotesque. I couldn’t put it down. If you’re a fan of her books like I am, this one does NOT disappoint.

There’s this underlying question poised– can you survive the cost of your wildest dream? I could see this movie play out in my head which is exactly how she has it written to be (you’ll get it once you read it).

It’s a bit ambiguous at times but I think the ending perfectly encapsulated the frustration of not knowing all the details to every gothic story told and why we can’t know. I can’t wait to have the physical copy sit on my shelf!

[larissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

i usually love olivie but this book was a mess, i wish i knew what was going on for the most part!! there were some good moments of writing, but overall it was way too confusing, and i didn’t really care about the characters either

[James]

I GOT AN ARC AKKJAAKJDHSDHAS

I'm just going to ignore those negative early reviews that somehow magically came out before the book was even available as an ARC. I trust that Olivie Blake got me.

[Alexa (Alexa Loves Books)]

Full review to come, but dang, I really don't know how I feel about this one yet.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely not. I really think this is the last shot i’m giving Olivie Blake because this was really not good.

I think if you are incredibly intellectual like I know and can tell Blake is, then you might enjoy this. But, for the average reader who doesn’t want to analyze themes, this is a huge pass.

I’m actually so disappointed too because I thought, that if any Blake book was going to be 5 stars, it was going to be this one. I adore Hollywood centered stories and starlet and fame drama. Add a little bit of thriller on top and murders and this was a PERFECT recipe for me. And she had me in the first half she really did. But then it just got….weird….and confusing and Blake does the thing she usually does where she turns something simple and good into something incredibly convoluted and bad.

I was really liking the characters at first too, but those were ruined as well with choices and with the way the plot played out.

This was incredibly disappointing and I think I’ve read one to may bad Blake books. I’m done.

A generous 2/5.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Naz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A purposefully disorientating, absolutely weird and trippy read; yet I admittedly found myself freely going along for the wild, wacky ride.

Dreamland follows actress Anya’s desperate endeavour to get a foothold within the LA film industry. Fortuitously, her prayers are answered in the form of the rich and famous de Witt’s, who entice her into taking on a rather odd work opportunity. Thus, Anya becomes closely embroiled in the superficial glamour, eerie sycophancy and demonic magnetism that surrounds the de Witt family; all the while as the Santa Ana winds carry the sinister stench of brutal serial murder of young women. Slowly, Anya discovers the underlying rot to a world she once deeply craved to be part of, leading to unsavoury truths, buried secrets, and a question lingering permanently on her lips:

‘Could I survive this?’

Blake implements an experimental narrative structure, flitting between Anya’s perspective, Jude de Witt’s disjointed and disturbing narrative, and a rather theatrical screenplay style. I can appreciate the attempt to create a cinematically dynamic and dramatic form of storytelling; however, it could also get a little frustrating, bordering on confusing, so I’m glad the disorientating acid trip was broken up into periods of lucidity.

That said, I do think the plot was well executed and intriguing, with a lingering uncanny and eerie to the de Witts that builds well. The end portion of the book got truly weird, trippy and messy, but was fun to read and had a befitting conclusion. Some character portrayals felt bordering on caricatures, but I think this was done in a deliberately self-aware way. For me, I wouldn’t say the main protagonists were likeable, but made sense for the story, and I did like Anya’s dynamic with some of the side characters. The romance subplot was okay, kinda dramatic and intense, but it worked reasonably well within the context of the characters.

Overall, I think the stylistic choice to narration can be somewhat frustrating and takes time to get used to, but generally this was a pretty entertaining and solid read plot-wise. I enjoyed the creepy, gory and gross elements as well as the unravelling strangeness and mystery of the de Witt family.

