Dreams of the Dead
(The Waking: Book 1)
by Thomas Randall & Christopher Golden
Bloomsbury, 2009
276 Pages
Young Adult
At a boarding school in Japan, in the shadow of a mountain called the Bridge in the Heavens, students are being murdered. As a prelude, we watch as Akane, the first casualty, is kicked into the water by a gang of jealous girls and drowns after a popular boy expresses his love for her.
Then we meet Kara who is not only a new student, but the only gaigin, a foreigner, in her high school. She recently lost her mother in a car accident and has accompanied her father as he begins his first year as an English teacher at the Monju-no-Chie school on Miyazu Bay.
The cover promises a tension-filled horror in the tradition of The Ring (Ringu) or The Grudge (Ju-On), but other than the Japanese setting, there is little else in common. Deams of the Dead draws on the legend of a vengeful spirit from an obscure Noh play. (Noh is a traditional Japanese stage drama.)
The first thing Kara encounters at her new school is a shrine to Akane. There she witnesses the death of a stray cat that appears to instantly return from the dead as if possessed by some evil spirit. |
Kara finds new friends in the punk rebel Sakura, (the sister of the girl who was murdered,) and her roommate Miho. When Kara tries out some after-school clubs, she is teased at the Calligraphy meeting, but finds a home in the Noh club.
During most of the story we are waiting for the evil spirit to be revealed. Is it Akane’s spirit seeking vengeance from beyond the grave? Many of the students in the school are plagued with bad dreams and are suffering from a loss of sleep. Kara is afflicted as well, but not Miho. Kara wasn’t even in the country when the murder occurred. Why would she be the target of Akane’s revenge? And why is Akane’s sister Sakura having the same nightmares?
The horror is gentle, and there is a small taste of romance, but nothing steamy. The story stalls in the middle as we keep expecting a scary confrontation that doesn’t happen, but the saving grace is the smooth writing that keeps us moving deeper into the mystery and invested in the characters.
There are references to Japanese culture and many foreign words, but just enough to keep the reader immersed in a different world. In fact, the rendition of Japanese school life is detailed and believable, done with admirable grace. Not surprising given that Thomas Randall is a pseudonym of Christopher Golden (Hellboy).
Then, to step up the curse of bloody vengeance, the people having nightmares start committing suicide and Kara is stalked by the fiery-orange cat that she saw when she first arrived. Soon we discover that the victims, (Akane’s admirer and the entire clique of popular girls most likely to have committed her murder,) are drained of blood– one body covered in small bite marks. This reminds Miho of the Ketsuki myth, and the girls begin researching the Noh play that reveals its evil nature.
More shouting drifted in from the open window. Kara leaned against the glass, looking out at the teachers. Even at this distance, she saw the sudden change in their faces. Mr. Matsui actually screamed.
The ending is a blast of action, but the tone of the narrative changes. (The ending feels as if CGI animation has suddenly taken over a live-action movie, or Gene Kelly is suddenly dancing with a cartoon mouse.) Nonetheless, I do feel compelled to move beyond the warm-up and read the next novels in the series, as this nightmare delivered me into a shadowy world of sailor suits, manga, and vengeful spirits.
The cat demon Kyuketsuki curses the three girls at the very end, providing the perfect set up for the continuation of the series. In the next book, Spirits of the Noh, Kara, Sakura, and Miho face the Hannya, a snake demon who inhabits the body of a beautiful woman. Then, in A Winter of Ghosts, the Yuki-onna manifests, delving deep within the rich cultural traditions of Japanese spirits and demons to threaten our peaceful sleep.
