#bookreview Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau

 



Hello and welcome or welcome back to the blog.

Today is my stop for StoryTellers on Tour. I have a book review of Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau.




Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau

Series: Enderal (#1)

Published: October 28, 2020

Genre: Grimdark Fantasy, Mystery, Psychological Horror

Pages: 726

Burb:

Years after a harrowing war experience, ex-mercenary Jespar Dal’Varek has taken to drifting. It’s a lonely existence, but, barring the occasional bout of melancholia, he has found the closest thing to peace a man like him deserves. Life is “all right.”

Or so he believes. Hoping to turn the page, Jespar accepts a mysterious invitation into the beautiful but dangerous archipelago of Kilay-and everything changes.

Plagued by explosive social tensions and terrorism, the tropical empire is edging ever closer to civil war. Kilay’s merchant king is the only person able to prevent this catastrophe, but he has fallen into a preternatural coma-and it’s Jespar’s task to figure out what or who caused it. As the investigation takes him across the archipelago and into the king’s nightmares, unexpected events not only tie Jespar’s own life to the mystery but also unearth inner demons he believed to be long exorcised.

Battling old trauma while fighting for his life, his sanity, and the fate of Kilay, the line between dream and reality blurs until only one question remains: If your mind is the enemy, where do you run?




⭐⭐⭐⭐

CW: Mental illness, substance abuse, violence, swearing, sex, suicide


Frist of all I need to talk about how beautifully crafted Dreams of the Dying is. The book is physically a work of art. The pages are soft to the touch and holding it was a pleasurer. From the under the dust jacket to the artwork at the end of the book. 




So I am extremly grateful to have received an physical copy for review.


Jespar Dal’Varek is an ex mercenary who is plagued with memories of his past. Both his sleeping and waking dreams are nightmare's, featuring The Corpse. He is haunted, and feels that everything he touches he destroys.

He is hired along with a healer Lysia to solve the mystery of who or what happened to the king. In order to do they must find someone who can dreamwalk, because he has been in a coma that no one can understand how it has happened.

The Archipelago of Kilay is very much a caste based, the upper class living at very top of Fortune Road. There is civil unrest and a there is a group of people, the Scythes who are quickly gaining followers to over throw their oppressors and if word gets out that the king is in the state he is in, there is fear that all hell will break lose. 

Dreams of the Dying is dark, and messed up. Take that as a complement. I like dark books. It is very twisty and we follow multiple timelines and people. Jespar and the Man.

Mental health is very prominent through out the story, Jespar as I said he is haunted by his nightmares, he get's tossed back to horrific scenes he has dealt with from war to his family. He has much to deal with, from his own mental state to his feels for both his travel companions/ fellow investigators in this mission.

The writing is is exquisite and the amount of passages that I have tabbed to go back and reread are too many to mention. Jespar or rather our author has a wonderful way with words. From advice to life lessons. And the hard reality of life.

It is easy to see that Nicolas Lietzau as put so much of himself and his time into this novel.

I look forward to book 2 and what awaits Jesper.

Dreams of the Dying is the first book in the Enderal series, which also happens to be the prologue to the Skyrim based game Enderal, which I won't lie I had not heard of before, but I will link to if anyone would like to check it out.

 



Let's meet the author


I’m a German author best known for my writing for the award-winning indie videogame Enderal, which grew from niche favorite to cult hit.

Growing up in both the heart of Munich and a bucolic Bavarian farmhouse, my love for stories began by reading German fairytales in the attic and was nurtured by copious amounts of fiction, ranging from fantasy to horror to historical to literary.

Many things have shaped my writing: a turbulent childhood, living in five different countries, and a loss of reality I suffered due to experiments in lucid dreaming. I feel drawn to people and experiences off the beaten path and try to make my work reflect that.

When I’m not writing or reading, I make music, travel, longboard, study languages, and try to see and experience as much of the world as I can. I’m currently working on the second Enderal novel.

Sign up to my newsletter or follow me on social media to stay up to date on my latest work. Also, a big thanks to all my patrons – you make my work possible.



Website: http://www.nicolaslietzau.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Niseamtao

Instagram: http://instagram.com/niseam_stories

Facebook: http://facebook.com/nicolaslietzau




    

Happy Reading

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