Thanks Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the eARC in exchange for honest review; it was quite the interesting read.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come upon release. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

3.5 stars rounded up

[heba]

another olivie blake to add to my collection, thank you queen💥💳

[Klaudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

listen, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I understood what was happening throughout most of this book, because I didn’t, but did I have an excellent time? absolutely 🙂‍↕️

I swear, each book I read from Olivie just gets weirder and weirder and IM SO HERE FOR IT. I love whatever is wrong with her.

this was spooky, creepy, interesting, showed the backstage of what happens behind closed door in Hollywood and what people are willing to do to gain fame or stay relevant.

this is not your regular thriller. we have demons and the devil so I feel like it could be triggering for some. I’m not gonna lie, listening to this gave me goosebumps a couple of times 😅

Olivie is not an author for everybody, she’s definitely an acquired taste but I love her and I’m gonna keep reading her books because they always suck me in.

this, girl dinner and alone with you in the ether on top!!! for me of course 😌

thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this free ACL 🫶🏻

[Casey Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a gothic Hollywood fever dream that is seductive and unsettling. Olivie Blake leans into themes of obsession, ambition, and the dangerous hunger for success and meaning. Dreamland takes us to Los Angeles and it has a sort of noir feel to it.  By way of our MC Anya Morris’s desperate grasp toward success and belonging, Olivie Blake explores the emotional cost of ambition with the same biting intelligence that makes her previous works so memorable. Hollywood is portrayed less as a place and more as a living illusion... beautiful, predatory, and constantly threatening to swallow those who mistake proximity for power. She explores what people are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of reinvention. She constantly make me say...."what the fuck?" And she exposes some of the uglier truths of humanity, and let me tell you... sometimes when a mirror is held up to us, it's uncomfortable. But I sure as shit can see some parts of myself in Anya. Olivie touches upon the immigrant experience, generational trauma, white privilege, nepotism, and people's fetishes with anyone who is "exotic". Readers expecting a straightforward mystery will instead find something stranger and a little harder to follow. As is always true for me, Olivie Blake tests my intelligence. And I love it. This book built and built and built, up to an ending that you knew would be wild.  If you are drawn to morally messy characters, and stories where beauty and danger walk hand in hand, this is a good one! 

Thank you to Tor Books for the gifted ARC. Book releases 8/11/26. 

[Sonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so glad to be done with this book. I understand what the author wanted to say, but it’s so overwritten that it was a slog to get through. so much was said to move very little plot forward all to a very unsatisfying and unoriginal reveal. it wasn’t even a reveal because all the explanations were obvious in the first few chapters if you’re ever read or watched any media about the nepotism and vanity in Hollywood.

I wish we heard way less about the de Witts and way more about Tita Linda and Grandma…but maybe that’s the point? ugh, but I don’t care what the point was. it was boring and I’m glad to be done.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Dreamland" was one excellent satire of Hollywood wrapped up in a middling horror novel. There was so much about it that I loved - Anya's duplicity, her ambition to become a star, the way her half-Filipino heritage both helped and hurt her career advancement. I was down for the look at Hollywood legacy, for the demons both satirical and possibly real, but as soon as it started to morph into some kind of a horror-tinged beauty and the beast, the book began to lose its uniqueness. Too many genres happening at once, here, I think - and a completely unnecessary insistence on switching POVs.

[Grace -thewritebooks]

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

Okay I'm not saying I'm better than anyone that reviewed this as one or two stars but I AM saying that I'm an Olivie Blake fan until I die and that each book of hers that I get to read is a work of genius. If Girl Dinner was a book about striving for same from an academic setting, this was striving for fame from the never ending celebrity grind that is Los Angeles. Anya spends the whole book pushing herself further and further into the murderous, potentially career-making story she find herself in. HUGE fan of whatever we were doing with Jude and the Demon: every scene that he was in I felt like I was on the edge of my seat trying to catch who we were speaking with. That whole relationship was so messed up!!!! I ate up all of it!!
I will agree with some people that plot was a little hard to discern at points but in my opinion that was part of the hot summer setting where Anya's days blurred into one or got lost in the haze of her work at the Villa. It made up part of the slow build tension that was bubbling away from the very beginning, like watching a car speeding up that you already know is about to crash just around the corner.
As I would expect from a Blake book, each sentence felt crafted with a sharp intent - she handles words like weapons in an arsenal and the blasé way that Anya addressed the world (as herself or as part of her persona???) was biting. The brutal categorisation of goings on and Blake/Anya's comments on the state of society for me made it a zeitgeist novel of epic proportions. Simply cannot get enough of the inside of her mind.

