I’m an unabashed fan of Tim Pratt’s work, and Doors of Sleep, the first volume of the “Zax Delatree duology,” captured me immediately. The premise is an engraved invitation to heart-breaking adventure: whenever sweet, compassionate mediator Zax Delatree falls asleep, he wakes up in a different reality. Not another planet or even another galaxy, a completely different dimension. He can take with him only what he carries and can stay only as long as he remains awake. Fortunately, the worlds he travels to are habitable (no gas giant atmospheres or torrents of liquid diamonds), so he can breathe the air and digest whatever food he can find. At first, he could not even understand the language of his destination culture and had no way of obtaining the necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter) except by theft. Worst of all was the soul-crushing loneliness of leaving behind every friend he makes. In Doors of Sleep, he encounters a psychotic scientist who infects him with a translation virus, meets and falls in love with artist, Ana, and found a few companions (including a sentient crystal disguised as a ring) capable of traveling with him.

Now comes the second part of the story: the revelation of What It’s All About: the secret behind dimension-hopping and the dastardly plot behind it. Along the way, he reunites with Ana (and gets separated again, several times) and friends, new and old. Having more lasting relationships helps Zax survive emotionally as well as physically and fuels his determination to leave each world better than he found it.

As always, Pratt’s narrative is endlessly inventive with great characters, smooth prose, and nifty plot twists. Best of all is the sense of humanity and compassion flowing through these two linked books.

Zaxony (Zax) Delatree lives an unusual life. Every time he falls asleep he wakes up in a new world. Every waking day a new adventure – sometimes pleasant, sometimes life-threatening. It had been a lonely existence until he had met Ana – a companion who was one of The Sleepers – a group of travelers also existing between the worlds. But Ana had gotten irretrievably left behind on a world long ago and Zax now has Minna, a new companion who has found a way to travel the worlds with Zax.

The good news for the duo is that they are no longer being pursued through the worlds by Lector, a psychotic man who wanted full control of the ability to world hop. The bad news is that there is a cult of travelers who know the method of world-hopping (a parasite in the bloodstream that lives between dimensions and releases a toxin that provides the strange travelling). The cult are servants to The Prisoner – a being trapped between dimensions – and they believe that they only way to free their leader is to collapse all the different worlds – meaning the complete destruction of thousands of worlds and trillions and trillions of lives.

Ana has found a way to catch up to Zax and now Zax, Ana, and Minna are on a new journey to save all the worlds.

I really love the concept of the series (duology?). As I believe I mentioned in my review of the first book, I think this is one of the most creative concepts I’ve come across in a long time. And of course there’s a tremendous challenge for Pratt – not only is he creating a world in which Zax and friends travel by way of sleeping, he’s creating multiple worlds inside this world. How fun is that?!

This book didn’t have quite the excitement level as the previous book. In part, because it wasn’t so new to us anymore (not much you can do about that), but rather than being chased, Zax becomes the chaser. Sort of. (Yeah, I know, it’s a little confusing to try and sum up something rather complicated.)

There’s a large focus on Ana and her story – what happened to her and how she works to reconnect with Zax (every other chapter is hers). This seems really important (and it is), but when they do finally reconnect, what feels like it should be pretty momentous, kind of fizzles for me. Although I respect that this re-encounter also feels pretty authentic.

For me, Tim Pratt is a name that I will continue to read and there aren’t a lot of authors whose books I will be guaranteed to read.

Looking for a good book? Prison of Sleep by Tim Pratt is the second book in the Journals of Zaxony Delatree series and is an incredibly original scifi concept, well worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A worthy end to an interesting two book cycle. As I’ve said before, I’m kind of late to the Tim Pratt train, but I’m really glad I discovered his work. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Wow! A solid read! I couldn’t put it down! Perfect characters and perfect story! I really enjoyed this book! Highly recommend!

Apenas un año después de la aparición del primer libro de la bilogía, esta llega a su fin con la publicación de Prison of Sleep. Un libro que continua la historia en el mismo momento donde termino su predecesora (de la cual podéis leer mi reseña aquí) lo que hace una lectura completamente dependiente de la anterior para poder entenderla por completo.

Para esta nueva entrega Tim Pratt se mete de lleno en la creación de los agujeros por donde los seguidores de cierto culto son capaces de viajar entre universos con el objetivo de generar una especie de big bang que acabe con todos los universos implosionando de alguna manera. En cada uno de estos viajes van dejando unos restos en forma de gusanos que rodean en espacio por donde se han colado y, de esta manera, dejan una oportunidad de poder perseguirlos y acabar con ellos. Por otro lado, tenemos al lado de los que quieren acabar con ellos para que el status quo de este multiverso se mantenga y sus habitantes puedan hacer su vida normal, lo que incluye dormir apaciblemente sin el riesgo de acabar devorado por un ser desconocido.

