Can she summon the will to do what is necessary, or will she risk all to save a human?
Evie grows restless observing mortals from afar. When a friend offers to smuggle her by portal into the human world, she jumps at the opportunity. Secretly, though, she also hopes to observe Adan, the human Dreamer. Only a glimpse, she promises herself.
But trouble awaits after her captivating adventure and delayed return. Not only did she take an unsanctioned trip to the ground, but now the boy, the Dreamer, is missing, and her director believes she is to blame.
Donning a human body and wielding a golden blade, Evie must return to the human world and find Adan before her way home is sealed. All while wrestling unfamiliar human emotions and a growing suspicion that she’s caught amid a devious plot already in motion.
SARA WATTERSON is a fiction writer, author of uplifting and clean young adult science fiction and fantasy.
When not writing, teaching, or enjoying her kids’ many activities, Sara likes reading on the back porch, drinking coffee, and hanging out with her super-cute hubby. (His real-life single dimple serves as inspiration for one of Sara’s fictional favorites.😉)
I greatly enjoyed this Biblical Joseph story wrapped in an urban fantasy. As with any retelling, no story will completely parallel the original so if you're looking for that here, you will like!y be disappointed. But it was fun when I recognized the parallels to the original story. I found Adan and Evie to be likable main characters that led a cast of many other well-developed and distinct personalities. The romantic chemistry had the kind of slow build that I love, based on attraction but mostly recognizing each other's strengths. And the author doesn't dwell on physical traits ( besides eyes, hair, smile) which is what I prefer in a YA book. I look forward to reading future books by this author
I totally enjoyed this book! The author created a complicated and intriguing world that I can’t wait to explore more in future books! The action was fast paced and the twists surprised me each time!
Honestly, not as interesting as it sounds but not bad either. Recommended for readers who like reading from several perspectives but I’m not one of those readers…
I am extremely impressed with the author’s creativity in writing this book, and I especially enjoyed reading how everything tied together in the end. This was such a fun read, and I would definitely recommend!!
Never having read Christian fiction before I am overall pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.
I liked the character's more than expected. Evie was a good character to follow and she had good insight into the inner workings of the world, like knowing about Sectors and the Control Room and the backstory of why various sectors are closed to others and the background lore. It's handy to have a character discovering the Sectors for the first time, because we can discover them right alongside her.
Adan, despite my troubles of always misreading his name as Adam, is a humble character and while doubting his gift and abilities, still is smart enough to know when they are telling him something. I am a little surprised how much he doubts his dreaming ability especially after he described previous times he has been correct on the future. I feel like after that he would have been comfortable in acknowledging his abilities, while maybe not telling anyone directly, since it's not a well know gift or one that people believe.
The story overall is reasonably paced, with a few bits here and there that are more intense than others, with a bit of drama going on, or a chase scene happening. Some parts of the writing did lead to confusion on order of events and the stories time line. For example in chapter 29 when Evie is heading back to the rebels base there is reminiscing on her time with the rebels and some of the evenings spent in the safe house, this disrupted the flow of the story, for me, to the point that I was confused when Evie returned to the present and returned to the base. I think this part would have worked much better in and earlier section before The Den is blown up, and would have given the reader better insight that Evie actually snuck out to be with the rebels when they invaded The Den. There were also a few grammatical errors that could have been picked up, but they were few and did not detract heavily form the story (I say this, even though my work is always filled with grammar and spelling errors, they still popped up and made me do a "Wait, what you trying to say?).
While I am no Christian, I could certainly see biblical references and allegory. This is not super heavy in the story and if you have never read a bible some of it may not come across as being referential to the Bible. Like Evie is clearly meant to be an angel, Jesiah is not only referred to as the Maker but is also out there creating Sector 7, being God. The seven Sectors could even be seen as the 7 days. The fact Sector One was destroyed brings in the idea of the End of Days and the Deceiver being a persuasive being was clearly meant to be Lucifer or the Devil (I would say more Lucifer, because at this point let's just say they have not yet been cast from heaven).