[Corinne’s Chapter Chatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

2⭐️ prose
5⭐️Audio

I think I’m officially done trying with Olivie Blake books, unfortunately. The descriptions always intrigue me, but the execution has let me down over and over again.

I’ve read and loved plenty of books that were “out there,” but in those cases it never felt forced. The story simply evolved that way. With Blake, it often feels like she sets out with the intention of being as esoteric as possible, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, and it leaves the book without a clear central identity—or really any identity at all. When that feels like the goal from the start, it just doesn’t land for me, and this book is a perfect example of that.

It felt scattered, overstuffed, and full of plot holes. More than once, I seriously considered DNFing, which is not something I do often. So why the 3⭐️? The audiobook.

I’m grateful to have received both the eARC from Tor Publishing Group and the ALC from Macmillan Audio. The moment I saw the audio become available, I jumped on it because I was struggling so much to get through the book with just my eyeballs. And honestly, I’m glad I did, because I wanted to give credit where it was due.

The audio production was incredibly well done. The multicast—Chloe Nõsan, Ferdelle Capistrano, Maggie Thompson, Max Meyers, Mia Wurgaft, and Steve West—all did a fantastic job, even if I couldn’t always tell who was who while reading. What stood out most to me was the sound engineering, which elevated certain moments exactly when it needed to. Reading along with the audio made for a fully immersive experience, and the voice talent absolutely carried me through.

So this book may absolutely work for someone else. But it doesn’t work for me.

[Nena Taylor]

This is a review for the audiobook

This was a phenomenal audiobook. The whole cast was absolutely amazing. I loved how they brought each character to life and gave them distant personalities from the page. Phenomenal performance from the cast

The book: The description and details in this book were phenomenal. Im going a little deep here, the scene where the bus hit the guy, was similar to what happened to my son, except he was hit by a semi while walking, it was a hit and run. The authors description really put things in perspective of what I had been blocking out and I needed to deal with, so this author helped me deal with trauma and really understanding what happened to my son's body when he was hit, something I was blocking out, and not dealing with because of my grief, but it made me deal with it. Anyways phenomenal writing, I highly recommend

[Alice Tremblay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Olivie Blake so I wanted to pick this up even though I couldn’t give less of a shit about Hollywood, but sadly it didn’t really work for me. I could see what she was doing and I appreciate the message, but it just didn’t click on an emotional level. I also felt that the male POV’s voice was weaker; it never felt to me like it came from one coherent character nor that it matched the way we saw him through Anya’s eyes. I’ll still pick up her next book gladly and I enjoyed part of it, but I feel like it’s gonna be harder for this one to find its audience.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a intriguing read, it’s gothic, it gives me Gatsby feels and it is grotesque at times.

It is based in Hollywood and there is a whole underlying theme of “can you survive this” when this is your wildest dream. It has parts written like a script which I really enjoyed and adds a clever twist to the book.

We have our gothic heroine, Hollywood producers, and some very sinister details.. I won’t say anymore! A gripping read with a plot with a difference.

[thelamaesque]

Another one, thank you ♥️

[clicktojointhemafia]

ready for another banger by ms blake

[Kayda Noelle]

DNF at 56%
This is…not for me.