Volvemos a tener al protagonista de Doors of Sleep, Zax Delatree, quien ahora encuentra una compañera de viaje muy particular que supone la adición más interesante a esta historia con respecto a la primera parte. Su narración, nuevamente en forma de diario, de la persecución de los seguidores del culto de los gusanos se alterna con la de Ana, un nuevo personaje procedente del anterior libro que nos permite ver el punto de vista de aquellos que quieren tener los mundos en paz. Este grupo de gente está organizado de una manera bastante especial con el objetivo de llegar a capturar a los contrarios. Cuentan con una tecnología particular para viajar entre universos para no tener que depender de tener que quedarse dormido para poder navegar al siguiente universo.

Recuerdo que la gran particularidad de estos viajes entre universos tiene lugar mediante el sueño. En el primero libro ya vimos que cada vez que Zax se quedaba dormido, este despertaba en un nuevo universo. En ocasiones bastante hostil. Todo aquello que este en contacto con Zax, y esto incluye a personas, también viaja entre universos.

Prison of Sleep va en línea con lo que leímos en Doors of Sleep. Nuevamente tenemos una introducción bastante larga con la que los lectores nos podemos poner al día en lo que había sucedido en el anterior libro y, además, con el nuevo punto de vista que aparece en esta segunda parte. A partir de cierto punto empiezan una serie de persecuciones entre universos que recuerdan a las que vimos en la primera parte hasta llegar a un final que, siendo bastante cerrado, podría haberlo sido aun más. En cualquier caso, un cierre satisfactorio.

Esta segunda entrega profundiza mucho mas en las particularidades del viaje entre universos. Ahonda también en las causas que hacen que Zax tenga la capacidad de viajar entre ellos, cerrando muchas de las explicaciones que el primer libro apenas se mencionaba o sucedían porque sí. Aparece un ente nuevo que resulta clave en la historia dándole un toque mas “espiritual” por ciertos momentos.

En definitiva, una novela hermana de la primera en cuanto a estructura, llena de multiversos y situaciones rocambolescas. Un perfecto entretenimiento veraniego al que acercarse si la primera entrega te resultó atractivo.

Prison of Sleep by Tim Pratt is the second book in a multi-verse duology. Now I have to admit, I did not read the first book, but I genuinely feel like this second novel did a great job of recapping that I wasn't confused at all about what was going on.

I love so much about this world. The general concept of planet-jumping if you fall asleep is genius, and Pratt did an excellent job of developing it. I loved how we got to explore the parasites that cause travelers to become sleepers, the fight between cultist and sleepers, and the mystery presence of a god. The story was essentially told through journal entries written by our two main characters, Zax and Ana, and we recount their adventure of trying to find each other and save the worlds. I will say, I was a little confused at times trying to figure out who was speaking or where we were in the story, but that's honestly just a downfall of writing a multiverse story with a lot of time jumps. The only real issue I had with this book is I got a little bored in the middle, but the ending picked back up for me again. The ending was satisfying, the science wasn't overwhelming, and I just love Sorlyn (iykyk).

Overall, I definitely recommend this duology to anyone who's interested! 3/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for sending me an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I fell in love with Doors of Sleep that I consider one of the most creative exercise in world building.
Prison of Sleep is the follow up and it's another gripping, riveting, and compelling story.
It's another book with a brilliant and excellent world building. Tim Pratt is a master storyteller and his characters are great. I was happy to catch with Zax, Ana, and the other characters.
An excellent story that I strongly recommend.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Book two begins with a catastrophe, with the Sleeperhold destroyed, several Sleeper agents murdered, and Zax again travelling the multiverse. Except this time, he's on the trail of Cult of the Worm agents, whose wormtrails he follows, with the intent of following one back to the Worm base. Zax fortuitously makes a friend along the way, a fierce woman, Zaveta, whose clan was harmed by Worm agents. Author Tim Pratt also gives us Ana's perspective, as she and a Sleeper agent are also on the trail of the Worm base. Along the way, we get to hear about how Ana met Zax, and her many hard weeks to reunite with him prior to the end of book one

Zax's appeal lies in his compassion and kindness, which is again what helps him connect with Zaveta. Those traits, along with the few untainted gifts he received from the Lector, like his linguistic virus, demonstrate why Zax has been one of the few successful Sleepers, travelling to more worlds than any other Sleeper, and surviving as long as he has.