Watterson is also really good at implanting wise words that feel like "What would Jesus do?" philosophy. For example, Jesiah suggesting Evie let go of hate because it is only a cage to trap you. When Adan is handing out supplies to the Sector Six people he feels fulfilled in the giving process and realises that helping people is positive for both parties. I like that these moment's are not forced they do have purpose in the story but are really good character building moments and add to the feeling of the story.
I look forward to seeing how the adventures continue. I look forward to seeing how Watterson's word and writing grows.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
What??! Ummm, where’s the sequel? I don’t know if I’m satisfied with that ending, but I guess it makes sense…
This was definitely a different book, but interesting and pretty good. It’s kind of sci-fi but also kind of fantasy. But, it didn’t have super weird elements like weird creatures that turned me off. And, it’s a retelling of the story of Joseph, which was a creative twist. I don’t even know how to explain what all happened because a lot happened, and I probably didn’t fully grasp all of it. It had elements of allegory with the Maker and the Deceiver. Evie is like an angel/immortal who becomes a human for most of the book. Adan has a strange gift of dreaming and being able to see the future. Other characters had different gifts like strength, healing, etc. There’s a lot of depth and some of it was kinda confusing, but after reading the reader’s note, I understood better where the author was coming from.
Anymore, you have to just read the book to understand what’s going on. It’s clean…there’s kinda some romance, but then not really (idk)
Overall, I enjoyed it and would be interested in picking up the sequel. I think book 2 is in the works.
I just want to give u guys the warning that I never got. This book will give u EXTREME emotional trauma!!!! It gave me desires to do very abnormal and obnoxious things such as; bombing the capital, kidnapping children and letting them buy anything they want at Walmart, robbing the national bank, riding on a luxurious boat across the sea then burning it. Trust, while reading this book, thoughts like these r typical! I just wanted to warn u! Now for the review. Imagine that one fat kid from diary of a wimpy kid but turned into a thug, who has tattoos on his arms and nightmares so intense that they convinced him to cross the border! Now imagine that “wannabe Caillou watcher guy” from marvel and make him female. Those r the two main characters. And they both suck. Ik they’re both 100% aware that they have feelings for each other but are just too chicken to man up and admit it. Like dude needs to chill and get himself a gf before he turns into a teenage variations of Drake and girl needs to stop worrying abt the future and just like idk go to the beach or something. Like girl doesn’t know how to live. She probably has never touched grass. This author is trying so hard to be different but it’s not working for her. I feel kinda bad…but at the same time I don’t. If she would’ve let them get together like they should’ve. I might have actually enjoyed it. BUT NO! SAMANTHA WATERSON HAS RUINED MY HOPES AND DREAMS! I FR JUST FINISHED IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME AND IM ALR AN EMOTIONAL TRAIN RECK! THIS IS JUST MAKING ME EVEN MORE UPSET! Ty for crushing my soul like a grape!!! (I love being dramatic🥰😻😘) overall this was a L book! 2 stars is generous!!!
I am a 61 year old man who loves Jesus and enjoys novels involving Him. This story has Jesiah in that role, but Jesiah is not quite Jesus. The story has many biblical reflections and the characters are loosely similar to those in the Bible. I enjoyed this story and recommend it to young and old alike.
Sara Watterson’s This Dreamer holds the distinction of being the first independently published novel to win a Christy Award. That alone is a huge accomplishment. While the big publishers have the right to just pay an entry fee, the author of a self-published book has to prove their book has sold at least $2,000 worth of copies in the award year (and pay the entry fee). All that to say for a self-published novel to win a Christy Award the author has to really believe in it, there has to be an audience for it, and then it has to contend with the big guys. It can really be a David vs. Goliath scenario. While there has been a smattering of independently-published titles to be among the award finalists, This Dreamer is the one the broke the glass ceiling and became the first to win.
