“Courage and love in a strange place and time . . . .” There’s the little teaser on the front of the book I wish to share with you. At first glance, one may think a medieval romance. The title is unusual, but the actual story is both unusual and a little surprising.
The reader is quickly introduced to Dan Simmons, a twentieth century late teens – early twenties guy who is just not having a real good life. While he is making deliveries in a thick snowfall, he is caught in an accident and taken, unconscious, to a hospital. There, he is placed under the care of the strict, controlling Dr. Prain. However, Dan has no present knowledge of this, he is currently waking up in a completely different world with a talking miniature llama and Dutch Dwarf rabbit and a beautiful maiden by the name of Bliss. Having been dubbed Daniel, Bliss takes him to meet the Master Weaver and watchman, Cousteau, and a young girl by the name of Consuela.
Now, the book reveals two tales. In our world, Dr. Prain does everything within his power to make Dan wake up and stay awake, in addition to Consuela Ortez. While Dan does start to stay awake for longer periods of time, his sleeping time far outweighs his wakeful time, which frustrates the doctor to no end. In the other world, Dan is considered a knight and proves himself to be an honorable one. He must discover and fight a great evil, all the while running into familiar faces that he is meeting in the wakeful world. Will he accomplish his quest? Or will Dr. Prain discover a way to force Dan to stay awake and thus doom his quest to failure?
I was in my preteen - early teen years when I first discovered this book on a library shelf. Being the first of four, I eagerly read the three at the library without making sure the fourth was actually available. Since the fourth book wasn’t at the library, it went onto my birthday/Christmas list. So, one year I got all four books for my personal library. It wasn’t until I read the second book that I discovered that this first book in The Spectrum Chronicles was more of a standalone book that tells you how Dan and Consuela first meet and how they became friends. Basically a “here’s some background to these characters” kind of book. It is also the only book in the series that has a medieval setting. But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
I am probably due for another read since I found myself confused at different parts when I first read it, but now that I’m older, I may understand it a bit better. I really enjoyed this book, though some may argue that there cliches. Possibly one of the best parts of the book is the little rabbit, Napoleon. This little cutie has a big mouth on him, rather sarcastic and grumpy, but utterly funny at several points. Though he doesn’t like Dan at first, the two eventually become good friends.
This tale was written by T. Davis Bunn under the pen-name Thomas Locke. It is twenty-one chapters plus a prologue with 174 pages. While he is very good about staying in one person’s mind for the most part, he sometimes hops between locations and times in a confusing way. Sorry to say for readers, you may have to search libraries for this one as to my understanding the book is no longer being reprinted. So, apologies for that inconvenience, but if you do manage to find it, I believe that it would be worth a read. I would rate this book four light-weaving dragons out of five.
Well, there you have it. Hope you enjoyed this peek at another fantasy book I found. Until next time.
Other Spectrum Chronicles:
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