Ship of Dreams

You know that dream where you're fighting zombie saboteurs in the machinery bowels beneath the city, and you're naked? Or the one where the cadaverous old man teaches you to charm the giant woodlouse with song? Or the one where you and your best friend have to defeat the skyborne naval forces of the evil queen? Well, they're in this book anyway.

This second volume of Lumley's series set in the "lands of Earth's dreams" carries over the main protagonists from the first book. The story reads very quickly, and has more of an integrated plot system than the previous volume, which seemed more episodic. In addition to taking over the setting from H.P. Lovecraft, Lumley here increasingly shows a debt to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray show more Mouser stories, even going so far as to title the first chapter "Ill Met in Celephais."

Like much of the Lumley I've read, this book is "empty calories," but the aftertaste is nothing but pleasant. show less

This series is pure escapism. At times our protagonists are likeable and others they are weird and seemingly out of touch with themselves and each other. I guess that is what makes them work. Those personalities thrown into a Lovecraftian/Dr. WHOish world makes for fun reading. Not as deep and heady as his other work but a nice distraction.

Queen Zura intends to unleash her zombie armies on the Dreamlands, and only Hero and Eldin can save the day! This time the battle takes to the air aboard a host of flying ships, with abundant secondary characters and a touch of Lumley's usual horror too. Not quite as good as 'Hero of Dreams' but still a brilliant, short, fast-paced adventure tale.