To begin with, my introduction to this book! I went to a Fierce Reads event where they tried to play the book trailer for this book and it fully failed and they had to email it to us instead. That made quite the impression on me, so I was really excited to see the book here!
The Lost Dreamer follows two POVs, that of Saya, a Dreamer living freely on the outside with her controlling mother, and Indir, a Dreamer struggling to use her power and trying to grapple with new leadership in her city. Of the two, I definitely preferred Saya's POV, but I didn't really have a favorite of the two young women themselves. It was more that I liked the background characters of Saya's POV (Ruta and Kinet, mostly) much more. Again though, it wasn't that I didn't like Indir's friends, but more that there were so many of them! Indir's POv was in a city and she had a very close-knit family, so there were a lot more names to remember and political motives to keep track of (although not too many to enjoy the book). Both women are fierce and powerful, and I loved reading about them.
In terms of interpersonal relationships, I did like Saya's POV better again, but it's not like Indir is without any valuable ones. Her POV includes the complex relationships her family members have with one another along with a potential romance with a warrior in her city. Meanwhile, Saya does talk about her aunt, but the main focus is with her, Ruta (a young woman from her current village trying to conceive), and Kinet (Ruta's chosen and potential genderqueer representation-- no pronouns are ever used for Kinet). I adored the friendship between all of them and how amazing they are to one another! There were also a number of characters who appeared later that I loved seeing.
On to plot and worldbuilding! This book definitely had a lot to keep track of, mostly in Indir's POV. I loved the worldbuilding because it was simple, but well-done. The plot was really good too, but I didn't love how the story lines ended up intersecting. You could see how it progressed I guess, but parts of it were really unexpected in a somewhat negative way because there was an entire chapter dedicated to filling in all of the blanks between POVs.
Overall, I really liked this book! I'd definitely recommend it to people who want to see an innovative new YA fantasy with loads of amazing characters to fall in love with and a world to be immediately immersed in.
The Lost Dreamer follows two POVs, that of Saya, a Dreamer living freely on the outside with her controlling mother, and Indir, a Dreamer struggling to use her power and trying to grapple with new leadership in her city. Of the two, I definitely preferred Saya's POV, but I didn't really have a favorite of the two young women themselves. It was more that I liked the background characters of Saya's POV (Ruta and Kinet, mostly) much more. Again though, it wasn't that I didn't like Indir's friends, but more that there were so many of them! Indir's POv was in a city and she had a very close-knit family, so there were a lot more names to remember and political motives to keep track of (although not too many to enjoy the book). Both women are fierce and powerful, and I loved reading about them.
In terms of interpersonal relationships, I did like Saya's POV better again, but it's not like Indir is without any valuable ones. Her POV includes the complex relationships her family members have with one another along with a potential romance with a warrior in her city. Meanwhile, Saya does talk about her aunt, but the main focus is with her, Ruta (a young woman from her current village trying to conceive), and Kinet (Ruta's chosen and potential genderqueer representation-- no pronouns are ever used for Kinet). I adored the friendship between all of them and how amazing they are to one another! There were also a number of characters who appeared later that I loved seeing.
On to plot and worldbuilding! This book definitely had a lot to keep track of, mostly in Indir's POV. I loved the worldbuilding because it was simple, but well-done. The plot was really good too, but I didn't love how the story lines ended up intersecting. You could see how it progressed I guess, but parts of it were really unexpected in a somewhat negative way because there was an entire chapter dedicated to filling in all of the blanks between POVs.
Overall, I really liked this book! I'd definitely recommend it to people who want to see an innovative new YA fantasy with loads of amazing characters to fall in love with and a world to be immediately immersed in.