The dreamhunting began as a beautiful thing, when Tziga Hame discovered that he could enter the Place and share the dreams he found there with other people. But Tziga Hame has disappeared and Laura, his daughter, knows that the art of projecting dreams has turned sour. On St. Lazarus’s Eve, when elite citizens gather at the Rainbow Opera to experience the sweet dream of Homecoming, Laura, determined to show them the truth, plunges them into the nightmare used to control the convict workers. The event marks the first blow in the battle for control of the Place, the source of dreams. Then, when Laura’s cousin, Rose, uncovers evidence that the government has been building a secret rail line deep into the Place, Laura follows it to find out what lies at its end. As she struggles to counter the government’s sinister plans, a deeper mystery surfaces, a puzzle only Laura can unravel, a puzzle having to do with the very nature of the Place. What is the Place, after all? And what does it want from her?
Praise for Dreamquake
‘Unique and Amazing…like nothing else I’ve ever read. You will want to go there.’ Stephenie Meyer
‘Knox’s haunting, invigorating storytelling will leave readers eager to return to its puzzles — and to reap its rewards’
Booklist
‘Knox’s new novel, Dreamquake, follows Laura’s quest to conclude The Dreamhunter Duet in a gripping, urgent pursuit that raises the pitch of its predecessor… a forceful tale… a classic coming-of-age story.’
James Urquhart, The Independent
‘Passions run deep between these complicated characters, and Knox beautifully portrays a family dynamic infused with genuine affection. Laura’s tender relationship with her Sandman, a creature she created, is further developed and becomes an integral piece in the puzzle of The Place. The reality that is ultimately revealed catches readers by surprise yet manages to tie all loose ends together in an emotionally satisfying way. Richly layered and thoroughly enthralling, Knox’s literary duet is a unique blend of fantasy and history that stands out as a stunning achievement in recent young adult literature.’ Kirkus Reviews
‘Thoroughly impressive-for its sure, literary prose, nuanced characters, and fully realized Edwardian setting, but even more so for its original, surprising imagery and plot. An involving-and challenging-read, Knox’s fantasy is outstanding in its ability to make us think both poetically and analytically about human nature.’ The Horn Book
‘Knox bravely draws her story to a grand finish in a way so surprising I can’t immediately think of another fantasy where something similar happens.’ Gwenda Bond, Shaken and Stirred
‘Knox’s whole detailed construction will enchant daydreamers, right-brain thinkers and creative visualizers everywhere.
Barbara Julian, Times Colonist, Canada
‘… an audaciously imagined and ingeniously constructed tale that transplants old-world myths into new-world soil to stunning effect … Reader, the earth moved.
Knox’s uncanny talent for literalising metaphor and for metaphorising the real world is on full display here: feet of clay, hearts of stone and glass, singing hills, roads and rails to nowhere, burning passions, and everywhere, true grit. Stylistically, Knox favours the plainest verbs in the toolbox and is not much given to scene-setting, but nonetheless constructs a world that is alluring and convincing.
The plotting is staggeringly good … Knox not only generates a riveting mystery and a forcefully original myth of place, but raises some challenging questions about power and freedom, artistic licence, the role of the storyteller, and the way that both history and the future are constructed around dreams and fantasies of one sort or another’
Jolisa Gracewood, NZ Listener
Dreamquake won a Michael L Printz Award in 2008 and an ALA Best book award in the same year.
The Dreamhunter Duet was combined into an Omnibus edition for the adult sf/fantasy market. The Invisible Road won the anthology section of the Julius Vogel Awards in 2009
′unfolds with spectacular brilliance′ Toronto Star
′forceful … a classic′ The Independent
′fantasy at its best′ Canberra Times
′beautifully realised′ The Observer
′darkly enchanting′ That′s Life
′The plot is brilliantly original and convincing, and the writing is superb′ Montana Award judges′ panel
′Compelling, highly original′ Sun-Herald
′dazzlingly inventive′ Advertiser
′a fantasist to rival Philip Pullman′ Booklist
′Knox has written a strikingly original fantasy tale … Knox has emerged as an important talent in the field of fantasy writing. It is rare to find a fantasy novel that so well combines a coherent imaginative vision with honest characters of depth and substance … it is the best fantasy novel I have read this year′ Weekend Australian, September 2008