A Theory of Dreaming
by Ava Reid
Summary
All stories come to an end.
Effy learned that when she defeated the Fairy King. Even though she may never know exactly what happened at Hiraeth, she is free of her nightmares and is able to pen a thesis with Preston on the beloved national fairytale Angharad. She has finally earned a spot at the literature college, making her the first woman in history to enroll.
But some dreams are dangerous, especially when they come true. The entire university—and soon the entire nation—is waiting for her to fail. With the Fairy King defeated and Myrddin’s legacy exposed, Effy can no longer escape into fantasy. Who is she without her stories?
With Effy under threat, Preston is surprised to discover a rage simmering inside him, ringing in his ears like bells. He begins to dream of a palace under the sea, a world where he is king—visions that start to follow him even in waking.
As the war between Llyr and Argant explodes, Effy and Preston find themselves caught in the crossfire: Effy losing her dreams and Preston losing himself in his.
Are dreams ever truly just dreams?
My Review
Stopped the audiobook around the 45% mark.
3 stars based on the portion I read.
This isn’t a badly written book. In fact, the prose is strong, the atmosphere is well done, and the gothic vibes are very much present. On a technical level, the author clearly knows how to set a mood. Unfortunately, none of that mattered because I was bored out of my mind.
I made it to nearly the halfway point, and the story still hadn’t gone anywhere. Nothing meaningful was happening. Not. One. Thing. No tension, no momentum, no hook to keep me invested. It felt like endless scene-setting without any payoff, and eventually I just couldn’t justify continuing.
What made it even more frustrating is that I couldn’t connect to the characters at all. I didn’t care about them, their struggles, or where the story was headed. They also didn’t feel consistent with how they were portrayed in the first book, which made the emotional disconnect even worse. Instead of feeling like a continuation, it felt like I was reading about entirely different people with the same names.
At the end of the day, atmosphere alone isn’t enough to carry a story for me. I need forward momentum, emotional investment, and some sense of purpose behind the scenes. This book had beautiful gothic window dressing, but nothing underneath it to keep me engaged. I put it down and had no desire to pick it back up.