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The Seven Sleepers #9
Escape with the Dream Maker
Something strange and terrible has been happening in Nuworld. Some of God's most trusted servants have disappeared- simply vanished! With only a list of the missing persons and a secret password, God has sent the Seven Sleepers on another "Find My servants and bring them back, but be very careful. You might be one of the next to disappear." That could never happen, of course.
Josh, Sarah, Dave, and the others know God too well to be tricked by one of His enemies... Or do they? What starts out as a harmless game--a stress reliever--could be the end of the Sleepers, and the end of all of God's servants. Come along as Josh Adams and his friends learn a few unexpected lessons about deception and addiction, and a lot about themselves. Join the Seven Sleepers on their most dangerous mission yet!
Josh, Sarah, Dave, and the others know God too well to be tricked by one of His enemies... Or do they? What starts out as a harmless game--a stress reliever--could be the end of the Sleepers, and the end of all of God's servants. Come along as Josh Adams and his friends learn a few unexpected lessons about deception and addiction, and a lot about themselves. Join the Seven Sleepers on their most dangerous mission yet!
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 1997
1 person is currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Gilbert L. Morris
23 books24 followersalso publishes under the name Gilbert Morris
Gilbert Morris is one of today's best-known Christian novelists. He lives in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with his wife, Johnnie. He is the father to Lynn Morris and Alan Morris
Gilbert Morris is one of today's best-known Christian novelists. He lives in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with his wife, Johnnie. He is the father to Lynn Morris and Alan Morris
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 7, 2024
Thirteen years before Christopher Nolan made the film Inception, Gilbert Morris wrote basically the same concept in Escape with the Dream Maker, the penultimate installment in The Seven Sleepers series. Surprisingly, Morris does a fine job with this book, and I can honestly say I enjoyed and appreciate it more than I have any other book in the series (with only a few objections here and there).
As spiritual leader Goél continues assembling his followers for his pending battle with the Dark Lord Necros, he gives the Seven Sleepers an especially difficult challenge: they must go to the prison town of Acton and seek out a group of Goél’s followers who have mysteriously vanished. When the Sleepers split up and begin scouting the town for clues, they are shocked to discover that their contact, an eccentric inventor named Oliver, has created a fantastic machine known as the Dream Maker, which allows people to virtually experience fictional scenarios for as long as they wish. Josh Adams is immediately entranced by the idea and convinces the other Sleepers to join him in traveling to parallel universes, but Wash Jones must stand alone as the voice of reason as the Sleepers are pulled, one by one, into a world of addiction and mindlessness.
Escape with the Dream Maker is notable for several reasons. It’s character-driven rather than plot driven, and for the first time, we get a meaningful look into the personalities, desires, and relationships of the Seven Sleepers (yeah, it’s the penultimate book, but at least it happens). While we have only the barest shreds of backstories for our teen heroes, we do get to see the weariness that plagues them after so many arduous adventures, as well as a different kind of mission that requires them to look deep into their own flaws. Several plot elements — building tension for the big battle in The Final Kingdom, the Sleepers being weaker when isolated, Wash getting a chance to be the sole voice of reason for once — work really well to make this story different from the formulaic, adventure-of-the-week kind of material we’ve had since The Gates of Neptune.
Escape with the Dream Maker is far more science-fiction than fantasy, and while all the technological advancements feel out-of-place and oversimplified, it’s nice to have a change of pace. As always, Morris struggles with making his worldbuilding make sense, as the technological marvels Oliver makes (akin to modern virtual reality technology) bring in the possibilities of parallel universes and interdimensional travel that feel out of place for Nuworld, where the most advanced societies still use swords and paper messages. Morris also doggedly refuses to explain a single bit of his discrepancies: at one point, Oliver literally says, “You want scientific explanations, but I can’t give you any,” which Morris must have kept taped above his Word Processor when writing this series.
What makes Escape with the Dream Maker fun is the way we get to see the Sleepers living in their ideal worlds, complete with pop culture references and Easter eggs. We also get a bit of maturity and development with our two love stories — Josh and Sarah, and Dave and Abbey — though of course it’s the former that tugs at the heartstrings a little more.