[Amie Derricott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set against the scorching, smoke-stained backdrop of Los Angeles during a summer of brutal murders and unnerving Santa Ana winds, Dreamland Anya Morris, a struggling Filipino actress desperate for her breakthrough in an industry that constantly promises everything while giving nothing. Stuck living at home with her intense mother, working at her family’s store, and haunted by the feeling that she is meant for something greater, Anya becomes entangled with the powerful and enigmatic de Witt family, Hollywood royalty whose influence stretches throughout the city and the film industry.
After encountering a old friend Teddy, he invites her to attend a charity gala, where she encounters the rather exuberant Emmanuelle de Witt. Emmanuelle notices Anya almost immediately and becomes intrigued by her ambition and desperation to succeed, inviting her to take on the role of her reclusive nephews caretaker in exchange for access to the elite of Hollywood, including her A list actor brother William de Witt. Anya finds Jude magnetic, fragile, and terrifying all at once, and the more time she spends with him, the more chaotic he becomes. She realises that he is hiding something terrifying from her, but instead of scaring her off, she just becomes further enamoured with him. Young women are disappearing across Los Angeles and Anya starts to realise that the de Witt family are concealing something from the world, must decide how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice for fame, desire, and the life she has always wanted.
I have to admit I have a very hit and miss relationship with Olivie Blakes work, finding that I either love her books with every fibre of my being or disliking to the point I DNF, so I did have to go into this with absolutely no expectations whatsoever. What I got was a story that had me in an absolute choke hold right from the first page and still hasn't let me go after finishing it. Dreamland is atmospheric, seductive, and deeply unsettling, exploring the the monstrous side of Hollywood in both a literal and figurative way. We get a glimpse into the exploitation hidden beneath glamour, the intoxicating nature of power, and the dangerous things people ignore when their dreams finally seem within reach. Olivie Blake has taken glittering illusion of Hollywood and turned it into something dark, dangerous, and absolutely enthralling.
We have this intoxicating setting, the smoky Los Angeles nights, brutal Santa Ana winds, and this crumbling villa high in the Hollywood hills where the majority of the book takes place. Part renovated and ready for these glamorous parties, it embodies the glamour and luxurious lifestyles of these Hollywood A listers. However, the renovations have only gone so far and parts of the house are in a state of decay. Anya tells us that the insides feel disorienting and dreamlike, with corridors that appear to expand on forever, where she feels lost and confused. Then there is the greenhouse. Hidden away from the main house, it is dark and secretive, the perfect place for intense and dangerous conversations to happen away from watchful eyes.
And then the characters. I really really disliked Anya. I admire her ambition, her determination, her desperation to matter, but also she just came across as entitled and a bit of a brat. I hated the way she was always on the defensive, didn’t want to listen to anyone's advice and was actually really quite dismissive towards her family, especially her mom. But then, I think she is designed to be disliked and you end up wanting her to get sucked into the depravity that is happening within the villa just to see how far she is actually going to go. Jude on the other hand feels like someone you are designed to root for. He has been unwillingly drawn into this darkness and all of his attempts to free himself have failed, but I did question at the end whether he actually started to embrace this other side of himself a little bit.
What made this truly exceptional for me is how sharply it critiques Hollywood culture in such a bold, yet understated way – it’s never directly criticised, but the intention is so is blatant. Beneath all the supernatural horror is a story that exposes all of the worst parts of Hollywood fame – exploitation, obsession, class, beauty, and the terrible cost of chasing success. It has you questioning what exactly people are willing to turn a blind eye to, how much are they willing to compromise their morals and just how much are they willing sacrifice to get what they want.

[Hope Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dreamland has all the ingredients for a deliciously sinister Hollywood gothic: old money, decaying mansions in the hills, Santa Ana winds, murder, occult whispers, and the uniquely unsettling mythology of Los Angeles. Somehow, it manages to turn all of that into an overlong exercise in spinning its wheels.

The plot is technically always moving, but it never really feels like it's going anywhere. Every revelation seems to exist solely to make room for another revelation, until the story becomes less of a mystery and more of an elaborate traffic circle. By the end, I wasn't intrigued, I was simply waiting for someone to pick an exit.

