The pace is a lot slower than what you would expect for a dystopian/apocalyptic novel. The story itself has a quiet dreamlike quality to it, as if the reader is removed or isolated from the story. It fit well with the overall theme.

The story is told from a few perspectives:

Mei is the room mate of patient zero and is put under quarantine with her fellow dorm mates.

Sarah and Libby’s father is a doomsday prepper, with 50 gallons of water, food, ammunition and gas masks he is dying to use. He is ready for any eventuality except getting sick himself.

Their neighbours, with a new born baby is frantic to get away before they also succumb to this mysterious illness.

Catherine, an out of town psychiatric specialist tries to puzzle out this medical anomaly.

This was a great premise and I did not mind the slower pace however as the story mostly focused on the characters reactions to the situation rather than the sleeping phenomena, very little answers are given about the mysterious sickness or what the victims themselves experienced.

Because of this the story felt a little incomplete to me.

It could also be that I was not really in the mood for a slower paced book that contributed to my slight dissatisfaction.

The Dreamers is an oddly mesmerising book. A dark fairytale, where the residents of a college town fall prey to a dreaming enchantment like a modern Sleeping Beauty. Every dream is different. Some see the past, some a possible future. All seem as real as the world outside the dreamer.

In “Marginalia” E. A. Poe wrote:

“It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.”

The concept of Walker's book, the dreaming aspect, is extremely interesting; our brains take in so much of our surroundings, so much information and experiences, while the perception remains wildly uniquem, it differs from one human being to another, thus, Walker's idea of a sleeping virus is fascinating because it can impact each individual differently. The writing flows well, the cast of characters is wide and the journey of the boundaries between reality and dreams easily categorises this book not only as dystopian but as an exploration of the unknown as well, with emotional extensions.