Dream of the Navigator by Stephen Zimmer

The Synopsis:

“1984 and Brave New World meets Narnia”
Cities have been replaced by technates. It is a world of soaring apartments, hundreds of stories high, where technology measures, monitors and rations to meet the needs of the greater populace. It is a world of drones, in the air and on the ground, and advanced robotic beings who carry out much of the harder labor, security, and even pleasure assignments.
Those discontent, or who resist, are taken to Rehabilitation Centers, established after the embrace of the Greater Good Doctrine.
For most, virtual realms, substances, and entertainment provide escapes, but for Haven, Cayden, Jaelynn, and Salvador, growing up in Technate 6 is a restless existence.
A hunger for something more gnaws inside each of them. Discoveries await that open the gates to transcend time and space, and even new planes of existence. Nothing in their universe, or others, is impossible to explore.
What was once reality, now seems like an illusion in a deepening experience.
Begin the journey to Faraway, in Dream of the Navigator, the first book of the Faraway Saga!

I received this book from the author via TCM Tours for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

In a world of persistent surveillance, the only place for privacy is in one’s dreams. So how do you start an uprising in this world? You contact them in their dreams.

Dream of the Navigator has quite an interesting premise. I was intrigued by the story-world and plot alike when I started reading, and it immediately reminded me of Ready Player One, with a few differences of course. The main difference being the fantasy element included in the story, which I enjoyed.

There are lots of characters and I liked getting to know them. They all came from different backgrounds of the story and it was fun to anticipate them all eventually coming together. However, because there were so many main characters (4 who told the story in their point of view), it seemed to take a while to build up. Also, the same stories and explanations were told to each of the characters at different times so it felt really repetitive.

The world is beautifully explained though. It played through my mind as if I were watching a movie and once the story picked up, it was hard to put the book down. So even though it has a slow beginning, it was still worth picking up. Plus it’s clean, no cursing or sexual content in this one, so that was a bonus!

Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars and patiently await the next book!

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Rated:

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About Stephen Zimmer + Social Links

Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning author and filmmaker based out of Lexington Kentucky. His works include the Rayden Valkyrie novels and novellas(Sword and Sorcery), the Rising Dawn Saga (Cross Genre), the Fires in Eden Series (Epic Fantasy), the Hellscapes short story collections (Horror), the Chronicles of Ave short story collections (Fantasy), the Harvey and Solomon Tales (Steampunk), the Ragnar Stormbringer Tales (Sword and Sorcery), and the forthcoming Faraway Saga (YA Dystopian/Cross-Genre).

Stephen’s visual work includes the feature film Shadows Light, shorts films such as The Sirens and Swordbearer, and the forthcoming Rayden Valkyrie: Saga of a Lionheart TV Pilot.

Stephen is a proud Kentucky Colonel who also enjoys the realms of music, martial arts, good bourbons, and spending time with family.