The characters are another hurdle. Everyone operates at such an exaggerated emotional pitch that they stop feeling like people and start feeling like concepts arguing with each other. They're relentlessly melodramatic, largely unbelievable, and, unfortunately, almost impossible to care about. Judging by other early reviews, I wasn't alone in struggling to understand their motivations or find anyone worth rooting for.

My biggest disappointment, though, was the setting. Hollywood, and especially the old estates tucked into the hills, is already drenched in myth. The real place has decades of strange lore, forgotten scandals, bizarre architecture, and an uncanny atmosphere that practically begs to be used. Most books lean so hard into that mythology that they become caricatures of Los Angeles. Dreamland somehow commits the opposite sin: it introduces those eerie possibilities, hints at something genuinely haunting, and then...drops them. The house never develops into a meaningful presence, the city never feels alive, and the supernatural atmosphere remains frustratingly undercooked.

The themes fare no better. The novel reaches for commentary on ambition, fame, exploitation, family legacy, and desire, but instead of weaving them together, it piles them on until the whole thing becomes convoluted and messy. Multiple reviewers praised the ambition while also noting how tangled and confusing the execution became, and I found myself agreeing.

Then there's the prose. Olivie Blake's writing has always been divisive, but here it feels like every sentence is trying to audition for Most Significant Line in the Book. The result is writing that's overwritten, drawn out, and far too pleased with itself. Instead of building tension, the style often buries it beneath layers of ornamentation. More than one reviewer described the novel as overwritten or confusing, and that summed up my experience almost perfectly.

There are flashes of the novel this could have been. The premise is fantastic, the atmosphere occasionally clicks, and the idea of a Hollywood gothic inspired by the city's darker legends is incredibly appealing. But for me, Dreamland spent so much time admiring its own reflection that it forgot to tell a compelling story.

Like Hollywood itself, it looks dazzling from a distance. Up close, it's mostly smoke and mirrors.

[Bonnie among the pages and chaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was more of a 3.5 since the pacing and some aspects could have been improved but overall I really really enjoyed it.

Dreamland by Olivie Blake reads like Hollywood horror filtered through conspiracy theory and asked, what if selling your soul for fame wasn’t metaphor. At its core, this is a story about ambition in its most unfiltered form. Not the kind that hopes for success, but the kind that assumes it is inevitable and is willing to do anything to get there.

Anya Morris is a fascinating protagonist to follow. She is relentless, self-aware, and deeply convinced of her own entitlement to success. What makes her particularly compelling is the way the novel engages with her identity as a half-Filipina woman navigating an industry that both fetishizes and excludes her. She is acutely aware of how she is perceived and, at times, chooses to weaponize that perception, including her sexuality, as a means of advancing herself. That tension, between agency, exploitation, and ambition, was one of the strongest aspects of the book for me.

I also found the moments that leaned into her family and heritage especially effective. The sections involving her extended family added emotional depth and grounded the otherwise surreal, disorienting atmosphere of the narrative.

That said, this is a book I found myself appreciating more in theory than in execution.

The first third was difficult to settle into. While the disorienting, dreamlike quality felt intentional, it often came across as uneven pacing rather than immersive atmosphere. It took time for the narrative to fully take hold, and I found myself only becoming truly engaged about a third of the way through.

The relationship between Anya and the male lead also felt underdeveloped. The lack of buildup made it difficult to feel invested in their dynamic, and it never quite came across as fully convincing or earned.

Additionally, some of the characterization felt inconsistent throughout, including Anya’s. I don’t mind morally gray or even deeply flawed protagonists, but here the shifts sometimes felt less like intentional complexity and more like uneven execution.

The ending, unfortunately, did not fully land for me. Given the strength and originality of the premise, it felt more conventional and convenient than I had hoped, and I wanted something that leaned further into the novel’s more unsettling and ambitious ideas.