Of course, this is The Seven Sleepers, so we have to have some unfortunate elements. Despite the fact that the final battle is looming, we still have yet to see the Dark Lord Necros appear for more than a scene at a time (he does not appear in Escape with the Dream Maker at all, and Chief Interrogator Elmas gets his first mention since Winged Raiders of the Desert). Morris’ mystery is a little on the obvious side as usual, and he doesn’t make full use of his interesting concepts. He forgets the rules of the Dream Maker by having two NPCs in Jake’s dream interact apart from the guy who is actually dreaming, which has some insane implications if it wasn’t accidental. There’s also a major loss of momentum once the Sleepers begin going into each other’s dreams on rescue missions, as the rescues all feel largely the same after awhile, and the story ends very abruptly with only a three-page chapter of resolution. And, of course, we have the constant romanticization of the Confederate South, which is glorified in not one but two of the Sleepers’ ideal worlds! (Morris, what are you thinking, man. Addressing the fact that there was racism doesn’t make it okay to brush it aside so your self-insert Southern boy can fight beside Jeb Stuart.)
Nevertheless, Morris does a really nice job tying together all the morals of the story, much like a cautionary sci-fi episode of The Twilight Zone would. Goél’s prominent appearance at the beginning is lovely, as is the fact that we finally get confirmation that he is not just an allegory but the Nuworld incarnation of Jesus Christ (like Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia). The Dream Maker is obviously a metaphor for drugs and addiction, and Morris makes an interesting point by having Wash be afraid of his own “addictive personality” — something that is a great quality to have kids be aware of. We have warnings about the dangers of playing with a harmful pleasure even in moderation, the difficulty of withstanding peer pressure (especially from an adult!), and the great example of Wash with staying true to the course with humility and patience. On a really interesting note, the advanced, immersive Dream Maker technology is, of course, just a metaphor for an addictive trap, but these days, it’s not even a metaphor anymore: with the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology, Morris’ warnings are a lot more literal for the kids of today.
Escape with the Dream Maker, of course, is riddled with Morris’ usual discontinuities with his previous The Seven Sleepers books, including but not limited to:
• Sarah is now fifteen years old after turning sixteen in Attack of the Amazons. She is also described multiple times as being one year younger than Josh, despite the fact that they have been the same age the entire series.
• Wash is back to being the youngest member of the Sleepers after being aged up a year (the same age as Jake and Abbey) in Voyage of the Dolphin.
• Sarah now has reddish hints in her hair, though it has been described as “very black” in every other book and also this one.
• Josh’s dad is described as the inventor of the Sleepers’ capsule technology, which was established in Flight of the Eagles but contradicted in Attack of the Amazons.
• Abbey (as well as Jake, presumably) has lost her excellent ability to cook that she demonstrated in Empress of the Underworld.
• Wash’s favorite soda is now Diet Coke and Pepsi after eight books in which he declared his love for “moon pies and Dr Pepper”.
• Maybe not an inconsistency so much as an observation, but Reb has lost most of the Arkansas flavor to his accent, which is unfortunate.
Morris packs a lot into Escape with the Dream Maker — the ethics of messing with time and space, the 1990s fears about what the Internet would become, even a meta joke about his own book series — and even though it’s simplistic and preachy as always, it probably represents Morris’ best writing in the entire series, if only because he’s finally letting us have a reason to care about our characters and building tension for the epic finale that has been mounting for nine books now.
As spiritual leader Goél continues assembling his followers for his pending battle with the Dark Lord Necros, he gives the Seven Sleepers an especially difficult challenge: they must go to the prison town of Acton and seek out a group of Goél’s followers who have mysteriously vanished. When the Sleepers split up and begin scouting the town for clues, they are shocked to discover that their contact, an eccentric inventor named Oliver, has created a fantastic machine known as the Dream Maker, which allows people to virtually experience fictional scenarios for as long as they wish. Josh Adams is immediately entranced by the idea and convinces the other Sleepers to join him in traveling to parallel universes, but Wash Jones must stand alone as the voice of reason as the Sleepers are pulled, one by one, into a world of addiction and mindlessness.
Escape with the Dream Maker is notable for several reasons. It’s character-driven rather than plot driven, and for the first time, we get a meaningful look into the personalities, desires, and relationships of the Seven Sleepers (yeah, it’s the penultimate book, but at least it happens). While we have only the barest shreds of backstories for our teen heroes, we do get to see the weariness that plagues them after so many arduous adventures, as well as a different kind of mission that requires them to look deep into their own flaws. Several plot elements — building tension for the big battle in The Final Kingdom, the Sleepers being weaker when isolated, Wash getting a chance to be the sole voice of reason for once — work really well to make this story different from the formulaic, adventure-of-the-week kind of material we’ve had since The Gates of Neptune.
Escape with the Dream Maker is far more science-fiction than fantasy, and while all the technological advancements feel out-of-place and oversimplified, it’s nice to have a change of pace. As always, Morris struggles with making his worldbuilding make sense, as the technological marvels Oliver makes (akin to modern virtual reality technology) bring in the possibilities of parallel universes and interdimensional travel that feel out of place for Nuworld, where the most advanced societies still use swords and paper messages. Morris also doggedly refuses to explain a single bit of his discrepancies: at one point, Oliver literally says, “You want scientific explanations, but I can’t give you any,” which Morris must have kept taped above his Word Processor when writing this series.
