When Dreams Collide

Dreamland Chronicles #2

by William Mark Simmons

Escaping the computer of Dreamland, the psychotic Artificial Ego and Superego begin taking over human bodies and planning nuclear war, and game whiz Robert Ripley must free the captive minds they have enslaved.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

341 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

Reviews

[Malina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

Nápad je fakt zajímavý, ale chvílemi je to trochu zmateně napsané. Věřím, fakt věřím, že v angličtině je to lepší xd.
Vzhledem k tomu, že se v celé sérii řeší téma programování, tak musím fakt dávat pozor na to, co čtu, abych pak nebyla úplně vedle, ale je to fajn.
Ten konec mě úplně zmátl, takže jsem si to párkrát musela přečíst dokola, abych pobrala co se stalo a řeknu už jen jedno - jdu si sehnat třetí díl <3

[Julie Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot was a bit more confusing this time around, but still super funny and impossible to predict what will happen next.

[S D Lawrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this, but not as much as the first. Think I might have to get the third, which was written several years later.

[Crittermom · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Dreams Collide starts with an intriguing idea - if consciousness can be loaded into a virtual environment what happens if an artificial construct is downloaded into a human body. I liked the description. Unfortunately, not much time is spent on that idea and the blurb is the best part. Readers instead spend their time wading through a fantasy environment that caters to male adolescents both in the quantity of buxom beings who crave male attention and the numerous bad puns that are made manifest.

When Dreams Collide struggles too much, trying to be too many things at once. The result is a hodge pudge less appealing than badly made haggis. It isn't a comic romp. It isn't a classic adventure or even a successful parody of one. It isn't thrilling science fiction where we genuinely feel threatened by the artificial entity that escaped the game. We are told that when people die in the game, they die in life - but it all feels artificial. It is impossible to empathize with the characters. The "real spirits" have no more vitality than the artificial ones. The biggest, most impossible to ignore weakness though was the complete absence of structured plot.

I held out hope that the novel would improve, but by 75% in, I realized my hopes were unlikely to be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend When Dreams Collide to either science fiction or fantasy fans. But if you are a middle-aged gamer looking to relive adolescent glories, you might enjoy it. (To be honest if you are under 45 you won't get at least 2/3rds of the jokes)

2/5

I received a copy of When Dreams Collide from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

[Zippergirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's something for sci-fi/fantasy readers to celebrate: the new release by Endeavor Press of William Mark Simmons' epic virtual reality Dreamlands series on its twenty-fifth anniversary. In the author's foreword, Simmons admits that he has done a little tweaking to bring the story up to date, but that he has left "just about everything in its 'retro' state."

I say, don't mess with success. While the first book, In the Net of Dreams, works as a stand-alone, you'd be cheating yourself if you stopped there. When Dreams Collide, the second book, is just as wildly funny and imaginative as you would expect, and delves deeper into the immersive gaming technology which allows players to leave their bodies behind and enter into a world of their choosing, filled with live players and virtually undetectable AI characters. Puns and pop culture references abound, moral issues arise, and Dreamland actions begin to have real world consequences.

Grab your vanilla Dr. Pepper, slip into your tank and explore Fantasyworld with Robert Remington Ripley III and his alter-ego: Riplakish of Dyrinwall. (Best read following the first book of the series.)

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this, the only thing that I didn't like was that it was book 2 in a series and I hadn't read the first one before this so it was a little confusing. Overall I did enjoy what I read, I liked the characters and the premise of the book.