Despite these issues, I still found myself thinking about the book after finishing it and, overall, enjoyed the experience more than not. The premise is compelling, the narrative voice is engaging, and the thematic exploration of fame, identity, and the cost of ambition remains memorable.

While Dreamland didn’t fully come together for me, it has absolutely made me interested in reading more from Olivie Blake in the future.

[Cat Treadwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly remarkable book.

I've found Olivie Blake to be a bit 'hit or miss' for me in the past, but that's usually due to the subject-matter of her work rather than her writing. Fortunately 'Dreamland' shows her literary skills in full force and the topic engaged me so much that I finished it in a matter of days!

A love letter to Los Angeles? Yes. A cynical tale of an aspiring actress? Also yes. Monsters who take exploitation to a level that 'Me Too' would have nightmares about? Absolutely.

Girls are being killed across LA (apparently in line with the weather), but Anya Morris is just looking for her big break. Living with her family, partying with her friends and attending auditions for commercials, when the chance comes for her to meet some real movie stars and make those gold-dust connections, she leaps at it.

Before the evening is out, she finds herself the 'guardian' of Jude, the apparently ill son of Hollywood royalty, who has serious issues with an inner demon. Red flags are out in force, but how can she run when this might make her career?

This is the tale of a young woman finding herself in the city of dreams, and it does not go in any direction you can anticipate. Riding the line between healthy aspirations and bleak futures, Anya is pleasingly complex, being both astute and - as she's repeatedly told - stupid, due to having a very confused idea about what living life actually means.

I appreciated her narration very much, as it gives dimension to the story for us as the reader/audience, with Anya as the main character (and script-writer). She 'casts' herself as necessary each day depending on what's required, but beneath all of that is still a mystery for most of the book. As she finally comes to the realization of who she is and how she may actually be strong enough to do what's necessary in both the real world and her 'story', I found myself both disliking and admiring her simultaneously. This speaks to the quality of the writing 100%.

I think my only quibble with the book is how many LA/America-specific references are used that I just didn't get, which took me out of the story slightly as even in context they could be confusing. I had to pause for a quick Google from time to time, but as the story flowed forward this became less of an issue - perhaps because Anya herself has to part with her phone, so has to face what's in front of her rather than what's happening socially!

Reminding me simultaneously of the light-hearted madness of 'LA Story' and the depths of 'Mulholland Drive' or 'Coldheart Canyon', 'Dreamland' carves its own furrow in LA Literature, managing to be unique in a world full of remakes and IPs. A monstrous pleasure.

I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.

[Loz✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

If Olivie Blake writes it, I will read it. But my god when I tell you how excited I have been for this one since she said she was working on a gothic horror! Blake’s prose is always exquisite, artful, bordering on pretentious, so I already knew this was going to be a perfect genre for her writing before evening turning the first page. It’s gritty, atmospheric, dark and unsettling and it feels like reading poetry with the vibes of Dorian Gray and Jekyll & Hyde. Honestly there were many moments while reading this that I felt completely lost but it felt purposeful, like falling down the rabbit hole or getting lost in a house of mirrors, you have to work to uncover this story. The multiple structures (narrative storytelling, film script, a greek chorus!!) only add to this feeling of unease and confusion as you piece together what is real and what is a dream or story while reading as well as brilliantly reminding us of the Hollywood setting of the story.

Blake never shies away from addressing tough topics and hard truths in her books and I love that about her writing - you don’t get an easy ride as a reader, you are tested and challenged about the world and how you might view it. You could say that Dreamland is a story about the cost and lengths we will go to for our ambitions, or about Hollywood and fame being a glittering illusion for greed and corruption. And it absolutely is. But it is also about misogyny and racism. How women -particularly women of colour and mixed heritage- are forced to twist and mould themselves into how society and the patriarchal system expect them to be, what is ‘comfortable’ for the people around them. Anya, our gothic heroine, is condemned by so many people in this story for being cold and ruthless in her ambition, she is degraded by the men in particular so that they feel like they maintain power over her. Yes she makes some questionable decisions regarding her safety and morality but her dreams and her desires are so foundational in who she is that these choices are inevitable, almost fated. (Honestly I also would have been completely drawn in by the dangerous magnetism of Jude so no judgement here).

