And so a four star for me.Which do break my heart a little bit. As I had hoped to love this second book just as much as the first one. But I did not. Sharing all my thoughts below. Maybe too many of them. But oh, the writing of this book was all kinds of wonderful. I loved that. I loved the characters of Effy and Preston very much.
This sequel takes place a little after the end of book one. Effy is now about to start at the literature college. She is both nervous and excited. It does not go as she had hoped. That hurt to read about. I wanted only the best for her, but it's not going easy at all. And so this book if about Effy sort of drifting away. With Preston mostly doing the same. He is still hearing the bells. And we learn more about what all that means. How he is able to enter a sort of dream world, created by himself. Where he can do anything. I did like learning more about it all and how it worked. But it also meant that he was drifting away too. And that was not easy. This book is about their life in the real world and how they are trying to deal with it all. It is not at all easy. But they are still together most of the time and are still very much in love. Loved that most.
What was hard to get through with this book was how slow it was. There were barely anything happening. I kept waiting for something big. But it never came. So that was a little disappointing. And yet. I loved the small moments too. I loved just reading about Effy and Preston and getting to know them better. But I so wish they had more happy moments in this book too. Sigh. It was all a little too sad at times. Yet beautiful too. I truly did love this book. I was just a little disappointed about it too, as I had wished for a little more.
There is so much going on in this book. I am not going to mention most of it. But I have some things that bother me that I have to mention. But also things that I loved. And I did love this book a whole lot, despite having some issues with it. I loved the romance of Effy and Preston, despite the issues they had. I loved how they both had loving friends. Rhia truly cared for Effy. And we got to meet Lotto, Preston's roommate and best friend. He was such a delight and I loved reading about their friendship. They had great friends.
I did like reading about the stories in this book. About the myths and history of this place. All the sleepers and their stories. Learning that so much of the history was not right. It was interesting to read about. But I was a bit depressed about the other things, so it was hard to focus at times. But the story was wonderful. But I did feel like some things were missing. Only one mention of Effy's mother, and it was not good. We did not even get to see her grandparents, which I really wanted to. I wanted a little more personal things.
Then there was the bullying. I hated it so. How they all looked down at
Effy. And how another boy hated Preston. I wish those things had been
left out, as it just hurt my heart. Effy was so affected by it all. It felt so real. I really wish it had been better. Then there was Master Gosse. Who kind of tormented Preston through the entire book. I did not like that either. He kept pressuring him about the dream world. Never letting him rest. He was a little insane, I think. And yet it was all pretty fascinating to read about as well.
What bothered me a little about this book was that Effy was back to being her old self. Feeling weak and scared and unsure. I thought she had changed a little by the end of book one, gotten stronger. But all that went away in this book. She really truly crumbled. And that truly broke my heart. I did love to read about it, because it felt so real. But it really hurt as well, as I thought Effy was better. But she got much worse, with her sleeping pills as well. And that hurt to read about too. I just wanted her to be happy, to be okay.
Oh. And that brings me to what hurt me most about this book, which is why it was a four star for me and not a five star, like I had hoped it would be. The lack of trust Effy and Preston had in each other. As they both kept such big secrets from the other. And that was simply not okay for me. They loved each other. They could have helped the other. Yet neither said anything. And instead suffered alone. Preston should have told her about his dreams. He never did. Will always bother me. They should have been more open.
I think that the thing I was most disappointed about in this sequel was the lack of magic. Book one felt so magical. Then there was this book, where everything was the real world and just so painful to read about. That hurt my heart. I wish there had been a bit more magic. There are some hints of it, with the dreaming world of Preston. But it wasn't enough. It did not give me that same magical feeling, sadly. I wanted a little more from this story. It did not give me the same feeling of wonder. But I got the same romance feelings.
Okay, somewhat. I was a little conflicted about the romance in this second book. They both obviously love the other so very much. There is not anyone getting in the way of that, thankfully. But they are both trying to ruin it, in their own way. Effy doesn't believe she is worthy of love. Preston doesn't believe he is worthy of her, that he cannot keep her safe. And so they are messing it up. That hurt me so very much. And yet. They were together, for the most part. The small touches were there. Despite the pain, they were in love.
But even though I did not love all of this book, I still loved most of it. And A Theory of Dreaming was such an amazing second book. It did end everything nicely, I think. And I so loved reading more about Effy and Preston and their friends as well. I did love this world. It was just a little more depressing than I wanted it to be. But the writing was beautiful. The love was real. And the story was incredible. Biggest thank you to HarperTeen for the auto-approval on Edelweiss. So glad I got to read this one early. You will all love it too.
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