#Wednesday Review - Fifteen by Jen Estes (Young Adult, Science Fiction, Time Travel)

Series: The Dreamwalker Diaries # 1
Format: MOBI, 233 pages
Release Date: January 15, 2015
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Time Travel

Legend has it if you die in your dreams, you die in real life. Fifteen-year-old Ashling Campbell knows that’s not true because when she closes her eyes each night, she doesn’t dream about public nudity or Prom dates. Instead, she’s catapulted to the front row of her future self’s execution - fifteen years from now - where monsters have taken control of her hometown and she, or rather, her 30-year-old counterpart, is their public enemy number one.

For three months and counting, it’s been the same dream… until an encounter with an antique dreamcatcher. Ash falls asleep to discover she’s no longer a mere spectator in these dreams - now she’s astral-projecting into the body of her future self. Each night, she goes on the run with a ragtag group of rebels - who have no idea she’s really a high school sophomore and not their noble warrior. She has to make it through each night so that she can wake up and find a way to change the future. For every action she does in the present day, she falls asleep to discover it had an equal impact fifteen years later. It’s up to her to manage her two worlds and make sure she’s still got a place in both.

Fifteen is the first installment in Jen Estes The Dreamwalker Diaries. Meet 15 year old Ashling Campbell. Ash once believed that if you died in your dreams, you died in real life. Thankfully for Ash, that legend is debunked each time she falls asleep. Especially the last 90 days. You see, Ash has been having dreams about her 30-year old future self. It is a future where Billings is a dark, bleak town run by demons and she is enemy number one. But, after tampering with a dreamcatcher and coming back with clear injuries, things take a turn leading Ash to be more than an unwilling participant in her future selves actions. 

Thanks also to a chance encounter with the mysterious Dr. Robert Dietz, Ash is able to enter into dreams at a certain points, and twist events that go in her favor. Perhaps over eagerly. Think the Butterfly Effect. Future Billings, Montana is ruled by his Royal creepiness, Walker Smith, and laws of the Jumlin rule the land. Ash has her own group of rebels including Coop, Reyna, James, and Cyrus. But it is her present day that is chaotic, and trying to balance between her two realities definitely takes a toll. 

I truly abhorred her twisted foster sister Nadette. She, like Walker Smith, are truly evil and deserve each other. Then there is the supposed best friend, Tate. Tate is all in when it comes to Lakota mythology and legends and how it ties to Ash. He is also all about Nadette even knowing that Ash needs someone to help her figure out what is happening to her. He knows things that eventually do add up to a stunned and confused Ash who had that she's a dreamwalker. 

There are some things I am hoping to see a change in the sequel. I would like to know more about 30-year old Ash who is apparently some sort of badass, unlike her 15-year old self. I won't begrudge the younger Ash. Ash is thrown into a difficult situations, faces shocking events and twists, and handles herself remarkably well considering. I liked the romance between future Ash and Coop, but again, I need more. Perhaps the next book can spend more time in the future tying up questions.

I do hope we see a sequel this year. Apparently the author spent #NaNoWriMo writing the sequel. I truly hope Fifteen isn't a one hit wonder. Readers like me get immersed into the story, the world building, and the characters. We need to have our egos stoked, and our conscious clear when the series has made it to the final gates and became a successful series. I also need to have the ending explained a bit more to me. After all, leaving a book on that note, makes me crazy!

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