The Dream Crystal by Mark O'Bannon

The Dream Crystal by Mark O'Bannon (The Dream War Series, #1)
Published by: MEOw Publishing 2011
Pages: Kindle-392
Received for review by Mark O'Bannon (Thank you so much for the awesome book Mark!)
Buy The Dream Crystal for your kindle here- Amazon

All of the world's dreams are about to die. The Shadow People have come. Always near, they linger in the darkness, ready to devour dreams, hopes, aspirations and desires. . .
Aisling, having lost her dream of becoming a fashion designer, learns that she's a Faerie changeling. Disquieted by the fact that her faerie parents are kidnappers, she has decided to rescue the human child she was exchanged for, but her "sister" is no longer among the faeries, having been taken by the Shadow People. Ith, the Lord of Shadows, is trying to control the dreams of mankind, which are under the protection of the faeries, so they're at war.

Aisling, who doesn't believe in dreams any longer, is falling in love with a handsome, mysterious stranger - one of the Shadow People.
 
Recommended To- Anyone who loves a fast paced fantasy story with some serious action scenes, a beautiful world, and some romance.
 
Have you read a serious fantasy book lately? And I'm not talking a paranormal book, I mean fantasy. This book is the epitome of fantasy. O'Bannon creates a beautiful world full of fairies, unicorns, elves, and the dangerous shadow people. Oh, and there's a ton of fashion. Plus a neat Irish spin on the characters and story in general, which was a cool addition to the story. Everything that everyone loves right? But we all know that without a good plot and some great characters that all of these fantasy creatures and characters will be easily forgettable. Mark O'Bannon does a fabulous job to make sure that this story is unforgettable!
 
We start the story following Aisling, an aspiring fashion designer through her struggle to fulfill her dream. Unfortunately there's been some kinks in her plans, there mostly little until she gets kicked out of fashion school and her best friend is almost killed by something only she can hear and see. Then things get a little more complicated, and send Aisling to a whole new world and life. Something she could have only dreamed of. As I said before, the world that O'Bannon creates  a beautiful world that I want to go live in! Aisling quickly discovers this beautiful world and all the magic that this world holds. There is a lot of amazing magic that I would also love to have. But don't be fooled by the beautiful fairy world and cool magic, these fairies know how to kick some butt. The action starts almost immediately and continues to almost the last page. And I'm talking some serious fighting here, with good old fashion swords and a battle of wills. It's really awesome, and refreshing, to have a character, Aisling, that really can hold her own and doesn't need anyone to do anything for her. She's completely independent. She's a character that we need to see a lot more in books. In fact, O'Bannon really writes great characters! All of Aisling friends were completely loyal and always there for her, which I really admired. They knew when Aisling needed to do something on her own and when they needed to be there for her. Did I mention the loyalty thing yet? They're completely loyal, even when Aisling is kind of shunned by her own people. And they know how to kick some butt too!

I mentioned that this story is fast paced, it really is! Even though it's almost 400 pages it's an easy and fast read. All the action and suspense keeps you reading until the end to know what's happening. Oh, the end, well, let me just say that I thought O'Bannon was brilliant with the ending he gave us. The saying "It only gets worse until it gets better" comes to mind, but I'm not going to elaborate much more. It just wasn't your typical ending which I really liked. And it leaves a whole lot more that's going to happen in the second Dream War book. I can't wait for the next book! Until then, this book was definitely a good read!