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The Dream of the Stone
Someone is following Sarah Lucas. When she peers down from her apartment window late one night, she sees him hovering in the shadows. And what about the other strange things that have been happening to her? The old woman who appears every so often to give Sarah a cryptic piece of advice and then vanishes? The mysterious gleaming stone that turns up in the mail, a universe of tiny stars suspended in its depths?
But there's no one Sarah can trust with her story. Her journalist parents have been killed in a freak plane crash, and her older brother, Sam, a scientific genius, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances from the top secret institute where he works.
Sarah couldn't be more alone in the world, until the day she meets Angel Muldoon, a half-Gypsy stable boy who carries a secret of his own. Together they will begin an incredible journey to another world, where they must return the stone to its rightful place and keep the forces of unimaginable evil at bay.
But there's no one Sarah can trust with her story. Her journalist parents have been killed in a freak plane crash, and her older brother, Sam, a scientific genius, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances from the top secret institute where he works.
Sarah couldn't be more alone in the world, until the day she meets Angel Muldoon, a half-Gypsy stable boy who carries a secret of his own. Together they will begin an incredible journey to another world, where they must return the stone to its rightful place and keep the forces of unimaginable evil at bay.
290 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
6 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Christina Askounis
1 book11 followersChristina Askounis holds a B.A. from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and an M.A.from The Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars.
Her writing experience encompasses newspaper journalism, television and film scriptwriting, poetry and fiction; her short stories have appeared in popular magazines and in Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion. A novel, The Dream of the Stone, originally published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1993, was reissued in simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback by Simon and Schuster in Spring 2007. A creenplay,"Enchantment," was a finalist in the 2000 Moondance International Film Festival.
Her current research interests include fiction and creative nonfiction, creative process, spiritual autobiography, humor, travel literature, literary criticism by creative writers and the essays of Michel de Montaigne.
Her writing experience encompasses newspaper journalism, television and film scriptwriting, poetry and fiction; her short stories have appeared in popular magazines and in Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion. A novel, The Dream of the Stone, originally published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1993, was reissued in simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback by Simon and Schuster in Spring 2007. A creenplay,"Enchantment," was a finalist in the 2000 Moondance International Film Festival.
Her current research interests include fiction and creative nonfiction, creative process, spiritual autobiography, humor, travel literature, literary criticism by creative writers and the essays of Michel de Montaigne.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 5, 2018
If I re-read it, maybe I'd give it a lesser rating but when I was younger this book captivated me. Five stars for nostalgia and the fact that this book is so hard to find nowadays!
May 4, 2021
2.5 stars - the most interesting parts of this book were those that dealt with tackling grief.
March 15, 2013
The first time I read this book I was about 12 years old. Given how many books I devoured at that age and then forgot completely, the mere fact that I remember this one so fondly says a lot. I am 30 now, and pleased to discover that, under the test of time, this book holds up beautifully. I highly recommend it.
May 27, 2023
I loved this book as a teenager and was so thrilled to reread it again as an adult. It took some tracking down as I couldn’t remember the title.
It was certainly an amazing read in a pre- Harry Potter world. I was surprised to see negative reviews here but I just don’t think that people understand that we didn’t have a lot of inter dimensional magic stone travel back then!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it the second time around mostly for nostalgic reasons but if the author were to make it a trilogy I would definitely read them!!
It was certainly an amazing read in a pre- Harry Potter world. I was surprised to see negative reviews here but I just don’t think that people understand that we didn’t have a lot of inter dimensional magic stone travel back then!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it the second time around mostly for nostalgic reasons but if the author were to make it a trilogy I would definitely read them!!
October 25, 2018
The book "The Dream of the Stone" wasn't necessarily a bad book it just wasn't my type of book when I first seen it and read the summary of what it was going to be about I thought I would enjoy it more. It was a good book don't get me wrong I just wouldn't read it again.
April 21, 2023
Read this book as a teenager and again as an adult. It definitely has flaws and the ages of the love interest and main character are questionable. The main character and her brother are too attached as well. This book just didn’t hold up well.
December 16, 2020
I loved this book! It has a heroine whom I found very relatable, a child genius, a colossal battle between good and evil....
The only complaint I have is that there doesn't appear to be a sequel.