Though we don't get as much Minna as I would have liked in this book, she's still awesome when she appears. Pratt also gives us some measure of conflict within the Sleepers, as they wrestle with their goals of tracking the Worm agents, and figuring out what to do about them if they ever catch up with them. I liked the balance of exploration, ethics, and occasional humour in this book, which all kept me reading to the satisfying end.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Angry Robot for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is the sequel to last year’s Doors of Sleep, a super-original science fiction book about a man named Zax who inadvertently travels to a different universe every time he falls asleep. This book picks up a bit after that one ends, and this time is told from both Zax and Ana’s perspectives in two separate times. Both encounter more interesting characters from there, and we learn more about the causes of the multi-verse hopping, with everything wrapping up nicely at the end since this is a duology - though I can’t say I’d be adverse to revisiting these characters in the future! My only complaint was not enough Minna and Vicky, two of my favorites from the first book, though I did love new character Zaveta.

Tim Pratt is becoming one of my new favorite science fiction writers - loved his Axiom trilogy in addition to this totally separate duology. He is great at world building and creating unique and memorable characters, and infusing his books with both adventure and fun. Can’t wait to see what he writes next!

I love sleep and have a deeper appreciation of it since having a family. I find myself able to drop off in a second as I snatch any five minutes I can before being woken up again at 5 am. The number of naps that I have would not be advisable in the world of Zaxony Delatree as I may end up waking up in a different parallel universe each time. Zax has already travelled over 1000 worlds and beaten a foe that would have stolen his power, but in Prison of Sleep he must take on an even greater threat from an entity that would call itself a god.

Zax had finally found happiness. Reunited with his companions and lost love Ana, Zax has also found a group of likeminded individuals who are seeking to save the multiverses. This being Zax, happiness cannot last for long and he finds himself once more traveling alone on the hunt for a group of cultists who attacked his friends and left many for dead. With Zax getting closer to the cultists’ home world and Ana chronicling the events leading up to the attack, details start to be revealed about the prisoner of sleep, an entity that lives between the universes and will do anything to escape.

Doors of Sleep, the first in the Zax Delatree Chronicles, was a masterclass in multiple world building. In it Zax travelled to many worlds, some for a chapter or so, others for only a moment. Tim Pratt can portray what a world is almost immediately and it is an impressive skill. In this follow up, Pratt needed to develop not just the individual worlds, but the multiverse. Prison develops the science around travelling between worlds and the war that is raging through them.

The book is split into a dual narrative. Zax is one part of the story, but so is Ana. Zax’s story progresses the cultist storyline and pushes through new worlds. Ana’s is a spotted history of events from the first book and new information. The two work well together as they both tell the tale of the cultists and their devotion to their God. I enjoyed witnessing Zax’s travels through Ana’s eyes. She comes across many of the obstacles that Zax left behind him in previous universes.

A book about multiverses is already epic, so a follow up must up the ante even more. Prison is all about the destruction of all universes and how Zax and his companion are trying to prevent it. The role of the prisoner is key, a strange entity that whispers to some travellers as they sleep between worlds. The entity has the ear of the cultists who sole aim is to tear holes in the fabric space, so that it can escape.

The central narrative acts like a thriller across two timelines. The two draw closer together as the story progresses. Pratt does interesting things with the science as different factions can travel in different ways. Some can only go forwards, other can travel back and forth. A war is undertaken across multiple plains like a game of 3D chess. Importantly, the relationship between the characters is maintained throughout. This may be a book about war and universes, but it is driven by the love between Zax and Ana that has lasted over a thousand worlds. This heart is what makes the action and the set pieces work, all Zax’s companions are dear to him, and their fate also becomes important to the reader.

This book is the second in a duology set in a fast-paced multiverse adventure tale, so my firm recommendation is to head for Doors of Sleep, the first book in the series, before getting stuck into Prison of Sleep.

The first book features Zaxony’s adventures as he is catapulted into travelling to another world every time he falls asleep. Early in his journey, he meets and falls for Ana – and inadvertently yanks her along with him as they sleep together. The catch is that she hasn’t been infected with the parasite that allows him to hop from one world to another and she suffers a terrible mental breakdown travelling through the Void without that protection and runs off. Guilt-ridden and grieving, Zaxony has tried to find her. So I really appreciated that in this second book, I got to discover what has become of Ana and get to know her better. I loved this romantic thread that added to the emotional tenor of the story without in any way clogging up the pace or distracting from the main narrative.

