The Book of Stolen Dreams | ARC Review

Thank you to Usborne Publishing an Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway

 Book:The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr
Release Date: September 30th 2021
Tags: Middle Grade | Fantasy | Family | All about Books
Trigger/Content Warnings: Mentioned Torture | Kidnapping | Cancer | Grief

Rachel and Robert live a grey, dreary life under the rule of cruel Charles Malstain. But when their librarian father enlists their help to steal a forbidden book, they are plunged into adventure. With their father captured, it is up to Rachel and Robert to uncover the secrets of the Book of Stolen Dreams and track down its mysteriously missing final page in order to save him.

What they are not expecting is to discover a family of ghosts, a door to the dead and that the Book grants the power of immortality. But they will do anything to stop it falling into Malstain’s hands – for if it does, he could rule for ever.

Step inside the pages of an immortal adventure and discover a truly unforgettable journey of wonder, courage and magic…

With a gorgeous cover like that and with the tile of The Book of Stolen Dreams I had high expectations for this adventurous middle grade novel. Unfortunately those were not at all met.

A lot had to do with the writing and the set up of the story. This story is written from a third person omniscient point of view as we follow two siblings. I felt so far removed from these characters however. The start was okay, I could feel the love for their parents and especially their father but when it comes to the setting and world, not so much.

Despite following both characters, it is clear that the book is setting Rachel up to be the star. I feel having a limited third person point of view would have worked better. I think getting completely swept up in Rachel throughout the story and discovering what happened to her brother instead of knowing what is going on before her would have jammed up the suspense and engagement.

I also wasn’t a big fan of how the story was build up. We find Rachel at the start. And then we go all the way back to the beginning and get in some history. Which can work great but it didn’t. We went into too much action detail but I still get nothing on the emotional front.

Other than that I liked Robert and Rachel was okay. But I also had some problems with the plot decisions and side characters. I had expectations of those stolen dreams but it kind of fizzled out. And then those characters that brought others back and now someone else wants to live forever and oh no that can’t happen. Please. Nothing of that was challenged either. I was very over this story by the end.