Dreamhunter Duet

Dreamhunter (2005) and Dreamquake (2007) are two New Zealand fantasy novels, written by New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox. The former title was nominated for Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2006.

Synopsis

Southland is an alternate universe Edwardian version of New Zealand, albeit one without its indigenous Maori inhabitants. Instead, Southland boasts an other-dimensional realm entitled "the Place," in which those able to do so can 'capture' dreams that are bound to particular areas of Place geography, which exist within specific bands. As a result of the discovery of guided dreaming, a dreamhunter industry has been created. Professional dreamhunters occupy a social niche comparable to artists and authors in our own world, and one of the most imposing structures in Founderston, Southland's capital, is the "Rainbow Opera," in which virtuoso dreamhunters perform before the nation's elite. Grace and Tziga Tiebold are particularly potent dreamhunters, although their daughter Laura lacks their talent, while niece Rose does possess it. Each year, scores of teenagers attempt to become dreamhunters in a rite of passage, but few achieve interdimensional transit to the Place. Within the confines of the Place, it is possible to construct golems, as Tziga and Rose do. In the second novel, it transpires that these golems have an unheralded but ingenious relationship to the Place's very existence.

Southland was settled by Elprus, which was an Aegean island obliterated by volcanic activity in the eighteenth century. For that reason, many of its inhabitants follow a "Southern Orthodox Church" which regards the practice of dreamhunting as immoral and unethical. Southland's republican government begs to differ, as its unscrupulous Minister of the Interior, Cas Dorian, was the architect of the Intangible Resources Act 1896, and is planning a coup d'etat which will exploit dreamhunter capabilities to provide manipulated consent to his anticipated authoritarian rule.

Bibliography

• Elizabeth Knox: Dreamhunter: Sydney: Fourth Estate: 2005: ISBN 0732281938

• Elizabeth Knox: Dreamquake: Sydney: Fourth Estate: 2007: ISBN 0732281946