In her debut novel, Watterson has taken on an enormous challenge. It is incredibly difficult to portray the angelic/demonic in ways that come across as believable. Authors have to make a decision of how imaginative they may allow themselves to be. Where do they keep to what is portrayed in Scripture? Where do they get poetic license? The only person I’ve seen actually do this at a stunning level is Tosca Lee with her debut, Demon: A Memoir. Watterson’s angelic host reads more like Good Omens for a YA crowd, but without the intention of satire or comedy—so take that as a compliment or criticism, whichever you prefer.
Her basic setup felt, to me, like the Gamemakers’ control room in The Hunger Games. It’s the job of the Watchers to look after humanity (though exactly what this entails is never really explicated) and there’s a subset of angels on earth called Guardians, who shepherd humans with have a supernatural gifting (again, not really fully fleshed out). There’s also the small issue of someone called The Deceiver and the chance they might be infecting the different worlds Jesiah (the God figure) has created.
She’s also decided to align her secondary protagonist’s story with the story of Joseph. (He even has brothers named Asher and Ben!) Following the biblical storyline, however loosely, constrains Watterson in some ways and creates certain expectations. Some of these things work well within the story construct, other things seem to only be there to follow the structure of the biblical narrative. In trying to juggle all of these things, This Dreamer sets up a number of interesting concepts in terms of worldbuilding but doesn’t allow them to develop in all their fullness. So much has to be explained and yet so much is left unexplained—though future books in the series might resolve that.
This Dreamer is billed as a Young Adult book. That’s the category for which it won a Christy Award. But, other than the novel’s size, this felt more like a middle grade novel to me in terms of the characters’ ages and actions and the straightforward plotting—with all the expected tropes and narrative beats that come with. We have a Chosen One, people sorted into groups by special abilities, a training montage that includes a tournament-style competition, a game that symbolizes a broader conflict, and a sweet, innocuous quasi-relationship.
In the end, This Dreamer had promise. It’s a fun story and 9-year-old me would have loved it. But older me sees places where it could have been a bit stronger. The best parts of the book were when Evie seemed least like a Watcher and when Adan’s narrative was least like Joseph’s. I truly believe that you had removed the overt attempts to parrot the Joseph storyline, This Dreamer would have improved. But even at the book’s weakest points I wanted to know more, I wanted to keep reading, I wanted to see where the story went. And while this review has been a bit critical, its accolades speak for itself to tell me that I’m in the minority. If this is her debut, Sara Watterson has a strong career ahead of her. I wish her the best.
This Dreamer was recently awarded the Christy Award for young adult fiction - and it is easy to see why. Sara Watterson crafted an interesting fantasy loosely based on the story of Joseph with hints of the story of Noah. She created a world where there are alternate worlds existing at the same time where only those in the “control room” know of the existence of the other worlds - an interesting concept. There is a battle of good vs. evil that is very well written - at times the reader will question if a character is on the side of good or evil but that helps keep readers reading. There are Christ-like and Satan-like characters which readers will readily recognize. The characters are believable and readers will either love them or hate them - depending on the character. The plot contains enough action to make this a “can’t put it down” novel. Overall the book is very well-written. While all “loose ends” are tied up by the end of the book, there are enough hints of future adventures that I can’t wait to read the next book in the Chronicles of the Marked series. This Dreamer would be a great addition to a K-12 Christian school library. It is appropriate for middle school and up, possibly even some older elementary students. I received a complimentary copy of This Dreamer. This is my honest review.
The title probably gives this away, but This Dreamer is loosely inspired by one of my favorite Biblical accounts. I enjoyed Watterson's exploration of spiritual warfare, and having Evie, (the Watcher), as one of the protagonist's was very enjoyable. I also liked Adan's close relationship with his younger brother, Ben. The theme of forgiveness was nicely explored. As Jesia, the Maker, says, "Holding a grudge cages you in an invisible prison".
Admittedly, I was a bit confused by the Watchers in certain respects. They are aloof from humanity and seemed a bit uncaring considering the roles they are supposed to represent. I understand not comprehending humanity, (having never been human), but some of the behavior was a bit odd. Also, the Deceiver character was much too obvious, at least in my opinion. More subtlety and a bit more charisma would have been appreciated. I frankly did not understand why the Deceiver was given so much freedom to wreak havoc, especially given the history of the Sector's. Perhaps I read too fast and missed a certain point. However, I did like the idea of the Gifted individuals, and the dream sequences were creative. A good, action-packed book that explores a Biblical account in a unique way. I also recommend King of Dreams, by Sharon Hinck. God bless you all.
