The Dream and the Muse
The Dream and the Muse
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About
A cosmic adventure about the boundless power of a young woman’s potential.
When Madarena first meets the old rogue Apophax, she assumes she’s dreaming. After all, he wears a coat made of hedgehog quills, changes size at will, and treats the laws of physics as merely suggested guidelines. Very quickly, she learns she’s stepped into a world where dreams and reality intersect. Dangerously.
Now, she’s an accomplice in the wily thief’s master plan to rescue a Muse from one of the most powerful beings in existence. The unlikely duo schemes their way from a town made of moonbeams to the fog-shrouded land of the dead. They fence with nightmares and bargain with witches amid the asteroid remains of a shattered planet. Along the way, Madarena learns that potential is more than a word. Rescuing the Muse—and Madarena’s own survival—depend on harnessing all the women she can be.
Fans of Heidi Heilig’s The Girl from Everywhere and Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library will enjoy this dazzling, imaginative adventure.
Praise for this book
Gr 7 Up—Madarena Rua is a sullen teen, content to remain solitary, reading her dictionary late at night. A sleepless night provides an unexpected cosmic adventure when she happens upon Apophax, a rogue thief known for his coat of hedgehog quills and his knack for defying the laws of physics. Believing she's dreaming, Madarena quickly discovers she has stepped into a dangerous place where reality and dreams collide. As Apophax's accomplice, she must assist him in rescuing his love Aoede, a Muse, from the clutches of the Night Mayor. Throughout their adventures battling nightmares, bargaining with witches, and tempting the Fates, Madarena discovers a multitude of worlds filled with sights beyond her wildest imagination. She must harness her potential to ensure her own survival and to return Aoede to her home. This is a story about acknowledging one's possibility and finding one's identity. Madarena must learn that words have more meaning and power than just text in a dictionary. Burnett's fast-paced novel is imaginative, unique, and well written. Readers who enjoy adventurous fantasies will appreciate the echoes of Greek mythology and such literary classics as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. VERDICT This creative novel will boost readers' vocabulary and appeal to those looking for a quirky, fun adventure.
Burnett harbors a deep love for the absurd, using his imaginative skills to the hilt, as did L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz... A bonkers fantasy that retains a sweetly human center.