This means that this book isn’t just from one viewpoint, which I enjoyed. Especially as I got to see what other characters think of Zaxony. As I’ve already mentioned, this story moves along at a brisk clip. Indeed, major events pile upon one another as we shuffle between the two main characters and I had to stay sharp to keep the narrative timelines straight. As with Doors of Sleep, the concept works really well. There is plenty of tension as Pratt isn’t afraid of killing off characters who have featured heavily in the storyline. So I was genuinely concerned for our plucky band of protagonists, throughout – and near the end of the story, I was more than a bit winded when one of the protagonists ended up being on the wrong side. I could appreciate all too well what powers his decision, even if it is a terrible one…

Pratt is very good at provided interesting, well-developed characters while mayhem continues to rain down upon them – which is technically far harder to achieve than he makes it look. But… I do have a frustration. A huge amount happens in this book and as I reached the end, I felt this series would have been improved if the events had unspooled over three books, instead of two. This particularly applies to the storyline featuring Lector, the primary antagonist in the first book. While the menace he poses is suitably sorted out – it did rather take back seat to the storyline featuring the Prisoner. And I would also have preferred seeing Pilgrim’s journey develop over a longer time, as it is another strand that feels a bit rushed. This is a wonderful bit of worldbuilding – and like other reviewers, I would appreciate reading other books in this series. Recommended for fans of multiverse adventures with strong protagonists and lots of action. While I obtained an arc of Prison of Sleep from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

The nitty-gritty: A unique multiverse tale with high stakes and engaging characters, Prison of Sleep is a satisfying series wrap-up.

Tim Pratt concludes his high energy sci-fi multiverse duology with Prison of Sleep, and just like Doors of Sleep, it was a ton of fun! This is a series that needs to be read in order, though, so do be aware that this review contains minor spoilers for the first book in the series.

In Doors of Sleep, we followed Zaxony Dyad Euphony Delatree—or Zax for short—on his adventures through the multiverse. Zax discovers one day that whenever he falls asleep, he wakes up in another world. He doesn’t know why this is happening, only that he wants to figure out a way to stop it and find his way back to his home world, the Realm of Spheres and Harmonies. When the story ends, Zax is finally reunited with a woman named Ana who he lost for quite a long time, and Ana has important information about the multiverse. 

In Prison of Sleep, we get to hear Ana’s story and what happened to her after she and Zax were separated. In alternating chapters, Ana recounts her own adventures of meeting a Sleeper named Toros who agrees to help her find Zax. Ana is welcomed to Sleeperhold, where other sleepers and their companions have set up base and are able to safely travel to other worlds—both forwards and backwards—in a conveyance called a sleepercar.

However, trouble is brewing in the multiverse. A group of cultists called the Cult of the Worm, the individuals responsible for Zax’s condition, are trying to destroy all the worlds, including everyone who isn’t a cultist. A horrifying creature who calls himself the Prisoner lives in the spaces between the worlds, and he desperately wants to find Minna, who is the key to his diabolical plan. Now Zax must find Minna first and warn her, and try to keep the multiverse from imploding. If only he could figure out how to do that...

Prison of Sleep was a bit different from the first book in terms of construction, because instead of following one character, the chapters alternate between Zax and Ana. What confused me at first was that Ana’s timeline actually follows (more or less) Zax’s timeline from the first book, while Zax is always several steps ahead of Ana in this book. But once I figured out what was going on, the story took on a frenetic urgency, with the clock ticking down to the cultists’ terrible plans, Ana frantically searching for Zax, and Zax finding out about the Prisoner and trying to stop the cultists. The tension kept me flying through the pages, because I was so worried about the characters. It didn’t help that they kept getting separated from each other— jumping to a new world without the other by accident—and because of the way the multiverse works, it’s almost impossible to find each other again. Pratt set the stakes extremely high for this story, and I loved it!

We meet a few new characters in this book. Zax meets a warrior named Zaveta who ends up sticking with him. In fact, it’s Zaveta who first learns about the Prisoner and is able to warn Zax. Ana was technically a new character, even though she appears briefly in Doors of Sleep. I absolutely loved her chapters, and the love story between her and Zax was very well done. They had a few romantic and steamy days together, but tragically lost each other. There is an urgency to Ana’s quest to find Zax again, not only because of the impending end of the multiverse, but because she loves him and she’s desperate to be with him again.

I was a little disappointed that my two favorite characters from the first book, Minna and Vicki, didn’t make an appearance until the very end. Both were such delights in Doors of Sleep, and even though they are mentioned throughout this book, it just wasn’t the same. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Minna, she comes from a world where the people are part plant. She can regrow parts of her body among other things, and she’s smart and kind and an all around fantastic character. But I will say that Ana and Zaveta helped make up for her absence!