The only complaint I have is that there doesn't appear to be a sequel.
November 4, 2012
Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Lucas lives a wonderful life. In her youth, she traveled all over the world with her photojournalist parents, and now the family has settled down in a beautiful little farm on the East Coast. Sarah has a constant friend in her older brother, Sam, whose genius intelligence earned him his Ph.D. at eighteen and a job doing research for the mysterious Institute based in California. But Sarah's parents begin to worry about Sam's involvement with the Institute. The project he's working on is top secret, and so is much of the information about the Institute that has hired him. They fly to California to convince Sam to leave his job, but their plane crashes during their return flight, resulting in their deaths.
When Sam returns home for the funeral, he shares information about his research with Sarah, telling her about his experiments to develop a kind of "looking glass" that would allow people and things to be transported between different worlds by enlarging wormholes, tiny passages through spacetime. The newly-orphaned Sarah must deal with her grief, but also with her increasing suspicion that her parents were right about the Institute's sinister intentions for Sam's research. With the help of a strange old lady who appears first as a homeless woman, and later as Sarah's Latin teacher, she learns more about the Institute, and prompts Sam into reexamining the people for whom he works. The culmination of these events results in Sarah and Sam being stranded on an alien world that they reached through the powers of Sam's fully-functioning "looking glass."
Along the way, Sarah meets up with other characters, from this world and elsewhere. I especially loved Angel, the half-gypsy stable hand she meets while living with her aunt and uncle in New York City. The richness of Askounis's characterizations adds flavor to the novel, and real human depth to the conflict, which operates on the level of a grand battle between Good and Evil.
To me, it felt like a cross between the novels of Madeline L'Engle, C. S. Lewis, and Diane Duane, and I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys those writers. Like the best of those authors, Askounis writes compelling characters into a significant conflict, and does so with descriptive prose that portrays Earth just as dazzlingly as it delineates the alien world of Oneiros where the novel's climactic events occur.
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Lucas lives a wonderful life. In her youth, she traveled all over the world with her photojournalist parents, and now the family has settled down in a beautiful little farm on the East Coast. Sarah has a constant friend in her older brother, Sam, whose genius intelligence earned him his Ph.D. at eighteen and a job doing research for the mysterious Institute based in California. But Sarah's parents begin to worry about Sam's involvement with the Institute. The project he's working on is top secret, and so is much of the information about the Institute that has hired him. They fly to California to convince Sam to leave his job, but their plane crashes during their return flight, resulting in their deaths.
When Sam returns home for the funeral, he shares information about his research with Sarah, telling her about his experiments to develop a kind of "looking glass" that would allow people and things to be transported between different worlds by enlarging wormholes, tiny passages through spacetime. The newly-orphaned Sarah must deal with her grief, but also with her increasing suspicion that her parents were right about the Institute's sinister intentions for Sam's research. With the help of a strange old lady who appears first as a homeless woman, and later as Sarah's Latin teacher, she learns more about the Institute, and prompts Sam into reexamining the people for whom he works. The culmination of these events results in Sarah and Sam being stranded on an alien world that they reached through the powers of Sam's fully-functioning "looking glass."
Along the way, Sarah meets up with other characters, from this world and elsewhere. I especially loved Angel, the half-gypsy stable hand she meets while living with her aunt and uncle in New York City. The richness of Askounis's characterizations adds flavor to the novel, and real human depth to the conflict, which operates on the level of a grand battle between Good and Evil.
To me, it felt like a cross between the novels of Madeline L'Engle, C. S. Lewis, and Diane Duane, and I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys those writers. Like the best of those authors, Askounis writes compelling characters into a significant conflict, and does so with descriptive prose that portrays Earth just as dazzlingly as it delineates the alien world of Oneiros where the novel's climactic events occur.
January 20, 2013
An Undiscovered Epic
Christian Askounis gives the reader a wonderful tale in The Dream of the Stone that will have you wanting more. It is the story of a young girl whose parents are killed in a plane crash. When her brother comes home, he reveals that he has a secret and it all revolves around the mysterious place he works way out in the desert. Sarah believes that company is more than a strange employer when she finds herself followed, meets a mysterious woman who appears many places, and when her ability to communicate with her brother is disrupted. Who are they? Where are they? Why are they after this stone her brother smuggled to her? With the help of a friend who has some mystery of his own, she finds herself transported to worlds unknown.
