This was a fascinating tale. I honestly wasn’t sure what it was going to be when I started it, but it was so much more than I could have expected. It is a very quick read due to it being a series of transcripts, “book chapters”, and more. Well worth the read for those of us who grew up reading fantasy and have become hooked on thrillers.

ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

Thanks, NetGalley and Del Rey, for the digital review copy.

The premise is fantastic: “When Byron Kidd's twelve-year-old daughter vanishes, the only clue left behind is a note claiming she's taken off to explore the Hidden World, a magical land from a series of popular novels. She is not the only child to seek out this imaginary realm in recent years, and Byron—a cynical and hard-nosed reporter—is determined to discover the whereabouts of dozens of missing kids.”

The story was told in a collection of journal entries, transcripts, emails, and book excerpts, which was entertaining and well done. Following the clues to find the Hidden World overlapping the “real” one was interesting, and I had high hopes for the ending.

However, the MC was unlikeable: hardheaded, small-minded, short-sighted, and obsessive. Secondary characters weren’t well fleshed out, and the ending felt rushed. Overall, it felt like a lot of work (400 pages) for my amount of enjoyment.

The cover is gorgeous, though!

Fandom, fantasy, and magic come together in Dan Frey's story about a father searching for his daughter, who has disappeared. Byron Kidd's daughter was caught up in a fantasy novel fandom, and as the journalist digs deeper into the fandom, he discovers that other kids have gone missing. Red flags waving, he decides to pursue his daughter on his own and descends into the gritty Los Angeles underground world where he learns that fantasy worlds do exist, and he will have to negotiate a heavy price to get his daughter back. Incredible world building and an epistolary structure make this an unputdownable novel for fantasy fans.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review!

On paper, I shouldn’t like Byron. He’s manipulative, moody, defeatist, and when pressed, often expresses sexist and/or misogynist opinions about the women around him (yes, he does tell a woman helping him in the investigation to “just do it” in reference to having kids…) And having an entire epistolary (a format I LOVE) book told very closely from his perspective should really have turned me away.

But damn if the format and concept didn’t suck me right in. Once this story gets going, it flies on past. I was so rooting for Byron to get to his kid, for this fantastical world to be real (instead of just explained away as the consequence of some dastardly but-still-very-human-villain as in so many other books) and for everything to come to - if not a *happy* ending - at least a bittersweet conclusion.

Ultimately, while Byron was never my favorite in this story, his journey was, and I bought into the concept and loved its epistolary format.

I am not the right audience for this book. It’s not the type of fantasy that appeals to me. If you like fairytales (and actual fairies) you will probably enjoy this book more than I did. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This was a fun book written for all of us who went to check the backs of our closets after reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Dreambound follows magic non-believer/ general a-hole Byron as he races to save his daughter who's gone missing... into her favorite book. The plot was pretty predictable, Byron was so annoying, and there wasn't much magic, so I think I liked the cover more than the book.

Journalist Byron Kidd’s twelve-year old daughter has gone missing, and n his desperation to find her, he delves into a Qanon conspiracy theory that involves kids who love a popular fantasy book series going missing for years. The deeper he digs, the more he thinks maybe there’s something more to this hidden world than most people think.

I love books that are set in our world, but have like a world within our world, sort of like fictional geocashing, or some people being involved in a world the rest of us know nothing about. Think like the podcast (and books in the world of) Rabbits.

This book is part epistolary, which is also a format I love to read. It’s super detailed and involved with the folklore and overlapping mapping of Los Angeles and the potential Hidden World. I loved the adventure and the intelligence behind the crafting. I really enjoyed Frey’s first book and this one didn’t disappoint, either.

Grateful for the opportunity to dive into the ARC of this book, though it didn't quite captivate me enough to reach the final page.

Dreambound is a contemporary fantasy novel about a father going on a quest to solve the disappearance of his daughter. Byron is an investigative journalist who sticks to the facts. However, when he embarks on his journey to save his daughter his views are challenged as the magical world his daughter believed in comes alive around him.

Dreambound is told through Byron's investigative journal, emails, book excerpts, and interviews. The closest thing I can relate it to is Stranger Things meets Erin Morgenstern. Although Dreambound does not have the beautiful and lyrical writing one would find in Morgenstern's books, it does employ that sense of the fantastical as the plot starts to slowly unravel.

I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed reading Dreambound. As soon as I started reading it, it became a book I could not put down. The mystery elements blended so well into the fantasy elements.

At the end of the book Dan Frey mentions this book is a love letter to stories. I agree and must add it is equally a love letter to the city of Los Angeles. Although I am not from Los Angeles I am familiar enough with the city that I enjoyed the references in Dreambound. Most of the novel takes place in Los Angeles.

If you're someone who likes genre-bending, fast paced books and mixed media formats I think you'll really enjoy this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely a very trippy, fantastical, and interesting read. The way the author uses a series of books as the cause of chaos is pretty amazing. What happens when fairy tales come to life? Or when a book becomes a doorway to obsession, that leads to teens disappearing through portal like doors that nobody seems able to find. The author uses corresponding through emails alongside news articles to push the storyline along, it makes for an exemplary read. I'm not normally one for fantasy but this book is more than just that. It has the feel of a true crime show combined with a thriller and somehow it just works.

Dreambound is a story about father/daughter bonds. Its a story about unlearning and relearning for the greater good. I was very interested in how this story would end and was pleased with it when I finally got there. The characters were relatable and I enjoyed the different styles of writing including the journal entries. Overall a very well rounded story.

The nitty-gritty: A skillfully constructed story-within-a-story full of emotion, tension and magic, Dreambound is one of my favorite books of the year.

Dreambound is every bit as good as people are saying, and trust me, this is one 2023 release you’re not going to want to miss. Dan Frey has stepped up his game from his last book—The Future is Ours—and created what might be his personal masterpiece. Dreambound has everything I love in a story and much much more, including an epic quest, a flawed hero, an intriguing mystery, tension, heart and even humor, all told in a brilliantly constructed epistolary format. Frey’s narrative consists of journal entries, emails, texts, interviews and more, carefully stitched together to reveal the story of a father who is looking for his lost daughter. 

Twelve-year old Liza Kidd disappeared a month ago, leaving behind a cryptic note in her favorite book, Fairy Tale, stating “I’m going to the end of the world and beyond.” The police haven’t helped at all, so Byron Kidd, Liza’s father, decides to find her himself. The only clue he has is a single ping picked up from Liza’s cell phone, coming from Los Angeles, CA. Byron can’t imagine how a twelve-year-old got from Massachusetts to California by herself, but he hops on a plane anyway, desperate to find her. Once he arrives, he tracks the GPS coordinates to Venice Beach, where he stumbles upon the End of the World Museum and irrefutable proof that Liza had been there.

Convinced that her disappearance has something to do with Fairy Tale and the book’s reclusive author Annabelle Tobin, Byron begins his personal investigation by contacting and interviewing everyone connected to the popular fantasy series and its fandom. And what he finds is astonishing. With the help of Misha Pimm, the creator of a popular fan website, Byron uses his investigative journalist skills to uncover the truth, which is far stranger and magical than he could ever imagine.

Not all epistolary novels work, but this one does. In fact, I can’t imagine reading this story any other way. Byron is motivated by his love for Liza, but he’s also a formidable journalist, willing to lie his way into an interview for the sake of finding his daughter. The entire story consists of Byron’s personal investigative journal, interspersed with emails, interviews and snippets from Fairy Tale, all of which drop hints about what happened to Liza—and many other children as well. I loved the contrast between the more formal email exchanges (for instance, between Byron and his wife Val, who refuses to believe that Liza is still alive) and interviews and Byron’s rambling, frantic journal entries. It’s this back and forth among different narrative types that keeps the story flowing and almost impossible to put down.

Because I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area for years, I’m always excited to find an L.A. story that gets things right. Frey lives in Los Angeles and is a screenwriter as well as a novelist, so he’s uniquely qualified to write his own L.A. story, and he nails the vibe perfectly. One of my favorite parts of the book is the way he draws parallels between the city of Los Angeles and the Hidden World, the fantasy realm in the Fairy Tale series. Using such iconic sites as the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Silver Lake, Echo Park and more, Frey weaves a portal fantasy that is both familiar and unfamiliar, otherworldly and down to earth.

And while many “quest” stories revolve around the lost child, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Dreambound focuses on Byron’s journey instead of Liza’s, although we do get glimpses into what she’s been through. There is a compelling mystery here, and Frey takes his time with the reveal. Why did Liza leave home in the first place? How does a rare book called The Hidden World figure into Annabelle Tobin’s series? What is the meaning behind a rune tattoo that is popular among Fairy Tale fans? And what’s up with Annabelle’s son Gable, and how is he connected to Liza's disappearance? All these mysteries come together in surprising ways, as Frey weaves fairy lore, mythology and history into his story.

The characters were fantastic as well. Byron is a tough-as-nails journalist, but when it comes to Liza he’s a bundle of emotions. I love that he opens up about his flaws as a father—discouraging Liza from her love of Fairy Tale, for example—and admits it could be why she ran away. When Misha enters the picture, she and Byron form a reluctant partnership when she decides to help him, but they grow to like and respect each other in the end. Annabelle was a fascinating character too, a woman who is struggling with some big secrets and knows way more than you think.