The author resolves everything by the end of the book, which is a good thing when you’re writing a duology, but not so good when the ending leaves the reader wanting more. I’ve grown to love these characters so much, that I certainly wouldn’t say no to more adventures with Zax and his friends.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Excellent follow up and end to the duology. I like the expansion of the setting (settings?) and the villains and twists in the plot, plus seeing more of the other character's viewpoints. Creepiest villain ever.

Tim Pratt's Prison of Sleep capped off his Zax duology with all the fantastic uniqueness and mind-bending world-building that made the first book a must read. The movement between different time-lines in the storytelling lends itself to Pratt's plot and protagonists; you're aware that the other players are making moves but being able to experience them from multiple viewpoints helps deepen this story. Pratt is a master of writing the "other" - his aliens and other lifeforms feel true to their settings and development rather than just being shoehorned into a specific narrative role. While not action heavy, the combat scenes and events feel heavy, as Pratt has shown he isn't afraid to put his characters into life-or-death situations that may not end in their favor. I highly recommend Prison of Sleep, but definitely read the first book - you won't be disappointed by the duology.

Prison of Sleep is the second book in Tim Pratt's Sci-Fi Multiverse-hopping duology which began last year with Doors of Sleep (my review here). Doors of Sleep was the fun tale of Zax, an extremely good-natured man who found himself in a different universe/world every time he fell asleep as he attempted to help as people on as many worlds as possible, discovered a few companions, and tried to deal with rough situations that came both from being dropped into new worlds constantly and from facing off against a sinister mad scientist who wanted to use Zax's power to sinister ends. The story was told from the perspective of Zax's journal entries, and while it wasn't a comedy, it was still highly entertaining and enjoyable, even if it never really did anything super interesting - Zax was just a really charismatic lead. And then the story ended with a major cliffhanger, so I was more than happy to pick up the sequel on NetGalley once it became available.

Prison of Sleep splits the narrative in half - with the story alternating between continuing Zax's perspective, a little while after the cliffhanger from the last book, and the perspective of Ana, Zax's long lost love. In this way we continue to follow Zax's adventure while getting caught up with both what happened to Ana, her own perspective, and the new world that Zax discovered in the last book's cliffhanger. The result is still enjoyable...and yet some of the shine is off, as a bit of the wonder of what might happen is kind of gone with Zax's journey no longer random and varied, and Ana's story just feels in large part like a retread, leading to a conclusion that works, but well just also feels kind of underwhelming. If you really liked Doors of Sleep and want another enjoyable work, you'll find it here, but otherwise, this doesn't really take the duology to a higher level.


--------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Years ago, Zaxony "Zax" Delatree began accidentally traveling through the multiverse of worlds, mysteriously traveling to a new world every time he falls asleep. Through his adventures, he always tried to help the people he found, and even managed to pick up a few companions along the way, who could travel with him as long as they were asleep in his arms...for being awake while traveling between worlds seems to drive people mad....such as the woman Zax loved, Ana. Zax never imagined he'd see Ana ever again, or that he'd ever return to any of the worlds he visited, or that he'd every get any explanation for why he travels the way he does.

But then Ana somehow turned up again in his life, with answers to his mysterious traveling, and news of a dangerous enemy that is using his travels to doom everything. And then that enemy struck, and split Zax and Ana once more.

With nothing else to do, and no other way to reunite with Ana, Zax finds himself traveling the worlds once more, this time on a directed path after this new enemy, hoping to stop them once and for all. But against an enemy hoping to use Zax and his friends to destroy all the worlds in service of an imprisoned godlike power, can Zax's good natured desire to always help really make a difference?
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Prison of Sleep is told in a dual narrative. Every other chapter, starting with chapter 1, is told like the first book: as if it is a piece of Zax's new journal, with chapter titles detailing in quick entries all the things that will happen in that chapter, as Zax's journey continues forward. The other half is instead told from Ana's perspective, as she also adds her own journal entries, with Ana's entries mostly taking place during book 1, as she catches the reader up on everything that happened to her from the time she went insane viewing what she saw between worlds to the events that happened between books to where the book is now.

The stories are a bit uneven. Zax's story is still enjoyable, as Zax is a charismatic character who is just way too easy to like in his resourcefulness, his trustfulness, and his optimistic disposition, which draws companions to him even as they wind up generally being more cynical and practical than he is. And that continues here, as he meets a new companion - Zaveta of the Broken Wheel, a fun low-technology-aware warrior who is really strong and honor bound but also clueless about other cultures and gets into messes - and eventually meets up with his old ones. It also works as he deals with the new antagonists - the Cult of the Worm - and their leader the Prisoner, and tries desperately to understand them in order to persuade them to possibly stop. And yet, with Zax now driven by a mission - to track down the Cult and hopefully reunite with his friends - his story kind of loses a sense of wonder, as part of the fun of the last book was seeing Zax come to on each world and have to adapt to what he finds there (if not to try to help), and while there's a small amount of that here, it's greatly reduced, to the detriment of this book. It doesn't help that the new antagonist is kind of bland and uninspiring (and the kind you see in many books these days...including for example, a couple of others written by Pratt!)