What makes Escape with the Dream Maker fun is the way we get to see the Sleepers living in their ideal worlds, complete with pop culture references and Easter eggs. We also get a bit of maturity and development with our two love stories — Josh and Sarah, and Dave and Abbey — though of course it’s the former that tugs at the heartstrings a little more.
Of course, this is The Seven Sleepers, so we have to have some unfortunate elements. Despite the fact that the final battle is looming, we still have yet to see the Dark Lord Necros appear for more than a scene at a time (he does not appear in Escape with the Dream Maker at all, and Chief Interrogator Elmas gets his first mention since Winged Raiders of the Desert). Morris’ mystery is a little on the obvious side as usual, and he doesn’t make full use of his interesting concepts. He forgets the rules of the Dream Maker by having two NPCs in Jake’s dream interact apart from the guy who is actually dreaming, which has some insane implications if it wasn’t accidental. There’s also a major loss of momentum once the Sleepers begin going into each other’s dreams on rescue missions, as the rescues all feel largely the same after awhile, and the story ends very abruptly with only a three-page chapter of resolution. And, of course, we have the constant romanticization of the Confederate South, which is glorified in not one but two of the Sleepers’ ideal worlds! (Morris, what are you thinking, man. Addressing the fact that there was racism doesn’t make it okay to brush it aside so your self-insert Southern boy can fight beside Jeb Stuart.)
Nevertheless, Morris does a really nice job tying together all the morals of the story, much like a cautionary sci-fi episode of The Twilight Zone would. Goél’s prominent appearance at the beginning is lovely, as is the fact that we finally get confirmation that he is not just an allegory but the Nuworld incarnation of Jesus Christ (like Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia). The Dream Maker is obviously a metaphor for drugs and addiction, and Morris makes an interesting point by having Wash be afraid of his own “addictive personality” — something that is a great quality to have kids be aware of. We have warnings about the dangers of playing with a harmful pleasure even in moderation, the difficulty of withstanding peer pressure (especially from an adult!), and the great example of Wash with staying true to the course with humility and patience. On a really interesting note, the advanced, immersive Dream Maker technology is, of course, just a metaphor for an addictive trap, but these days, it’s not even a metaphor anymore: with the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology, Morris’ warnings are a lot more literal for the kids of today.
Escape with the Dream Maker, of course, is riddled with Morris’ usual discontinuities with his previous The Seven Sleepers books, including but not limited to:
• Sarah is now fifteen years old after turning sixteen in Attack of the Amazons. She is also described multiple times as being one year younger than Josh, despite the fact that they have been the same age the entire series.
• Wash is back to being the youngest member of the Sleepers after being aged up a year (the same age as Jake and Abbey) in Voyage of the Dolphin.
• Sarah now has reddish hints in her hair, though it has been described as “very black” in every other book and also this one.
• Josh’s dad is described as the inventor of the Sleepers’ capsule technology, which was established in Flight of the Eagles but contradicted in Attack of the Amazons.
• Abbey (as well as Jake, presumably) has lost her excellent ability to cook that she demonstrated in Empress of the Underworld.
• Wash’s favorite soda is now Diet Coke and Pepsi after eight books in which he declared his love for “moon pies and Dr Pepper”.
• Maybe not an inconsistency so much as an observation, but Reb has lost most of the Arkansas flavor to his accent, which is unfortunate.
Morris packs a lot into Escape with the Dream Maker — the ethics of messing with time and space, the 1990s fears about what the Internet would become, even a meta joke about his own book series — and even though it’s simplistic and preachy as always, it probably represents Morris’ best writing in the entire series, if only because he’s finally letting us have a reason to care about our characters and building tension for the epic finale that has been mounting for nine books now.
January 10, 2022
This was surprisingly not as bad as the last few have been. Yes, the entire thing feels like a cop giving you a D.A.R.E. class, but if you get past that there are at least a couple of interesting morsels inside.
The bit where Wash talks about having an addictive personality, and how focusing your life 100% on one single thing might not be great, even for someone like an Olympic athlete, is something worth thinking about.
