Book Review: To Defy a Dream by Mary Mecham

Mary Mecham’s To Defy a Dream is the fourth book in the multi-author series, The Shattered Tales. This novella is a delightful original retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a gorgeous setting, sweet romance, and wonderful characters!

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Book Blurb

What if Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on purpose?

Princess Aurelia’s kingdom is plagued by the Eternal Slumber, a disease progressively ensnaring the minds of her subjects. After Aurelia wishes for the means to revive her brother, her sinister fairy godmother presents an ominous solution: Aurelia must stab herself with a poisoned spindle.

Accepting this fate plunges Aurelia into a nightmare where victims of the Eternal Slumber are being held hostage by a dark djinni. However, Aurelia’s brother isn’t the only familiar face she finds herself reunited with; Everett, the love of her life who mysteriously disappeared years ago, is there as well. As the djinni’s power grows, Aurelia must decide who to save before the djinni escapes and enters the waking world.

Failing on her quest could trap her in the dream world forever. Will she forgo her chance at a happily ever after and protect her brother, or will she choose to rescue herself and the man she loves?

No matter who she chooses, someone will be doomed to remain in the nightmare that never ends.

Characters

Aurelia

Aurelia hates feeling trapped in her position as heir to the throne while her older brother and many of her people are trapped in a strange dream world. She longs to make a difference and help her people return to the real world. She is scared to open herself up to the possibility of love.

I admire Aurelia’s bravery and determination to help others, even if it risks her own life. Her ingenuity and… impulsiveness makes her an enjoyable and relatable character!

Also, slightly unrelated, but I’m pretty sure she’d be a nurse if she lived in our world. I’m curious if the author would agree with me!

Everett

Everett is willing to sacrifice anything for those he loves, especially Aurelia. I LOVE how he finds little ways to spend extra time with her; it’s SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! The different ways he tries to show Aurelia he will always be there for her…….. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Setting

I hate volcanoes. I’ve been terrified of them ever since in kindergarten when they showed a movie with the lava chasing this little boat all over while it tried to escape. No, I even don’t recall what movie it was.

Despite my (mostly irrational) fear of volcanoes, I absolutely adore the setting of the dream world, Gehenna. It is just GORGEOUS!!!!!!! It just feels so otherworldly and possesses the perfect balance of beauty and deadliness! It’s just so symbolic. It’s perfect!!!!!

The themes

I feel like To Defy a Dream is almost… allegorical, but, to avoid being overly presumptuous, I won’t go into my theories. Either way, I’d still like to point out some of the great themes in this novella.

I was really impressed with how Mary intertwined the themes of the dangers of pride and an excessive focus on entertainment in this novella.

Danger in seeking entertainment

Gehenna is designed as a dream world nobody would ever want to leave. While the inhabitant’s families suffer back home, they are made complacent by the promise of endless comfort and entertainment. Because of their complacency, the djinni are able to grow strong with little resistance.

Pride

The humans in Gehenna also are made to feel entitled to their entertainment. They are convinced that because of their hardships back home, they deserve an eternity of entertainment. They think little of those who are suffering in their absence – or even the consequences of their presence in the djinni world.

How these themes relate to us

Is entertainment all bad? No. Sometimes we should relax and enjoy a good time with people we enjoy. The danger comes in living for entertainment and seeking it out above all else. Too often people seek happiness, when we should be seeking joy.

Happiness is momentary. Joy is eternal. Happiness is good, but we should be seeking for the more lasting things that bring us joy, even if they don’t make us happy all of the time. For instance, spending time with my sisters doesn’t always make me happy, but all of these times with my sisters compound to bring me JOY.

Dislikes

I thought that this book ended way too quickly. The pacing of the ending could’ve been a bit better. I thought I was at about 33% when I was actually at 62%. Granted, this was probably more that I wanted more from this story, but…

Content

Language – no profanity, no other objectionable language that I recall

Violence – character stabs herself with spindle, character drowns (off screen), character gets chased, character is knocked unconscious, character breaks a bookshelf, volcanic eruption

Sexual content – no sex scenes; several kisses and embraces

Magic – djinni grants wishes, characters enter dream world

Overall

I fell in love with this retelling of Sleeping Beauty! It is so original!!!!!! The characters are wonderful and I could completely understand each of their emotions!!! Mary creates a gorgeous setting you’ll want to live in and teaches wonderful lessons through this story that the world needs to hear.

purchase your copy

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book. My opinions are my own. A positive review was not required.

What’s your favorite retelling of Sleeping Beauty? How would you define the difference between happiness and joy? Let me know in the comments!