Then there's Ana's story, which starts off interesting as it introduces what happened to her after Zax left her for insane (not intentionally) and explains the Sleepers, an organization who fights to save the multiverse from the aforementioned cult. Ana's practicality and good nature is also really easy to like - she may not be as pure as Zax, but she's determined to follow his example and do the right thing, and might as well have a "What Would Zax Do" tattooed on her somewhere. And the companions she meets along this way, from Toros, the leader of the Sleepers to Sorlyn, the one who helps her travel, are also pretty interesting, and add to some of the conflict (especially Toros, who is driven to an ends justify the means approach at times).

But Ana's story quickly turns into her retracing Zax's footsteps from the last book, and thus feels very much like a "Been there already, nothing new here" moment for much of the book, which just makes her chapters feel pretty pointless. We know how horrible those antagonists were, or what Zax dealt with, and we don't need to recap their actions when they basically don't play any part in the resolution here at all. And in a book this short, for like a third of it to basically be recap - and not recap at the beginning but recap spread throughout the book - it's just too much.

I don't mean to be too down on this novel, which is very readable, and still enjoyable for its short length. It's never boring, the characters are enjoyable, and well it's really really easy to like and root for Zax and his friends. But it never captures the high of Zax, his biological engineering friend Minna, and AI Vicki traveling and exploring worlds and trying to do good, which was what we had in the last book, even with new characters Ana and Zaveta being entertaining. So I really can only recommend it for those who loved the last book, and if you haven't started the duology, this book really won't make me suggest both books as something you absolutely have to read.

**Spoilers for book one Doors of Sleep included in this review**

Picking up after the events of book one, Zaxony Delatree finds himself alone, with a pen and paper diary tracking his travels through the wormholes of the multiverse trying to get back to his friends. This time the tale is told through two separate timelines and POV’s. Ana, Zax’s love interest who comes in right at the end of book one and Zax. We find out through their diary accounts that they found sanctuary for a time, but were unfortunately separated due to an attack on the “Sleeperhold” and must once again find their way to one another through the multiverse while also battling and finding the source of the “Cult of the Worm”. A cult hellbent on the destruction of the entire multiverse.

Once again we are thrown into the thick of the world or worlds without a whole lot of explanation, but through the diary entries we are told that each time people travel through the worlds they create small pin prick holes in the multiverse, threatening the world with collapse. It has been discovered that some sort of wormy parasite is ingested by those who travel and there is a cult of people infecting others with these little worms with the intention of destroying the world. Luckily there are those who wish to stop the bleeding (so to speak) and seek to repair the holes, take down the cult and restore peace.

Following a similar quirky tone, Pratt invites the reader to let their imagination run wild. The imagery and humour shine throughout the pages but there is a hint at a more serious undertone from the first instalment. Again, we have some serious conversations subtly introduced such as the importance of seeing another person’s point of view before casting judgement, friendship and once again to seize the day and live as happily as we can for however many days we have left. I will say I enjoyed book one more overall, but I really liked the structure of this book told between the two POV’s.

This one gets a 3.25 from me 😊

We first met Zax in Doors of Sleep, as he learned to deal with a mysterious condition that saw him travel to another world every time he fell asleep. I said in my review for the first installment that it was mostly world-building and the plot and threat were introduced relatively late. Well, in the follow up, we get to find out everything about the threat, the resistance towards it, and what’s happened to Zax and his various companions from book one.

As with the first book, I do like the laid-back writing style, very personable and chatty. And it was great to find out more about the characters and also what’s going on with all this sleeping.

However, even though I found the story easy enough to read – enjoyable, even, to settle down with for a bit – overall I wasn’t as fond of this as I thought I’d be. There were just a few too many things that irked me.

For one, we split the narrative between Zax and the brief ‘love of his life’, Ana. The two threads are offset in time, which I thought was a… well, a choice, let’s leave it at that. The problem was probably that I just really didn’t like Ana. She’s hopelessly obsessed with Zax – this person she knew relatively briefly – to the point where it’s 99% of her character here, and that just irked massively. Her sole purpose here is chasing through the multiverse after her long lost luuurrrve. Bleh.