Another interesting moment is when Oliver is trying to convince Josh about the parallel universe. He primes Josh by talking about science fiction and how we suspend disbelief when we're reading scifi where the author presents some future tech. Then he ties his own claims (the parallel universe) with scifi by saying “Those fellows who write science fiction talk about what’s called a parallel universe.”. Then he uses the "you just have to believe it without an explanation" argument to convince Josh it's real. But this is a bad, disingenuous argument -- we suspend disbelief when reading scifi because we know it's scifi, and we're willing to gloss over the details because it would get in the way of the story. But Oliver's claim is about the real world, not a story, and as soon as that's the case you no longer get to hide behind the "don't bother trying to explain it" of fiction. Unfortunately Josh is still just a kid and doesn't see the trick, and ends up falling for it. But it's interesting for the reader to watch the treachery unfold.
The bit where Wash talks about having an addictive personality, and how focusing your life 100% on one single thing might not be great, even for someone like an Olympic athlete, is something worth thinking about.
Another interesting moment is when Oliver is trying to convince Josh about the parallel universe. He primes Josh by talking about science fiction and how we suspend disbelief when we're reading scifi where the author presents some future tech. Then he ties his own claims (the parallel universe) with scifi by saying “Those fellows who write science fiction talk about what’s called a parallel universe.”. Then he uses the "you just have to believe it without an explanation" argument to convince Josh it's real. But this is a bad, disingenuous argument -- we suspend disbelief when reading scifi because we know it's scifi, and we're willing to gloss over the details because it would get in the way of the story. But Oliver's claim is about the real world, not a story, and as soon as that's the case you no longer get to hide behind the "don't bother trying to explain it" of fiction. Unfortunately Josh is still just a kid and doesn't see the trick, and ends up falling for it. But it's interesting for the reader to watch the treachery unfold.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2025
WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!
Soo, it was good. I know Gilbert Morris has really gotten in rough from me, but to be fair, he wrote rough books. However, this one was slightly more capturing than his other ones, and he had a really good concept.
Bad thing is, it was as predictable as his other books. I knew they were going to get out of every trap just fine, and I knew exactly how it was going to happen.
The racists Wash comments have continued (it wasn't racist in 1997) and he still is awesome. Jake and Wash continue to get little character development.
All in all, this was a much better book and he seems to be climbing back on board for these last books. I still don't recommend them, because I won't recommend eating mud, no matter how good, to my friends.
Finish it strong Morris, because you did good with book 9.
Soo, it was good. I know Gilbert Morris has really gotten in rough from me, but to be fair, he wrote rough books. However, this one was slightly more capturing than his other ones, and he had a really good concept.
Bad thing is, it was as predictable as his other books. I knew they were going to get out of every trap just fine, and I knew exactly how it was going to happen.
The racists Wash comments have continued (it wasn't racist in 1997) and he still is awesome. Jake and Wash continue to get little character development.
All in all, this was a much better book and he seems to be climbing back on board for these last books. I still don't recommend them, because I won't recommend eating mud, no matter how good, to my friends.
Finish it strong Morris, because you did good with book 9.
June 23, 2021
I found this book lacking an overarching plot compared to other books in this series. I don't mind the predictability of these books, given they are children's books, but this one felt like lazier writing than usual.
There was the exposition, the conflict, then each protagonist got a chapter to resolve their conflict, and then it ended rather abruptly. I would be hard pressed to say what the climax of the plot was.
It also slightly irks me that there are continuity issues when the plots of this series are so simple. Abbey said she was 16 at the end of the last book, and in this book, she was introduced as being 15.
I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. 3 stars.
There was the exposition, the conflict, then each protagonist got a chapter to resolve their conflict, and then it ended rather abruptly. I would be hard pressed to say what the climax of the plot was.
It also slightly irks me that there are continuity issues when the plots of this series are so simple. Abbey said she was 16 at the end of the last book, and in this book, she was introduced as being 15.
I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. 3 stars.
July 16, 2021
This was definitely the best of the series, as usual the author doesn’t spend enough time developing the story. The twist and turns in this book were unpredictable and it was a great read.
July 20, 2021
This book was very enjoyable. It is possibly the best so far in the series.
April 7, 2022
It was good, but not as compelling as the others.
July 9, 2012
I liked it, especially going into each "dream-world" while they rescued each Sleeper...it was fun to see what each person's "paradise" would be, but I felt like some of the story substance was lost since they were mostly all apart for this story.
July 6, 2008
This series is great if you're a parent and you want to train your children to love long fantasy series.
As an adult, it's kind of stupid. Still, it entertained me as a child.
As an adult, it's kind of stupid. Still, it entertained me as a child.
October 29, 2008
This was my least favorite of the Seven Sleepers series, probably because it was abstract versus the concrete action of the others in the series.
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April 27, 2010F MOR ss bk.9
October 1, 2021
So this one starts slow but then you get insight into each Sleeper, even if it gets a little formulaic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews