A Review for Sing Sweet Nightingale (The Dream War Saga #1) by Erica Cameron

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: March 4th, 2014

Finished Date: March 14th, 2014
Publishers: Spencer Hill Press
Genre: YA, Paranormal

Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 376

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Mariella Teagen hasn't spoken a word in four years. 

She pledged her voice to Orane, the man she loves—someone she only sees in her dreams. Each night, she escapes to Paradise, the world Orane created for her, and she sings for him. Mariella never believed she could stay in Paradise longer than a night, but two weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Orane hints that she may be able to stay forever. 

Hudson Vincent made a pledge to never fight again.

Calease, the creature who created his dream world, swore that giving up violence would protect Hudson. But when his vow caused the death of his little brother, Hudson turned his grief on Calease and destroyed the dream world. The battle left him with new abilities and disturbing visions of a silent girl in grave danger—Mariella.

Now, Hudson is fighting to save Mariella's life while she fights to give it away. And he must find a way to show her Orane’s true intentions before she is lost to Paradise forever.

The Review: Sing Sweet Nightingale was a great read and I really enjoyed it!

The synopsis is very accurate as we meet Hudson Vincent at a time when his world is about to fall apart, forced to watch as his little brother is murdered because of him and his promise to an ‘Angel’ that he wouldn’t fight again. Upon confronting his ‘angel’ Calease, he soon realises that things aren’t right and turns on Calease only to come out the other side a changed man with powers, eyes of black and prophetic dreams. It’s with these prophetic dreams that he dreams of a young girl, wreathed in fire and gagged and he just knows that he must save her because surely she is in the clutches of the same kind of parasite as he was and so far the only clue he has is the name of a town – Swallows Grove – to which he heads along with his very trusting benefactor. There he eventually finds Mariella Teagan, an elective mute who hasn’t spoken to a soul for four years in her promise to the man she loves Orane. Orane transports her to Paradise every night where she has the time of her life and is patiently waiting for him to help her cross over forever, he says the time is close, hints at it being her 18^th birthday, but she’s been waiting for a decade to stay. No one knows anything about Paradise or why Mari chooses not to speak until a mysterious black eyed boy turns up and rocks her nice safe world…. How can he know about Orane and where they go at night? It goes against all Orane has told her…. But what if what he’s saying is true?

So, I really liked this book and found it easy to be swept into the story. I thought the idea of dream demons was quite unique and interesting and I really liked what they did, how they went about doing it and how it transferred over into our world but I feel that we just scratched the surface of what is waiting on the other side and would love to see that explored more. They were quite sinister like sirens maybe where you are drawn to them, can feel an underlying agenda but don’t understand it until it’s upon you and you’re forced to fight. There was also a tangible sense of urgency& danger throughout the book and the main demon had a bit of a personality disorder going on as he swung from being so sweet to his potential victim and then turned on Hudson with vengeance & possessive rage showing a vastly different personality that all of the great bad guys should have. I loved Hudsons character, I liked how he didn’t let his brothers death break him, I like how he took his revenge and gained unexpected gifts from that but then decided to use that to stop the damage that had been done to him from being done to others, not wanting anyone to suffer the way he had. He became someone warrior like which shone through in his protectiveness and determination. I did like Mariella but felt she was a bit of a flake in the beginning, she was so enamoured with Orane that it totally blinded her, but that was the aim and she was true to her victim status, I was glad when the lights started to go on for her and some of the true Mari shone through but again I feel that we still have a lot left to learn about her. To be honest I liked all of the characters and it was a well-rounded set that really complimented each other. I’m really looking forward to see where Hudson and Mari’s relationship will go seeing as it was just starting to blossom towards the end giving them both a little happiness. I thought the dreamworld that was created was very imaginative and limitless, I’m curious about what happens when people like Hudson take back control and found I have a good few questions regarding it but that’s usual for a first book. I also really liked the use of the stones and the new age element and hopefully that will be delved into more too. For a first book though, it was great! And I will definitely be looking out for the sequel.