Book Review: Nightmare

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Nightmare     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Steven Harper
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Telepathy
Series: The Silent Empire # 2
Roc, Oct 2002, $6.99, 368 pp.

When the human colonists landed on Bellerophon, they knew that they were not the first intelligent species to inhabit the land. The Ched-Balaar realized that with guidance humans could enter The Dream State, a mental plane of existence where humans and aliens are able to meet and communicate no matter the distance between the Dreamer’s planets. The Silents, those who enter the Dream State, are much valued because communication is instantaneous and business can be conducted just as messages can be delivered in the blink of an eye even though the participants are light years apart.

After three years in slavery, Kendi is bought by the Children of Irfan and given his freedom and a ticket to any place in the known universe. He elects to stay on Bellerophon, get a good education, and learn how to enter the Dream so he can find his missing siblings and parents. The Dream is not safe yet because a powerful Silent is murdering dreamers and nobody has a clue to the identity of the serial killer.

Steven Harper creates a realistic future based on meditation philosophies in vogue today. Many readers will wish they had a time machine so they could travel into the future and learn how to be part of the Dream. Kendi, for all the suffering he has endured, is a strong willed person who bends but never breaks. His ability to overcome the traumas he has endeared makes him a hero worth rooting for by the enthralled audience.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner