Wake, Fade, Gone

Dream Catchers series by Lisa McMann


Wake, Fade and Gone



All her life Janie has been pulled into other peoples dreams. At school, at work, on the bus and most recently, while she was driving her car.

Nightmares haunt her, her past is an empty slate, she has no idea that her strange ability is a gift, to all those, but herself.

When Cabel, the once bad-boy, gone good, takes an interest in Janie and her special abilities it is harder and harder for Janie to remain isolated, and, she wonders, does she have to?

My review:

This is one of my very favorite series, it really is. I didn’t even pick up the third book (which was the first I had heard of these books) because the cover and the title creeped me out a bit. Lucky for me, I saw the Wake cover a few days after and plucked it off the shelf of my local half price bookstore.


There are very specific reasons why I love these books, number one being the pacing.
I read all three books in one sitting, that is, book one, book two, book three, in a matter of hours each. When I got them in my hands, there was no going back! The storyline’s progression really allows for a fast pace ride, and yet you don’t loose your ability to learn about, and love the characters, you still feel just as immersed as if the books were four hundred pages and trudging along a bit more steadily (slowly).

Reason number two is Cabel. *Swoon!* I love Cabel, I want a Cabel, I want to love a Cabel! He is my official literary crush and he is wonderful! Just read, you’ll fall in for him too!

Reason number three is the “fantasy” set-up. Instead of the book being filled with mystifying wonders and unbelievable (and forced) narratives about the Dream Catcher world, the ability and Janie’s life, you are left to consider all three by yourself, because not even the Catchers themselves have it all figured out! Hooray!

My favorite book is a tie between, Wake and Fade and Gone. Yep, you heard me, I can’t choose, they all have their own za-zing and could stand alone if need be. Wake is the love story, Fade is the mystery and Gone is a bit more personal and phsycological in a way. It’s great to see a series exhibit all three!


My only problem is book three and the swearing! Oh, goodness, stop with the cussing Janie and Cabe, oh, and when did Carrie get hick-like? It sort of confused me, with all that the characters have gone through and seen, I would think they would be more mature and that since communication is such a fight or flight aspect of the characters they wouldn’t resort to “stuff and shit” phrasings. It just didn’t make sense to me, and it only seemed to stand right out in Gone.

Thoughts on the covers: If you like covers, without models, that have tie in’s to certain scenes in the book, you will love these covers, and appreciate them, as I do, very, very much! Also the titles have the same aspect of mystery, until the moment the cover shot is revealed! As I said, Gone is sort of creepy until you read the first book and you know that it’s not a kidnap or a ghost story. Yeah, that’s what I thought the first time I saw Gone.

Notes on the names: I really liked Cabel! Janie was so interesting a choice, and I couldn’t believe that no one called her Jane! Carrie and Stu made me laugh and Henry was a sweet choice, and symbolic, for Janie’s father, since Henry has a patriarchal name meaning. All in all, nothing special, but the names suited the characters well.



Read Cabel's story! http://www.simonandschuster.com/admin_assets/1257_Cabel_s_Story_Final.pdf

Listen to this song while you read, it's like Janie and Cabel are singing-

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