Zax was a fun character in book 1, so spending probably less than half the book with him here didn’t really help. As the threads overlap, meet, and break apart again, he rejoins several companions, like Minna – the plant-lady and answer to every problem, it seems – and new characters. But often it all feels very brief, a little rushed, and far too superficial. There’s just such a lot of information to push, to the detriment of character growth or much plot beyond various characters dashing about the multiverse. I miss some of the new world exploration stuff from book one, too.

All a bit of a shame, as it’s a cool idea, some great characters, but it came a little too close to not quite fitting together for me, and certainly being too weighted towards all the running around maniacally without slowing down to get into any aspect more deeply enough to feel satisfying.

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/04/25/prison-of-sleep-by-tim-pratt-review-blog-tour/

At one time, Zaxony Delatree worked as a harmonizer in the Realm of Spheres and Harmonies. Then, following the death of a patient—who died in his arms, covering him in her blood—Zax fell asleep, only to awaken on another world.

About one month later, on his twentieth world, Zax met Ana. Less than a day later, he knew he never wanted to leave. Something that… could never be. So he fell asleep with Ana in his arms. And she travelled with him, through the place between, awake. Her mind couldn’t handle whatever she saw, and fled Zax immediately upon his waking. Though he searched for her, eventually Zax grew tired, and fell asleep—never to see her again.

On his 20th world Zax found love, only to lose it on the 21st.

Thirteen hundred worlds later, Zax found something impossible. He’d reunited with Vicki and Minna following the events of Doors of Sleep. The closest thing he’d ever had to a family was back together, even though he feared he’d never see them again. Shortly after, Zax found Ana.

Prison of Sleep skips forward a time from this meeting, so you’ll have to wait a bit to see how it went down. There are a pair of POVs within: Zax, who looks forward; and Ana, who looks back. We find Zax alone once more, traveling into the unknown. Only this time, while he may not have any idea where he’s going, Zax is following a specific path—a trail left by the Cult of the Worm.

The Cult worships the Prisoner: a god imprisoned in the place between worlds that can only whisper to its subjects as they traverse the place between. These followers it has gifted with the ability to Travel—done via a parasite injected into their bloodstream. It wants only two things from them: to Travel to new worlds and recruit further devotees who will do the same. The more Travelers, the more Wormholes in the ether. The more Wormholes, the weaker the stability of the Multiverse. Only when the Multiverse destabilizes completely can the Prisoner ever hope to escape.

When Ana found Zax she recruited him into a secret war against the Cult, one that he was only too willing to join. But now that he has, Zax is having second thoughts. Once more he’s lost Ana, Minna, and Vicki. He’s lost his new friends, his new home. But he has a plan—and while it may not reunite him with his friends, it may well save them all.

—
<i>
“They invented multidimensional travel but they haven’t figured out how to make guns?”
</i>
—

Prison of Sleep explores one the biggest unanswered questions left by Doors of Sleep before it: what happened to Ana?

Ana, as it is known from the first few chapters of the first book, was Zax’s long lost love, first companion, and lost her mind after traversing the void while awake. When Zax and Ana are reunited at the end of Doors, we are promised the continuation of their story—but who would’ve guessed just how far the rabbit hole went?

While Doors was more of an adventure driven via exploration of its sole POV, Zax, Prison is more of a mystery, slow-paced thriller, and character driven title about the relationship between its two main protagonists: Zax and Ana. Now Doors does feature the same style of slow-paced thrill later on, so it shouldn’t be an entirely foreign concept. And… while I say it’s a “slow-paced” thriller, I guess it really isn’t. Both Doors and Prison are rather short books—running between two and three hundred pages—so once things start happening, they don’t have too long to lounge around before the story winds down. It’s more that these two stories feel more leisurely in their approach to telling. The stories were both good, immersive, interesting, highly entertaining, and no trouble to read whatsoever. It’s just that there… there aren’t a ton of heart-pounding thrills, pulse-racing action, or the like that you’d find in most good thrillers. Instead, it’s narrative driven; a tense, atmospheric adventure through the multiverse—on a mission to save the multiverse.

Prison of Sleep features a back-and-forth, alternating POV structure that I’ve seen before in books like the Boy With the Porcelain Blade, where the first perspective takes place in the present and the second takes place in the past—1, 2, 1, 2, in that order, until the end. Now, I have some qualms about this approach—as I’m not sure I’ve really read anything that deploys it very successfully. At a certain point what has happened in the past becomes clear in the present long before it’s time for the big reveal. Prison can’t escape this particular issue, as long before the end I had figured out what happened when Ana finally caught up to Zax, along with the aftermath. What I had NOT figured out, however, was that while I’d assumed this to be the big reveal, it um wasn’t. Instead, there’s a twist come Ana’s final chapter—one that caught me completely by surprise.