I have to say that this was one of the most delightful reads that I have encountered in a long time. It was a combination of C.S. Lewis meets Madeleine L’Engle. I am almost at a loss for words as this cannot fully describe how wonderful this story is. It is deep. If one reads Lewis and L’Engle, he/she will discover that their stories are more than just stories. They have so much depth to them that children who read them cannot possibly grasp all the messages there. Even adults would have to read and ponder the words. I found myself stopping to think of a phrase and what it means to me.
The characters are very interesting. They have you wanting to dive into them more and get to know them better. The plot is relatively fast paced. There were a few places where it slowed down, but it was necessary to get more information that was critical. From there it picked up again and took off on another fantastical ride.
Wonderfully crafted. The world Ms. Askounis brings to the reader is a fantasy world like no other. It is a story of the soul that has you wondering why the author has not done more. I need more of her great talent! The only thing that could make it better aside from another book would be discussion questions at the end as it has so many things that could be talked about. I’ll be telling many people about this book!
Note: This book was provided by a colleague with no expectation of a positive review.
Christian Askounis gives the reader a wonderful tale in The Dream of the Stone that will have you wanting more. It is the story of a young girl whose parents are killed in a plane crash. When her brother comes home, he reveals that he has a secret and it all revolves around the mysterious place he works way out in the desert. Sarah believes that company is more than a strange employer when she finds herself followed, meets a mysterious woman who appears many places, and when her ability to communicate with her brother is disrupted. Who are they? Where are they? Why are they after this stone her brother smuggled to her? With the help of a friend who has some mystery of his own, she finds herself transported to worlds unknown.
I have to say that this was one of the most delightful reads that I have encountered in a long time. It was a combination of C.S. Lewis meets Madeleine L’Engle. I am almost at a loss for words as this cannot fully describe how wonderful this story is. It is deep. If one reads Lewis and L’Engle, he/she will discover that their stories are more than just stories. They have so much depth to them that children who read them cannot possibly grasp all the messages there. Even adults would have to read and ponder the words. I found myself stopping to think of a phrase and what it means to me.
The characters are very interesting. They have you wanting to dive into them more and get to know them better. The plot is relatively fast paced. There were a few places where it slowed down, but it was necessary to get more information that was critical. From there it picked up again and took off on another fantastical ride.
Wonderfully crafted. The world Ms. Askounis brings to the reader is a fantasy world like no other. It is a story of the soul that has you wondering why the author has not done more. I need more of her great talent! The only thing that could make it better aside from another book would be discussion questions at the end as it has so many things that could be talked about. I’ll be telling many people about this book!
Note: This book was provided by a colleague with no expectation of a positive review.
September 6, 2014
Sarah's family has been falling apart. First it was her older brother Sam, who went to work at the Institute---which initially looked like a blessing, but her parents have growing suspicions about his job, and the tension is driving them apart. Then her parents die, and she's left with nothing but an aunt and uncle who take her far from the country farm home she loves. When Sam sends her a mysterious object, though, everything changes. Sarah is thrust to another world and faced with an evil that can swallow up much more than she knows . . . and somehow only she can stop it.
This is a very literary fantasy. The beginning is grounded on Earth, and the story reads more like fiction until suddenly magic happens and Sarah's somewhere else entirely. The book is well-written, and the other world has some neat ideas, but in the end the story bothered me too much to like.
Sarah spends much of the book sad and depressed, and longing to go back to life with her parents. This is very well drawn. It is also tedious after a while. Instead of moving through her grief, she lives mired in it, so that even the good experiences in the new world tend to get overshadowed by her downcast emotions. And then bad things happen and it gets worse anyway.
It's also an odd book in that Sarah doesn't really do anything. She spends a fair amount of time getting pushed around by circumstances and other people, and the only decisions she makes are rather small ones. It makes the climax feel very odd, because everyone's treating her like she's done this great thing when in reality all she did was recognize that the dead are dead and what is given to Love is never lost. So it's more of an emotional journey than anything else.
The relationship she builds with Angel involves a lot of kissing, one scene swimming naked together, and not enough time to believe it's really love and not lust. Which I suppose isn't a huge problem given how it ended up.
