Read Time: 3 Minutes
Tildy Sullivan is an emotionally broken young woman, and doormat to her more vocal and overbearing family in this interesting look into the psyche and soul of an heiress with regrets. Part romance mixed with soft science fiction and a slice-of-life feel and pacing, this story had me strangely captivated.
Being a middle child of a family that runs a leading cosmetics empire, Tildy’s fate seems locked in. Through mismanagement and poor judgement, the company is losing money, and the family begin pressuring Tildy to hand over her stake to keep them afloat.
Tildy has more on her mind though, and a chance encounter at an art auction of a handsome stranger, and an advert from an old friend seeking volunteers for lucid dreaming experiments kick into motion a course of action that might changer her life forever.
Spread across two countries, America and Ireland, the descriptions of the Galway in Ireland and outlying towns are fantastically idyllic. The dream world paints them in their best light, but even when Tildy is there in person it sounds like a place I’d love to visit.
I must admit that the whole idea of lucid dreaming on demand, on the surface of it, sounds like a fun idea. As we follow Tildy through her dreams though there’s probably a lot more to it.
Tildy, for example, starts to want to live in her dreams more than real life. Understandable given her circumstances… but soon begins to doubt her own sanity, unsure if she’s in the dream world or not.
The lucid dreaming brought about by the technology in this book also has a potential flaw, where it can bring on nightmare type scenarios. This gives part of the story an almost thriller-type vibe at times when the dream state begins pushing Tildy in directions she’s not comfortable with.
I’d have liked to get some more depth to some of the more important characters in the book. In particular, some more background on Aiden, for example. Tildy left him behind when she moved to live in America and is an important part of her journey, yet we barely meet him. Same for some of the friends she makes while there, I’d love to get a bit more on them.
The narration by Síofra Brogan was excellent, with an easy to listen to voice. Being Irish she has, of course, an Irish accent, however one that isn’t too heavy or difficult for non-Irish people. A few minor background noises that I made a note of, so not a perfectly flawless production but good, nonetheless.
One thing I did struggle with was when characters were talking in the Irish language (Gaeilge, I think?) where the lack of any translation meant I had to translate through context clues.
Generally speaking, this was okay but there were a few times where it was a few sentences in a row, and I couldn’t work it out. Honestly, that’d be difficult to do in an audiobook medium, short of someone repeating what the other said but in English, which would be weird.
The only other criticism I’d have would be that the story wrapped up a little more abruptly that I expected. No spoilers, of course, but given Tildy’s slow growth throughout the book, the ending sort of came in from nowhere. I think even if it had just one more chapter to round everything out that it would have been an easier transition.
Overall, the almost Inception-like idea of living out your best life inside a dream and using it for personal growth I found rather interesting as an idea. I found myself sliding back into this one easily each night when I sat down to listen.