Byron’s journey culminates at FairyCon, the fan convention for Fairy Tale fans, where Annabelle has agreed to speak about the upcoming sixth and final book in her series. Byron and Misha have a dangerous plan, and if they can pull it off, Byron can finally see his daughter again. I thought it was the perfect place to stage the story’s climax, and the ending was exciting, emotional and ultimately satisfying. I wish I could read Dreambound again for the first time, which is the highest praise I can give.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

As a voracious reader, I’ve never felt bound to any one genre of publishing, though crime fiction certainly has primacy in my heart. Books that understand this and defy the limitations of genre have especial appeal to me. Books that do this while also being about books – and while being wildly entertaining – thus feel like the best sort of read, a veritable gift from the universe. Or, in this case, from the pen of Dan Frey.

There is a trope in fantasy fiction, particularly in modern works revolving around portals between this dimension and others, that forms the initial basis of this extraordinary epistolary novel. Byron Kidd is an investigative journalist whose teenage daughter Liza has disappeared after seemingly running away from home. Six months on and with no answers from the police or the public, he applies his skills to Liza’s interests in an effort to understand why she left in the first place and where she might be now.

Liza had been heavily invested in a five-book Young Adult fantasy series called Fairy Tale. The heroine, Ciara, had also run away from home. As a fairy tells her, in an excerpt Byron quotes in an email:

QUOTE
“Simply touch the water, and it will rob your memories. Submerge yourself entirely, and you will be forgotten entirely. Even if you do survive a swim, no one will know you ever existed. Not even you.”

Ciara turned and stared out at the frothing waves of abyss. A shiver of terror at their dark power coursed through her veins.

Then she charged madly across the sand and dove right in.

RESUME EMAIL

To me this seems like nonsense. And disturbing. How am I supposed to read this passage if not as a veiled metaphor for teen suicide? Fuck these books.
END QUOTE

Byron knows that as estranged he and his daughter had become – and it takes him a while to acknowledge the breadth of the space between them – she would never have killed herself. While his now ex-wife Valerie is ready to accept that Liza is dead, Byron is not. He begins to dig into Liza’s expressions of fandom, exploring the Internet and uncovering disturbing facts about other missing kids that could be tied back to Fairy Tale and its reclusive author:

QUOTE
There has been an epidemic of global disappearances in recent years, all connected to the Fairy Tale book series. Exact numbers are hard to pin down, but I have identified at least 26 different cases–half in the U.S., half abroad–that fit the same fact pattern. Diehard fans of this fictional world, whose ages range from 8 to 18, have vanished without a trace. Prior to their disappearance, each victim engaged in online communications regarding their fandom. And at least 21 of the cases have some connection to Los Angeles, which is both the home city of Fairy Tale author Annabelle Tobin and the site where the movies are filmed.

Are the cases abductions? Runaways? Something else entirely?
END QUOTE

In his desperate search for Liza, Byron prepares to burn every social and professional bridge he has. This task will utilize all of his skills, sometimes in less than above board fashion. He flies to Los Angeles and finagles his way step by step into the inner circle of Fairy Tale, even as he teeters on a knife-edge between reality and conspiracy theory. Because what he suspects about what really happened to Liza couldn’t possibly be true, could it? And if it is, how can he possibly find his daughter and bring her home?

Like Byron, I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the thinly veiled metaphors for teenage suicide prevalent in many popular fantasy novels. Unlike Mr Frey, I never thought that the perfect antidote to this would be a book about a less than terrific parent understanding how they messed up, and then doing their absolute best to meet their suffering child where that child is. Dreambound is an astonishing work of maturity and empathy that had me sobbing like a baby through the ending pages. It’s hard to say more, because I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything about this amazing book, but if you’re a parent who cares about connecting with your kids, like I am, as well as a fan of both the fantasy and mystery genres, then you absolutely must read this smart, stylish heartbreaker of a novel.

This book surprised me! It's a bit of a mystery, a journalist Dad can't let go of his daughter who went missing six months earlier. His wife felt differently, gave her up for dead, and the marriage ended as well. The focus in the book is these fantasy books that the kid was into and how they were connected with her disappearance. The Dad turns into an investigator, finding clues and a way into her world. The way the whole story was told was well done.

I listened to the audio book version and it was awesome, as there were a many narrators for all the different voices, it really added to the book.

