TEST
When I see Megan Hart’s name, I usually think erotic romance. After all, she does write them well. However, I knew going into Exit Light that this book would be a little different. It’s not erotic romance, but speculative fiction. And as it turns out, Megan Hart writes this genre well, too.
Tovah Connelly has survived both a traumatic accident and the breakup of her marriage. Since the accident, she’s discovered that in the dreamworld (Ephemeros), she can shape the world around her and it’s a creative skill she enjoys. She doesn’t want the responsibility of being a guide for others in dreams, but she does enjoy making and remaking her own world. It’s a degree of control she simply doesn’t have in her upended waking life.
Though Tovah leads a somewhat circumscribed life when awake, she does have friends in Ephemeros. Her friends have taught her many skills with regard to being a shaper, and urge her to act as a guide for others. She resists and this does create some tension for her. However, things are starting to become less than peaceful in Ephemeros, and Tovah and her friends find themselves swept into the chaos that results as someone more destructive starts shaping the dreamworld and effecting the dreams of many. Whether she likes it or not, Tovah may have to use her skills for more than simply play and escape from real life.
This book is very heroine-centric and Tovah is an interesting mix of strength and vulnerability. She has been through an ordeal that almost caused her to lose her life and her sanity, so, not surprisingly, she’s little rough around the edges. In addition to dealing with the connections between the waking and sleeping world, we see Tovah making friends and coming out into the world a bit more. Though not a romance, Tovah does have romantic interests of a sort both in the waking world and in Ephemeros. Seeing Tovah reconnect with the world and rediscover her strength was a pleasure.
Enjoyable too were some of the deeper themes underlying this story. The author devotes much time to exploring through her characters the link between dreams and the “real” world. On one level, I enjoyed seeing Tovah figure out the real world counterparts of her Ephemeros friends and I enjoyed reading about her Ephemeros adventures. On a deeper level, though, it was quite fascinating to see how things happening in Ephemeros had echoes in the waking world. These things do not always play out the way readers might expect, but it’s a very interesting journey.
In many ways, Exit Light reminded me of an updated and grown up version of the sci fi and horror YA novels I devoured as a kid. Though not horror exactly, this book does have a certain creepy and otherworldly quality about it that held my interest and kept me turning pages. Things did stall briefly in the middle for me, but I quickly got into the story again, and I hope Megan Hart writes more books in this vein.
Grade: B+
Book Type: Alternate Reality
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 13/07/10
Publication Date: 2010/06
I enjoy spending as much time as I can between the covers of a book, traveling through time and around the world. When I'm not having adventures with fictional characters, I'm an attorney in Virginia and I love just hanging out with my husband, little man, and the cat who rules our house.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.