As a mixture between a polished, mild Westworld adventure and one inside a program of the holodeck on the Enterprise from Star Trek, ‘Dreamscape Adventured, Inc’ by C. A. Gray gets the reader right into the action. Luke Darringer is a successful lawyer in New York City. His company is supposed to try one of their programs to evaluate the risks and eventually underwrite them. Just like in Westworld, the reader is thrown into the desert between Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Everything looks so real that only when his adventure mixes with Charlotte’s, his administrative assistant, Luke realises how good the Dreamscape’s project seems to be. From there, everything seems to go downhill and the real adventure begins, with Luke never sure about what is real and what is not.
C. A. Gray writes a story that reminds me a lot of a holonovel from the Star Trek universe gone wrong, as it is in that universe tradition. Entertaining and touching are the Eli/Luke and Billy/Luke interactions, while I found rather unoriginal the ones between Luke and Charlotte, but that’s because I don’t fancy romance too much, and, in the end, this story falls into that category as well. Despite this not so much subtle aspect, I think the author does a good job with the narrative. The actions are never boring and the story never slacks. If you like an adventurous romance with a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, this novel is definitely for you.
Reviewed for Readers' Favorite