One Sentence Summary: Months after his 12 year old daughter disappeared, journalist Byron Kidd travels to her last known location and will do everything to find her, even if it means having to believe the fantasy world in her favorite book series is real.

I love books that are set in LA since that’s where I live, and I just love seeing the places I know and have visited throughout my life popping up in books. The only thing I really knew about Dreambound before I started reading it was that it’s set in LA, but, once I started reading, I really adored it. Told through emails, book excerpts, interviews, and Byron’s investigative journal, Dreambound tells the story of a devoted father who will do anything to find his missing daughter even as his estranged wife tries to move on with the belief their daughter is dead and tries to persuade Byron to give up. In some ways, Dreambound felt like a father’s slow spiral into madness, but, in others, it just shows what lengths a parent will go to find their child. As much as I enjoyed this and loved so many aspects of it, I failed to thoroughly love it as I often felt the use of mixed media didn’t exactly do the story justice.

Dreambound is about a 12 year old girl who mysteriously vanished one day months ago. But she wasn’t the only one. Over several years, spanning the publication of an exceedingly popular YA fantasy series by a now reclusive author, children and teens have completely vanished. Byron Kidd is an investigative journalist who believes his daughter is still out there somewhere despite his estranged wife’s misgivings, and he’s convinced it has to do with the books and the films that were adapted from the books. With nothing else to lose, he heads to LA and, with the aid of a UCLA graduate student who runs the fan website for the books, as well as some other interesting characters, Byron doggedly follows the clues only to discover a fantastical world overlaid our own that just might have all the answers he’s been looking for. He only has to believe.

First of all, I adored the setting. It was easily my favorite part of the book. It was so much fun to see Byron visit areas I’ve been to and know of, and many of the swipes he took at the city and people were both funny and true, so I was tickled by them. I also loved that actual locations that have actually been used for filming were seen since I thought it tied in well with the films based on the hit fantasy series. It did sometimes feel a little too contrived, which knocked me out of the story a little, but I enjoyed it since I enjoy traveling around LA without actually having to go anywhere and deal with traffic. I was less enthralled with the world crafted in the fantasy books as I found it difficult to picture and most of it just felt like stereotypical fantasy stuff. So I’m glad most of the story was actually set in LA, and I loved it when the characters visited “hidden” pockets.

What worked less for me was, actually, Byron’s investigative journal. On one hand, I really liked watching his slow spiral into what felt like madness. As the story went along, he started to lose his edge and started to just feel like a desperate father, which was nice as that’s what felt like the heart of the story was. On the other, it felt like it was a way to get around not actually having a narrative. Details and feelings are difficult to put into mixed media, especially the kind put into this book, so the journal neatly dealt with that. But the downside of that for me was that it made me think a more traditional way of storytelling might have worked better. There were times when it felt like it was just begging to be told with paragraphs and dialogue, but the only thing on hand was the journal. Sometimes the journal seemed to stray into that traditional storytelling, but then had to be abruptly pulled back because that’s not how the story was being told. I actually found myself enjoying everything else more than the journal because there’s where most of the interesting information and fascinating characters happened.

But I liked Byron. As a parent, I could relate to him, and his estranged wife. I really felt for both of them, having to deal with the loss and moving forward, or not. I could feel his desperation and him slowly losing his grip on reality. Except, was he really? I loved the lengths he was willing to go in order to rescue his daughter, even if it made him look completely unhinged. But it really was a beautiful exploration of that father-daughter relationship. I loved that, through his investigation, Byron really came to know both himself and his daughter. I loved that he was able to discover everything about her and how she felt and thought because he was so fully devoted to his investigation. And yet he still cared about all the other children. There’s clearly a lot of space in his heart, even if he is almost singlemindedly focused on his daughter.

For the most part I did enjoy how this story was told, but sometimes I felt like it was taking a little too long. With the use of mixed media it felt like it should have been faster paced and snappier, but the journal felt like it weighed it down a little. I really enjoyed the excerpts, even if some of it felt rather contrived, because most of them felt like they really captured the voice of the supposed storyteller. That was probably the most impressive part to me, that the different excerpts could feel like they actually came from certain time periods and people. But, again, I felt like part of the story dragged and the whole middle part could have been condensed to better bridge the more exciting beginning and end.

Dreambound was quite an experience to read. There were times when it made me feel like I was right and magic really does exist. Then there were times when I felt like I was losing my mind a little. It was kind of a surreal experience sometimes, and there were times when it definitely felt a little wacky. It reminded me of another crazy book I’ve read, but in a much more logical and linear way. This was definitely easier to follow, but still managed to boggle my mind at times. I think the one thing that truly disappointed me was that I found it ridiculously easy to piece the information together, well before any of it even occurred to Byron, who’s job it was to put information together. It kind of made me question how good of a journalist he actually was because, by the end, I sometimes felt a little fed up with him.

