C.S. Friedman leaves her traditional realm of dark fantasy for a young adult novel that encompasses elements of both fantasy and science fiction with DREAMWALKER.

Jessica Drake has strange dreams. She shares them only with her younger brother, Tommy, a video game fiend who uses details from her dreams to create modules for his online games. Jessica has more disturbing information to deal with when her paternity test shows that her DNA doesn't match that of either of her parents. She and Tommy snoop around online and find a group of people with the same issues; they call them changelings. Jessica meets with two of them, Rita and Devon, who share with her that many of the group have been dying in seemingly unrelated ways, and they're afraid they will be the next targets. Jessica confides in her mothers, but before either of them can do anything, their house is set on fire, and Tommy goes missing.

Jessica traces her brother to an alternative reality, and where Friedman excels most in this novel, is in her world- building in this other world, known as Terra Prime. She explores the people, guilds, magic and geography of this other world in detail, leaving this reader at least, wanting even more. While science has a place in this novel such as how the gate works to transport people from one world to another, Friedman doesn't bog the story down with scientific explanations. While the bulk of the story is told from Jessica's point of view, we also hear from Tommy.

Unfortunately, while I really enjoyed the story, I never connected with the heroine. She was a bit too whiny for my personal taste and close-minded in that others might not agree with her beliefs. I also would have liked to know more about Jessica's dreamwalking ability, and I hope this will be explored in more depth in future installments. Lastly, I'd like to see more depth in the supporting cast: Rita and Devon, for example.

Friedman is a strong writer and able to tell a fast-moving, flowing story well, but in order to "love" a book, I need to connect better with the characters. I will read future books in Friedmans' Dreamwalker series.