I really liked the way it was written, the characters, and I love how I was able to identify Bible stories that I recognized!
The only two things I took note of that I was confused about, was that I didn't understand what a "Watcher", a "Guardian", etc. were. I also was confused about the boundaries between the sectors, because it explained that an alarm went off anytime a gifted person crossed over into sector six, but I didn't know if that meant it was a physical boundary, or more of a magical one? The last thing is that, while I thought it was really interesting that sector six seemed to be behind in technology and other advances, I never understood why they were that way, or why that was important.
Besides those small details I was confused on (but was able to continue reading without having to worry about them), it was overall super good, and I would definitely recommend it!
This Dreamer is a loose retelling of a biblical story set in a fantastical setting, much like the fairytale retellings that have become so popular. Though it has a fantasy feel, it utilizes various technologies that put it in the science fiction genre. For example, we follow Evaniah who travels to different sectors using transport portals while she seeks the Dreamer.
One of my favorite characters, though, is Sam with his baseball and loyalty. I hope he makes an appearance in the sequel! And those final scenes were heart pumping. I could see a kid into fantasy babbling excitedly about the ending.
While this book is listed for “young adults,” I see it appealing more to audiences of 11-13 years old, both boy or girl. Overall, an enjoyable read! I look forward to book 2. 🙂
This Dreamer by Sara Watterson was a highly engaging story full of adventure. I loved the aspects of Joseph's story the author incorporated in the story. Her use of talents mentioned in the Bible, like strength and water manipulation, kept the story clean. There was no magic, yet there was supernatural activity. The characters' growth was amazing to watch. I loved that this story showed the grace of God and featured the importance of forgiveness. This is a great book for any teenager and older. No language, no sex or alphabet agenda. Just a good clean story that shows redemption and the plan of the maker in everyone's life.
Familiar and then... More! Wonderful characters and well written.
I enjoyed the familiarity of this story and Joseph's dreams. But more so, being able to enjoy a fantasy book with family of all ages. No unnecessary smut. Loved it and cannot wait to read more from the author and these well developed characters.
This book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I loved it so much, I read it in about 3 days 😅 The story is captivating, the characters are interesting and relatable, the plot and setting are amazing... I could go on and on. The morals are also solid, and they don't stray far from the Bible. I can't wait for book 2!
First of all, I really appreciate Sara Watterson's ability to write an engaging story and keep it clean! This was a unique story with interesting characters. It definitely had a twist! I hope that Sara Watterson writes more to this series as I feel like it has a lot to build on.
This book was absolutely amazing! I was so sad when I finished it and I couldn’t wait for the next book! Watterson whisked me away to this biblical allegory and I never wanted to come back! I defiantly recommend this to young Christian teens and all others!
This Dreamer was highly imaginative and full of characters with whom you quickly fall head over heels in love. The faint undertones of the Biblical story of Joseph hit just right. Overall, the story was powerful, engaging, and enjoyable to read. I can see why it won a Christy Award!
I am not sure what I expected from this story. However, what I found was an incredible adventure. I loved how the author used some aspects of Joseph's story yet she made it her own. This was a clean story. I enjoyed watching the Guardian learn to embrace humanity and care for humans. I cannot wait to see how she reunites with her people from sector 6. Great story.
Not sure why I didn’t write a review for this book so here I am. I loved it. The plot was so well thought out and the characters were really easy to connect with. I loved how God was portrayed and I really loved Evie. Evie and Adan’s romance was so good I LOVED IT. I’m really hoping the author writes the second book for this, the ending gave me the impression for another book but I’m sure 💕
This dreamer was a really good read! i'm glad i started the year off reading it! i'm so excited to read the next book in the series once it comes out next year! this is a clean read and is a Christian fantasy for sure!