Tony Ballantyne weaves together a fantastical world in Dream London. Once you start reading. you are instantly transported to a land of make believe. Ballantyne creates a world where nothing is quite as it seems and the reader is simply along for the ride. The curiosity which Ballantyne inspires is unparalleled and he delivers with a crazy concoction of odd and quirk.
In Dream London the city changes a little every night and the people change a little every day. Captain Jim Wedderburn has looks, style and courage by the bucketful. He’s adored by women, respected by men and feared by his enemies. He’s the man to find out who has twisted London into this strange new world, and he knows it. But the towers are growing taller, the parks have hidden themselves away and the streets form themselves into strange new patterns. There are people sailing in from new lands down the river, new criminals emerging in the East End and a path spiralling down to another world. Everyone is changing, no one is who they seem to be, and Captain Jim Wedderburn is beginning to understand that he’s not the man he thought he was…
There are few books which are difficult to explain for good reasons but Dream London is one of them. Ballantyne infuses his writing with elements that are dreamlike which add to the allure. The most significant and well done of these is how Ballantyne is never vague but always mysterious. His prose feels like many a dream I had – I knew exactly where I was when I was experiencing it but all was still beautifully illogical. This combined with the overall theme of not analyzing but using instinct, truly made the book a good read.
Characters are like the world of Dream London – ever evolving. The main character was by far my favorite. Captain James Wedderburn is by all means a thug who doesn’t quite realize he’s a thug simply because he’s charismatic and attractive. This is even more interesting because Ballantyne shows us both how James feels about himself and how others feel. This allows us to see multiple sides of Wedderburn. The reason I loved him so much was because he seemed to be sincere about trying to be sincere yet everyone around him felt he was an arch manipulator. This contradiction was both enlightening and amusing to read.
There are many moment were I wondered if Ballantyne was living by the motto ‘ the devil is in the details’ for it was in this small examples of dreaming that made the world shine. Little things like little girls who didn’t act like it and seemed to be pulled from a father’s nightmare to Wedderburn’s unnatural loathing of accordions were well planned. There’s one bit where an ex of Wedderburn’s goes on about finding her true love in a paper fortune list she paid for. All of these small aspects start to be threaded throughout and one can never quite tell what will become important later on. I found that to be half the fun.
Dream London is a book which isn’t read but experienced. Ballantyne entrances the reader and makes you want to live in the moment. With a fair share of wit and delight, an adventure unfolds. I was both surprised and happy to find a feel good entertaining book in Dream London. Perhaps, if you let the dream lead, you will find a feel good book as well.
