Bookish Brews Snapshot
The Place Beyond Her Dreams by Oby Aligwekwe
Set against the backdrop of two warring towns, Oby Aligwekwe's Young Adult debut-told from the viewpoint of her main character-is inspired by her West African heritage, fables, and spiritual beliefs. Ona's journey reveals the power of choice, the true source of happiness, and, most importantly, the transformation one must go through to realize and eventually occupy their purpose.
- Genre: Fantasy
Book Review
Surreal, dreamy, fast-paced, magic, promising
The Place Beyond Her Dreams is a promising book about a young girl who’s family takes in a young house boy and raise him as their own. Along the way, her grandfather dies unexpectedly, they fall in love, and a love triangle surfaces, and amidst it all, she realizes she has powers to travel to a magical realm while she sleeps.
It has all the makings of a book that I like: magical realism, love triangles, fast paced, dream-like story telling. A fantasy set in Africa? Fantastic! Amazing! Beautiful! STUNNING! The writing was written with a fun prose that felt like a reminiscent memory, so it appealed to older readers too. I loved that tactic! Honestly, I really enjoyed reading it.
The author seemed to have put a lot of care into each character, and by keeping the dreamy prose it separated you a touch from some of the harsh moments, while still keeping close just enough to like the characters. I didn’t realize there was going to be some intense moments, as it starts out with the MC a young girl. But overall I enjoyed it quite a bit!
The Place Beyond Her Dreams feels like a wonderful dream, and the story absolutely matched in a great way. The story was a bit rougher than I expected, but I did still really enjoy the story and the prose. I especially loved Luenah, and wish we dove into it more, but I was satisfied with it regardless.