Dreambound is a lovely story of a devoted father and the father-daughter relationship. I mostly enjoyed the way the story was told and laid out, and there were a lot of small touches I really enjoyed. The setting was, of course, the highlight for me, but I really did enjoy how everything in the story tied together, and the ending was definitely bittersweet and made my eyes tear up. Despite the problems I had with this book, I still found much of it to be sweet and touching.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book took me on a fantastical journey through every open doorway a child questing for knowledge could go. Breadcrumbs of media.....notes, blogs, texts.....build the clues this father must follow to find his daughter and the other missing children who have journeyed before him. The synopsis does not do the book justice. It's as if we've followef through the looking glass and found our own Wonderland, with no way to get home.

This might be my most favorite book that I have read this year, and if I happen to read something better in the few months left in the year than it will be the best portal fantasy book I have ever read. The author uses a mixed media format to deliver an incredibly well thought out and heartfelt story of a father’s quest to find his missing daughter. Byron Kidd is an investigative journalist who uncovers his daughter’s “goodbye” letter tucked inside of her favorite fantasy book series. Unable to believe that his daughter would just run away from home he begins to investigate things and discovers hundreds of missing kids all tied to the book series. Byron travels to the last place his daughter’s cell phone pinged, Los Angeles, which also happens to be the home of Annabelle Tobin, the Eccentric author of the book series at the center of it all. The more Byron uncovers the more the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. The book reads like a fast-paced thriller, but still managed to have me bawling my eyes out by the last page. I would recommend this book to everyone I know.

This contemporary fantasy novel revolves around a hit fantasy series titled Fairy Tale by author Annabelle Tobin (the details are different, but the setup resembles J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels). Journalist Byron Kidd becomes involved after his daughter Liza disappears, leaving a note saying that she is going to the Hidden World of the novels. He discovers that a number of children have disappeared in a similar fashion, all around the world. In the beginning, he is completely skeptical about the existence of the Hidden World (as any journalist would be): but he follows the leads doggedly, and strange things start happening.

He befriends the webmaster of a hugely popular fan site called TheQueendom.com, certain that Liza had been an active user. Finally, he convinced the webmaster to give him access to his daughter's account, and what they find is unsettling. It is enough to verify that Liza was lured to Los Angeles, and they go off to seek further clues. It becomes clear that key landmarks in the Hidden World can be mapped onto contemporary L.A. Before long Byron starts having experiences that only magic can explain. His search for his daughter and the publication of the highly anticipated sixth (and final) book of the Fairy Tale series become entwined in a very surprising (yet logical) way.

Like his 2021 novel The Future Is Yours, Frey constructed the book like a contemporary epistolary novel. Instead of actual letters (although there are a few) the tale is told by a series of emails, transcripts, and excerpts from magazine articles and books. However formal that might sound, the storytelling builds tension before reaching its explosive conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy

An amazing story connecting father and daughter. I got finding Nemo vibes from this book. How far will a dad go to save his child? This book explores those boundaries…

I really enjoyed the story of Dreambound but I have to start by saying I LOVED the audiobook production! If you are at all interested in this story, I HIGHLY recommend reading on audio. Often people will ask about the narrator of an audiobook - but being very honest, I don't usually notice. I read a lot and the majority of it is audio - so unless it stands out as particularly good or bad, it feels the same to me as if someone asked about the font in a paper book I read. I usually don't notice. But Dreambound - this is the exception to that. This is a full cast audiobook with around 15 narrators and they are all cast SO WELL.

As far as the actual story - the premise drew me right in. Byron's daughter, 12 year old Liza, went missing 6 months ago after leaving a note that she was going to the Hidden World which is a reference to her favorite book series. The Fairy Tale book series is currently 5 books and everyone is eagerly awaiting the 6th book - there are Fairy Tale conventions, sites of fan fiction, a huge fandom.

Byron is frustrated because he feels like the police aren't doing enough to find Liza - so he starts digging into it himself. As a journalist, he's not new to uncovering a story and he is doggedly determined to find out what happened. He quickly learns she is not the only kid to go missing who is obsessed with the Fairy Tale books - are they all connected?

This story is told through Byron's journal entries, transcripts of interviews, copies of email messages. I can't stress enough how well done the audio was - thank you so much to PRH Audio for the free audiobook. Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for the free ebook. This might not make my list of favorite books for the year but will ABSOLUTELY be one of my favorite audiobooks.