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March 2010
Witch Dreams by Vivian Vande Velde
Carla Lee is currently a law student, and co-editor in chief of Scribbles, her law school's journal of literature and arts. Her reviews have appeared in Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley; Paper Cuts, a column at InsidePulse.com; Innsmouth Free Press; and the Broadsheet.
Sixteen-year-old Nyssa can share a person's dreams if she holds an item of theirs while she sleeps. Sometimes, the things she sees in the dream are false. They are fear dreams or wish dreams which tell her about the secrets of the dreamer, but no truths of the world. Sometimes, the things she sees in the dreams are true. Nyssa can't control which kind of dream the dreamer will have when she joins, but if she shares a true-memory dream, it is always a real memory and she can see exactly what happened, all the little details, all the hidden truths. She lives with the very real fear that if anyone finds out what she can do, they will label her witch and she will be punished. When she was a child and her father was confronted with the knowledge she learned in her dreams, he threatened to send her away. Shortly after, he and her mother were killed. For years, Nyssa carries both guilt that she did nothing to help them because her fear kept her frozen outside the house even though she heard the terrible noises inside and anger at the person she believes killed her parents, Elsdon, who was sent away. Now that he's returned, Nyssa is even more determined to prove that he is the murderer. Armed with a collection of odds and ends from various people who might help her find proof of his guilt and her own strange talent, she learns more from his dreams about the secrets that haunt him than she ever expected. She knows there are no lies possible in a true-memory dream, but when one shows her a flaw in her assumptions — Elsdon might not have been able to murder her parents — she's left confused and unsure, but sets out to learn the truth, no matter how much it will hurt her. Witch Dreams suffers from flat secondary characters, a main mystery that is far too easy to solve — the identity of the true murderer is pretty obvious early in the story — and a vague setting which is bog standard white European fantasy. The budding attraction Nyssa feels toward Elsdon — despite herself, because she is quick to remember she believes him a murderer — is awkward and their ending rushed. Though Nyssa tries both supernatural and natural investigations, it's not really clear why she waits for Elsdon's return — which takes her by surprise in the first place — before she starts to search for the truth in other people's dreams. For the most part, the language is simple and, at times, stilted, but the descriptions of Nyssa's dreams are particularly evocative. Wish dreams are "cool and rippled" and fear dreams "tasted rancid but were exciting." The beauty of the story is in the descriptions of the dreams themselves, the relationship between Nyssa and her older brother, and Nyssa herself. She's a selfish child who grows into a driven young woman, and her flaws and strengths combine to make her an interesting character. Nyssa's obsessions and fears drive the plot and make for an excellent story about a young woman who makes mistakes, breaks the rules, and sometimes lets her fears get the best of her, but she keeps trying no matter what and she adapts as her knowledge of the world changes. Steeped in magic and murder, I recommend Witch Dreams to anyone who enjoys a fun fantasy-mystery story mix light on the romance, heavy with a strong sibling relationship, and quickly-plotted with an interesting twist or two along the way. |
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