Otherwise, it’s more of the same exciting adventure from Doors of Sleep. Only Zax knows he’s not alone anymore. And instead of wandering aimlessly, he’s a man on a mission. While the mission itself feels a little forced, a little cliché—it’s still a great read. I really can’t object to anything too strongly or find much of a problem with any of this. If you enjoyed the first book, I’m fairly certain you’ll enjoy the second. If you were bothered by cliff-hangers, or empty threads in Book #1—well, #2 ties everything up quite nicely. No major issues, no problems getting through it, or getting immersed in the tale. I’d certainly recommend checking it out!

3.5

I thought this was very fun multiverse sci-fi. The story picks up right at the end of Doors of Sleep, only this time we have chapters from Ana's POV recounting her story during the events of the first book. There is also a quick recap of events at the start of the book, which I definitely appreciated!

I still love Zax and his inherent goodness and liked the addition of Ana (especially after the realization she was alive and sane at the end of the first book) and there were some fun new companions as well as the return of some old faces.

Overall, I think I liked this less than the first book, but still had a great time with the duology. I think some aspects of the dual POV/timeline just didn't quite add up for me, though I did appreciate the explanation of how/why Zax and the other Sleepers travel to new worlds when they fall asleep.

I would highly recommend this to those who like Doctor Who-esque science fiction. While reading the duopoly, I couldn't help but make comparisons between the two in tone as well as concept. Like the Doctor, Zax is a lonely traveler who and saves the world and picks up companions along the way, etc. In this one, they even have special glasses that allow the wearer to follow the trails of travelers and I just kept picturing David Tennant with his 3D glasses talking about "Void Stuff".

When we last saw Zax Delatree, he had just rediscovered Ana, the love of his life, who promised to fill in some of the blanks for him. Like why she wasn’t still a gibbering wreck after accidentally viewing the horror between realities, and exactly what her and her compatriots needed him for so desperately. Now, Zax, Ana and their friends and allies are scattered across the multiverse, on the hunt for - and being hunted by - a deadly cult whose mission could spell even more destruction than Zax’s old enemy the Lector.

Throwing us straight into the pursuit, Zax gives us some early foreshadowing and cryptic references to the events that have befallen him as he tracks a cultist across realities. As with Doors of Sleep though, it’s not just Zax who writes in his journal, with chapters from Ana’s perspective alternating with his. Ana is there to provide context for why the two have become separated again, but also to explain what happened to her after she was accidentally dragged across the multiverse while awake - normally a sanity-shattering experience. As it stands though, Ana’s recovery is an issue that’s brushed off fairly quickly, and for many of her chapters she’s narrating what happened as she followed behind Zax in the first book. With Zax off elsewhere having new adventures, it’s a little like we’re jerked back and forth between the past and present, and Ana’s chapters often seem like little more than a rather long winded way to recap what has already happened in the previous book.

Conversely, the events of the latter half of Prison of Sleep seem to happen all in a rush. Moments of tension and seemingly inescapable situations are dissipated or wriggled out of respectively almost on the next page, all whilst enormous amounts of exposition are doled out. Two new villains are doing the rounds, one of whom is given little in the way of characterisation, and there are various complicated plans and counterstrikes being formulated constantly. A big reason why Doors of Sleep was so much fun was that it didn’t get too bogged down in trying to explain the why of everything, and it feels like the opposite approach is being employed here - there’s a great deal of wearisome exposition, as well as some rather clunky deus ex machina employed to get out of many of the situations the characters find themselves in. It’s as if the first book was a fun adventure and this one is half sequel, half accompanying appendix.

On top of all this, the charming companions that Zax picked up in Doors of Sleep are largely absent here; it’s an odd choice to construct a loveable found family in one book and then separate them for the next. New companion Zaveta is entertaining enough - she has a great line in Thor-style dialogue, being an enjoyable barbarian fish out of water in pretty much every situation - but Minna’s absence is felt keenly. We see glimpses of her, as Ana recounts her own trailing of Zax and his companions, but these only serve to make us pine for her even more. Zax’s desire to solve conflicts without resorting to violence still makes him endearing, but we don’t really get to spend enough time appreciating his approach thanks to the dual timelines and expository storytelling.

With its uneven pacing and erratic plotting, Prison of Sleep feels more like a compromise than a conclusion. There’s still some entertainment value to be derived from Zax’s adventures, but with the best will in the world(s), it’s difficult not to come away feeling underwhelmed.