I loved getting lost in this book and I think to fully enjoy it you do need to be willing to jump into the obscurity. I can imagine this being a very marmite read for some people which makes me all the more excited to be able to talk about it with other readers once this book is published.

Thank you so much to Tor Books for this advanced copy, I had the best time!

[Polly Jenefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars
This was an experience, one of a dreamland if you will.

We're following Anya, who's an inspiring Filipino actress willing to do anything to 'make it' and Jude, the son of the De Witts, Hollywood royalty and how their stories intertwine.

First of all, I LOVE Olivie's writing style, always have and always will. The premise sounded right up my alley but I'm afraid I didn't love the story as much as I wanted to, although this may be a book that lingers with me.

No one is a likeable character apart from JR and his pigeon, they stole the show for me but sadly were barely present. I struggled to understand certain motivations, especially Anya so I found it difficult to root for her.
The first 80 pages I didn't have the foggiest what was happening and tbh, I still don't. The overall gist I understood. Dreamland is a satire about Hollywood. Anya is representing the struggling actress who just wants her big break, and the De Witts represent families/ companies that were established in the golden age and will do anything to ensure their legacy.
However, I couldn't grasp specifics of what was happening at any given time, very much felt like a dream in the sense that the minor details aren't important but you have this urge to just do things, I don't know, maybe I'm making no sense...

There are conversations about wealth, class and privilege. Men's capacity for violence towards women, pretty privilege, and cultural identity.
I would describe this as satirical magic realism with horror elements. The lines between fiction and fantasy were blurred, and the breaking of the fourth wall made it feel very artsy, like a screenplay. I can definitely see this being adapted into a twisty, bizarre, gothic movie! Gave me 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' vibes.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride, but don't go in with the expectations of romance and fantasy. This felt more similar to Gifted and Talented, where she used her character's paranormal tendencies to discuss and hone in on an aspect of our society, Dreamland, focusing on fame, Hollywood and the war of violence men have waged on women.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Polly Jenefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an experience, one of a dreamland if you will.

We're following Anya, who's an inspiring Filipino actress willing to do anything to 'make it' and Jude, the son of the De Witts, Hollywood royalty and how their stories intertwine.

First of all, I LOVE Olivie's writing style, always have and always will. The premise sounded right up my alley but I'm afraid I didn't love the story as much as I wanted to, although this may be a book that lingers with me.

No one is a likeable character apart from JR and his pigeon, they stole the show for me but sadly were barely present. I struggled to understand certain motivations, especially Anya so I found it difficult to root for her.
The first 80 pages I didn't have the foggiest what was happening and tbh, I still don't. The overall gist I understood. Dreamland is a satire about Hollywood. Anya is representing the struggling actress who just wants her big break, and the De Witts represent families/ companies that were established in the golden age and will do anything to ensure their legacy. 
However, I couldn't grasp specifics of what was happening at any given time, very much felt like a dream in the sense that the minor details aren't important but you have this urge to just do things, I don't know, maybe I'm making no sense...

There are conversations about wealth, class and privilege. Men's capacity for violence towards women, pretty privilege, and cultural identity.
I would describe this as satirical magic realism with horror elements. The lines between fiction and fantasy were blurred, and the breaking of the fourth wall made it feel very artsy, like a screenplay. I can definitely see this being adapted into a twisty, bizarre, gothic movie! Gave me 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' vibes.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride, but don't go in with the expectations of romance and fantasy. This felt more similar to Gifted and Talented, where she used her character's paranormal tendencies to discuss and hone in on an aspect of our society, Dreamland, focusing on fame, Hollywood and the war of violence men have waged on women.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review!