Dreams and Shadows

By: C. Robert Cargill

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

A brilliantly crafted modern tale from acclaimed film critic and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill - part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part William S. Burroughs - that charts the lives of two boys from their star-crossed childhood in the realm of magic and mystery to their anguished adulthoods

There is another world than our own - one no closer than a kiss and one no further than our nightmares - where all the stuff of which dreams are made is real and magic is just a step away. But once you see that world, you will never be the same.

Dreams and Shadows takes us beyond this veil. Once bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, Ewan is now an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, and Colby, meanwhile, cannot escape the consequences of an innocent wish. But while Ewan and Colby left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies argue metaphysics with foul-mouthed wizards, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate.

Dreams and Shadows is a stunning and evocative debut about the magic and monsters in our world and in our self.

©2013 C. Robert Cargill (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

An Amazing Book

This was a very enjoyable escape; I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. Not only is the story itself wonderfully engaging, gripping, comic and tragic, but the narration itself, by Vikas Adam, has to be one of the best readings I've ever heard -- and I've heard many. Vikas' command of the characters, and their voices -- amazingly in childhood and adulthood -- is superb. I can only hope he reads other books that I have an interest in.

As for the story itself: it's a fairy tale, a modern-age fairy tell in an urban environment that grabs on tightly to its roots in the netherworld. I have a hard time describing it, and the only thing that comes close is to think if the Brothers Grimm time-traveled into our present age, to write a fairy tale that intermixes the beauty and harshness of the fairy world with the beauty and harshness of present-day urban America.

My only hope now is that if AMC were to ever make this into a series, please consider Steve Buscemi as the Fallen Angel Bertrand. :)

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

FUN! IMAGINATIVE! and REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT!

What did you like about this audiobook?

I really enjoyed this novel because the storyline is creative and engaging. The author merges two realms as his settings or this story and it is done with clarity and plausibility. The story follows 2 boys in 2 vastly different worlds and evolves as their unexpected meeting leads them both along an unexpected path together. The characters have depth and are well developed with relatable qualities. These fantastic beings within the story are based in traditional folklore, giving the reader some familiarity and enhancing their believability; but they also have original characteristics that make this story unique. The writing is well structured and witty with a surprising humor and just the right touch of mystery. Unlike many fantasy novels, Dreams and Shadows is concluded well but leaves you wanting to see where else they can go. I look forward to reading/listening to this book again. Dreams and Shadows is a great debut novel for this innovative new author. I hope to see more from him, and would LOVE to see a sequel to this story.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

This story ties in the traditional fantasy genre into modern times. It is refreshingly different from many of the popular fiction novels that have been recently available.

Do you have any additional comments?

The reader does an excellent job of portraying the characters consistently and with the appropriate dramatic flair.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

amazing!

so good that I also own the book but the voice actor was so incredible that I preferred to listen to the audio book even when I had time to read.

excellent plot and story, great character development, I will be reading more from this author for sure, this was his first work that I encountered.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Quality of a teen fright novel, unbearable reader

Would you try another book from C. Robert Cargill and/or Vikas Adam?

If Cargill wrote novels for adults, I would try them. As far as Adams's shrill, cringe-inducing reading, I'd just as soon go without.

What do you think your next listen will be?

That's not relevant to this review.

How could the performance have been better?

Most of Adams's reading was acceptable, but some of his voices, particularly of children, were nails-on-chalkboard grating, coming out as a cross of a movie gremlin and Karl from Sling Blade.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. The comparison to Neil Gaiman was particularly unhelpful. Though both authors do draw on the dark side of fairy lore, that's where the similarities end.

Any additional comments?

This book was a young adult level horror story. The characters in this story are largely passive, at the whim of the storm of random awful events that befall them, and to no useful storytelling purpose.

*slight spoiler*: In particular, a group of oversexed teens get high on hallucinogenic mushrooms and proceed to get themselves graphically dismembered by evil forest creatures. This is a good example of the quality of the book as a whole.

5 of 8 people found this review helpful

Deliciously dark

Imaginative and well written. Mr. Cargill has created a world where wishes can come true (careful what you wish for), love and hate are both sides of the same coin, and love grows deep, but hate sometimes deeper.

The narrator was very talented, performing a variety of accents and pitches. Sometimes my throat hurt just listening to the voices of some of the more ethereal characters.

Not my cup of tea

I don’t recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t like graphic suicide, murder, and general disgusting descriptions. If you like that stuff this is the book for you. It was very hard to finish this book... I just stopped paying attention.

Not for an adult audience. Painfully juvenile.

Stuck it out for at least an hour, as is my rule, but could not stop and delete this book fast enough once I'd hit that mark. This is bad writing, plain and simple. Does not read as a YA or all-ages book but rather as a book written by a child--and I mean that in the worst way possible.

Definitely not recommended, neither the author nor the narrator.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

The Best Book

I was interested by this book at the beginning and loved it by the end.

2 of 5 people found this review helpful

Not for grown ups.

What disappointed you about Dreams and Shadows?

I was hoping for an engaging urban fantasy. I got something written for 12 year olds with no discernment.

Has Dreams and Shadows turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just from this author.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Vikas Adam?

Probably

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No that I could find.

4 of 14 people found this review helpful