Overall this is not a badly written book. But there's not really a good adventure story, since so much of it is under a cloud of negative emotions, and I didn't care much for the story that was left. I rate this book Neutral.
This is a very literary fantasy. The beginning is grounded on Earth, and the story reads more like fiction until suddenly magic happens and Sarah's somewhere else entirely. The book is well-written, and the other world has some neat ideas, but in the end the story bothered me too much to like.
Sarah spends much of the book sad and depressed, and longing to go back to life with her parents. This is very well drawn. It is also tedious after a while. Instead of moving through her grief, she lives mired in it, so that even the good experiences in the new world tend to get overshadowed by her downcast emotions. And then bad things happen and it gets worse anyway.
It's also an odd book in that Sarah doesn't really do anything. She spends a fair amount of time getting pushed around by circumstances and other people, and the only decisions she makes are rather small ones. It makes the climax feel very odd, because everyone's treating her like she's done this great thing when in reality all she did was recognize that the dead are dead and what is given to Love is never lost. So it's more of an emotional journey than anything else.
The relationship she builds with Angel involves a lot of kissing, one scene swimming naked together, and not enough time to believe it's really love and not lust. Which I suppose isn't a huge problem given how it ended up.
Overall this is not a badly written book. But there's not really a good adventure story, since so much of it is under a cloud of negative emotions, and I didn't care much for the story that was left. I rate this book Neutral.
July 25, 2020
This is a weird book for me, in that periodically I remember reading this in high school, and at one point I even spent some time tracking down the name to add it to my goodreads, but I also clearly recall not enjoying it very much.
1. There was a lot of "coming of age" bs. It was clearly intended for teens so it had some vaguely sexual aspects to it, but, like most of the ones I read, it just came off as awkward and weird.
2. I didn't like Sarah. She was kind of whiny and never wanted to do anything, and I kind of remember liking her brother better but he didn't show up as much.
3. I just can't remember the story itself going anywhere. The dimensional travel thing was kind of fun but I feel like there wasn't much actually going on.
I feel like I mostly disliked this book, but some of the fantasy aspects were interesting enough that I feel like 1 star isn't really appropriate. There was something about the fantasy that caught me and made me keep reading until I was done, and maybe that was due to my heightened interest in fantasy at the time. I actually think this might have been better for me if it was mostly about the fantasy worlds, rather than mostly a teen coming-of-age story with some fantasy parts mixed in.
1. There was a lot of "coming of age" bs. It was clearly intended for teens so it had some vaguely sexual aspects to it, but, like most of the ones I read, it just came off as awkward and weird.
2. I didn't like Sarah. She was kind of whiny and never wanted to do anything, and I kind of remember liking her brother better but he didn't show up as much.
3. I just can't remember the story itself going anywhere. The dimensional travel thing was kind of fun but I feel like there wasn't much actually going on.
I feel like I mostly disliked this book, but some of the fantasy aspects were interesting enough that I feel like 1 star isn't really appropriate. There was something about the fantasy that caught me and made me keep reading until I was done, and maybe that was due to my heightened interest in fantasy at the time. I actually think this might have been better for me if it was mostly about the fantasy worlds, rather than mostly a teen coming-of-age story with some fantasy parts mixed in.
October 29, 2011
I read this book because the blurb sounded interesting, it goes onto my bingo board under the spot of "A book with a female main character" This book is about a teenage girl named Sarah Lucas who lost her parents in a plane crash and her brother Sam is experimenting at a mysterious organization. Sarah realizes she's been followed by a man wearing dark clothes and she when she receives an unusual stone in the mail she is send on a journey to another world with a hippie named Angel. This book was ok, I liked the start but I disliked the romance because it was extremely tacky and cliche. It had alot of imagination put into it but the actual characters and plot weren't that complex or interesting. The ending was predictable and I wish it had been a little more philosophical and realistic as it was a book with an unusual balance of realism and foolishness, I would recommend this book to girls who like cliche love stories such as Twilight, Twilight 2, etc.
October 4, 2011
This was a wonderful book full of allegories and deeper meanings. I kept thinking that it would be the basis of an insightful paper detailing the fight of good versus evil.
Sarah Loucas is orphaned at the age of 17 when her parents fly to California to convince her older brother, Sam, to leave his secretive job. Their plane crashes on the return flight, and Sarah must move from her country home to live with an aunt and uncle. Sarah tries to convince Sam to allow her to live with him, but he does not want to endanger her life with his secret project. During this time, Sarah is visited by a mysterious woman that provides her with cryptic messages concerning her destiny and Sam's safety. Sam sends Sarah a stone that leads her to another world where she must realize her destiny as the stone-bearer to save the planet from destruction and defeat the evil Umbra.
It is a wonderful book for those looking for an enjoyable read or a story with deeper meaning.
Sarah Loucas is orphaned at the age of 17 when her parents fly to California to convince her older brother, Sam, to leave his secretive job. Their plane crashes on the return flight, and Sarah must move from her country home to live with an aunt and uncle. Sarah tries to convince Sam to allow her to live with him, but he does not want to endanger her life with his secret project. During this time, Sarah is visited by a mysterious woman that provides her with cryptic messages concerning her destiny and Sam's safety. Sam sends Sarah a stone that leads her to another world where she must realize her destiny as the stone-bearer to save the planet from destruction and defeat the evil Umbra.
It is a wonderful book for those looking for an enjoyable read or a story with deeper meaning.
April 27, 2015
Throughout this whole book, I was really confused on what was happening. The book kind of reminds me of Narnia. Except, take the Narnia series and mix up all the books, except for the last one. I mean, the beginning was fine. Interesting, even. But then... Things started to derail and it kind of snowballed from there. Wait, talking trees? Oh, is this a different dimension? Well what's HE got to do with this? Then, just: What?
So, I think I get how it starts, and I definitely know how it ends, but I can't for the life of me tell you how Point A got to Point B.
So, I think I get how it starts, and I definitely know how it ends, but I can't for the life of me tell you how Point A got to Point B.
July 16, 2015
The book sounded promising, but ultimately didn't deliver. I found the pacing to be slow and the heroine rather boring. Most of the time she sat around wondering what to do. Even after receiving advice, she had to be taken in hand--or carried--to the places she needed to go in order to accomplish the things she was supposed to do. It makes me wonder why all the folks thought she was so special in the first place. And the whole romance felt awkward and ultimately unsatisfying.
July 29, 2011
This book was originally published in 1993 and was republished in 2007. I am glad the publishers decided to reprint this book, it was amazing. I loved it. It's a fast read b/c you don't want to put it down. If your looking for a good fantasy read and are tired of the Vampires give this a try, you won't be sorry. I read it one day.
August 30, 2008
Started out very good, but petered out somewhere along the way. She either read A Wrinkle in Time first, and was greatly influenced, or there was a strange mental connection between her and Madeline L'Engle.
November 26, 2010
The concept, from start to finish and in the moments between, was utterly splendid. It just got too explicit for my liking, and while I can say I loved the rest, that segment almost killed me, especially since I read this at 14.
August 7, 2012
One of the most powerful reads of my youth. I've returned to this one several times. I just love the way this book opens up into more and more mystery until it drops you into another world altogether.
Want to read
July 5, 2007recommendation from Zack.
May 11, 2008
This book was written by the wife of Tim's old boss, a writing professor at Duke. I haven't read the version that is currently out--apparently it was re-written quite a bit.
June 16, 2008
Surprisingly good. The story draws you in, the characters are not cardboard cutouts, and it's thought-provoking and terrifying.
August 30, 2008
This started out really great, but petered out somewhere along the way. The author had either read A Wrinkle in Time or there was a weird mind connection between her and Madeline L'Engle.
April 19, 2009
wow it took me forever to figure out the name of this book i read a month or so ago. it was a good book...where is it at?? hmmmm
i liked the strainge new world she discovers.
i liked the strainge new world she discovers.
August 13, 2009
This book was much better the first time I read it -- at the tender age of 10. Still, it's a good story.
February 11, 2010
Original plot, I must say.
March 19, 2010
cheesy ending
December 21, 2011
A refreshing great read. But the ending! :(
November 18, 2012
All of the main characters in the story felt like people even the obviously non-human ones. Alien world was hauntingly beautiful.
December 28, 2014
This is this is the most amazing book ever
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews