SPECIAL GUEST POST:REVIEW by my daughter, Petunia



For the last MotherTalk review I am on-schedule to do for a while, I decided to get my sweet-sweet Petunia to assist and post a guest review all her own of The Dark Dreamweaver, the Juvenile-fiction book by Nick Ruth. For me, any novel that can get a dialogue going between a mother and her (almost) eleven-year-old daughter is a very good thing. With The Dark Dreamweaver, we discussed nightmares and monarch butterflies, problem-solving, magic, and mystery over cups of tea and the most indulgent desserts possible at our local cafe. What follows is Petunia's un-altered take on this, the first book of The Remin Chronicles series.

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The Dark Dreamweaver is a very descriptive and creative book in which fantasy and reality are tied together creating one world. The characters themselves were filled with individuality. Mr. Ruth invented creatures that are astounding to me, such as the physical structure of Aradel and Sir Heads-a-Lot. The plot of The Dark Dreamweaver reminded me of other stories with children going into magic worlds, however, this book has its own twists and personality. The little caterpillar who seemed only slightly different from the others reveals himself to David as a wizard under an evil spell who needs assistance to save Remin, the magical home of dreams.

I feel The Dark Dreamweaver worked because it was interesting how Monarch butterflies starred in the world of magic and Remin. In addition, the few scary parts made me look all around my room as I read before sleep, searching for wicked faces or strange serpents. I learned new things about butterflies, which, for me, completed the story in a very interesting way. The final section of The Dark Dreamweaver was full of useful reference information about hatching your own Monarchs and gave me very interesting websites to learn more facts about butterfly gardening as well. I also highly enjoyed the ending of this book, and how David's cats ended up playing a role in saving him from the evil Thane.

In the beginning, this novel had a lot of drama, which kept the reader gripped, but the charm faded slightly as the story unfolded. Some of the wandering in the middle of the book could have been shortened a bit because it took up too many pages. In the end, though, the battle and conclusion zap action back into the story like a bolt of lightning. Also, since I believe that nature is a very important thing in this (and every) world, I adored the fact that the back cover mentions that "5% of all the net proceeds from The Dark Dreamweaver will be donated to help reforest the Monarch butterfly overwintering sites". In conclusion, I would recommend The Dark Dreamweaver to my friends because the novel offered the elements I always look for in a good story: drama, excitement, and magic.
*************************************************************************************Reviewer Bio Note:
Petunia Moon is a very bookish young lady who will turn eleven on October 19th. She loves hiking, star-gazing, and anything that will take her outside in nature--where she says "her spirit lives". Though for many years, she wanted to be a marine biologist, currently she is interested in a career in the arts or possibly as a psychologist since she recently has become fascinated with the structure and chemistry of the human brain. She mystifies her mother on an hourly basis and I want to thank her, sincerely, for how seriously she took this review-writing process!