"Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams" by Devin Grayson

            The following is a review of the PROSE NOVEL “Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams” by Devin Grayson. It does NOT involve the FEATURE FILMS “Doctor Strange” NOR “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

            Thousands of years ago, the alien race the Kree went from world to world to experiment on civilizations. They travelled to Earth in their expeditions. They took early human civilizations and experimented on humans in an attempt to create a race of super-beings. The Kree felt their experiments were a failure and left the Earth and their attempted super-beings behind. What they didn’t know was that if any person with the genetic markings the Kree created were exposed to the rare chemical Terrigen, therefore enacting the Terrigenesis process, that human would be granted para-human abilities. This community continued through the centuries, calling themselves the “Inhumans.”

            There exists a world outside the human world of consciousness called “the Dream Dimension,” that one may enter upon going to sleep.

            There also exists a variety of realms of dreams. Upon entering a dream, the dreamer is sent to one of those realms and visits this realm during their sleep. The realms are separated, but all connect at the Pathways, the center point of the Dream Dimension.

            Each realm is guarded over by a single entity known as “the Dream Sovereign.”

            One Dream Sovereign is the malevolent demon Nightmare, Dream Sovereign of the Realm of Nightmares.

            Doctor Stephen Strange was a world-renowned neurosurgeon. One night, he was involved in a car accident. He was badly injured, and the nerve endings in his hands were severed. He was told he would never hold a scalpel again, and just like that, his career was over. Stephen did not want to accept this. He sought out nonconventional forms of treatment, hoping for positive results, but they all failed. He found his way to Tibet and came upon the Monastery of a long-lived wizard, the Ancient One. Stephen studied magic under the Ancient One, and went on to become the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, the first line of defense again magical and mystical forces that threaten to invade reality. His base is 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York, in his Sanctum Sanctorum, where he lives with his assistant Wong, and has been entrusted with many magical artifacts.

            One of Stephen’s greatest enemies is Nightmare. Nightmare has made many attempts to escape the Realm of Nightmares and enter Earth, sometimes successfully, but each time Nightmare was defeated and repelled by Doctor Strange.

            The greatest source of Terrigen crystals was located in the Inhuman City of Attilan. Black Bolt was king of this Inhuman community. Earth was attacked by alien forces, and Black Bolt thought the best way to defend the Earth was the release of the Terrigen Bomb. This explosion sent Terrigen Mists out all across the world, catalyzing Terrigenesis in any person with Inhuman genetic makeup.

            Jane Bailey was exposed to the Terrigen Mists and underwent Terrigenesis, granted the Inhuman power to consciously access and influence the Dream Dimension.

            Jane Bailey’s transformation rattled the Pathways, destabilizing the entire Dream Dimension, causing an all-out war between the Dream Sovereigns. The Dream Sovereign Numinous grew the ambition to rule the entire Dream Dimension herself, and therefore control every dream, going as far as dethrone Nightmare as Dream Sovereign of the Realm of Nightmares.

            Doctor Sharanya Misra works for the Baxter Foundation as a research scientist. Her latest study was on the metacognition in lucid dreaming on the criminally insane. Her study went sideways, and the name Doctor Stephen Strange came out of several of the patients. Sharanya did not believe in magic at all, but her research (and mother) sent Sharanya to seek out Doctor Strange at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York.

            Nightmare arrived in the Sanctum Sanctorum to warn of Numinous’ attempt of a hostile takeover of the Dream Dimension and to plead for Stephen’s help. Stephen agreed, and he, Nightmare, Sharanya, and Jane all entered the Dream Dimension to stop Numinous and restore the Pathways and return order to the Dream Dimension.

            I have to say, in my honest opinion, I read the first Prologue and was not immediately wowed. In Grayson’s defense, it started in the Dream Dimension with a new character, so it was hard to immediately establish judgement. Grayson divided the novel into three Books, and I wasn’t at all really thrilled until Book II. The setup for the direction of the novel seemed dull, slow, and even a little boring to me. But when Nightmare arrived in Chapter VII, I felt the narrative truly picked up, but when the main characters entered the Dream Dimension, I was hooked. It was actually compelling to me. I never really thought of classifying different types of dreams, so it gave me a lot to think about. The concept of the Pathways and Dream Sovereigns felt brilliant to me. But there were certain aspects of the writing style I thought lacking. I felt like there really was little humor in the novel. In some novels, humor really isn’t appropriate, the seriousness shouldn’t be interrupted with moments to make you laugh or even smile. In this case, I think Grayson could have improved the novel with a few jokes, or things to evoke laughs or smiles. There were a few points I smiled and a couple of scoffs, but I never found a point that caused me to truly laugh. Being a novel inspired by comic books, I kind of expected to laugh. That’s not to say, however, that the book wasn’t fun for me to read. I found the read to be primarily enjoyable. I also found it to be an easy read which I felt, in this case, was a good thing. I didn’t find too much unnecessary content. There were things here and there that in the grand scheme seemed that didn’t need to be there, and there were a few areas that augmentation might help as well, but I found the balance there was about right. I also felt that Grayson utilized the characters properly and kept the true essences of the characters of Doctor Strange, Wong, and Nightmare from the original source material.

            As far as the accessibility of the book to readers who just read the review of this book because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films involving Doctor Strange and now are seriously considering reading this book, I think they would be able to fully comprehend this novel. I don’t feel like background knowledge is required to understand the book, so if you’re only reading this review because you like my work and read everything I write and are now interested in reading this book based on what I wrote, I don’t think you’d have a problem understanding the story. Having knowledge on Doctor Strange would benefit reading this book, no matter if you know Doctor Strange from reading the comics or just the films, but it really didn’t seem to me like prior knowledge is required to enjoy the novel.

I know it’s expected from me to give a numeric score of the content of the novel. I score on a scale of one to ten, one being the worst, ten being the best. Taking the entire book into consideration, taking in everything I just wrote, I score it at a seven.

            If you’re now considering reading this book based on everything you just read, I do recommend it. As I don’t feel like background knowledge is required, and knowing Doctor Strange only from the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t truly cause contradictions, I think it’s a good read, so if you want to read it, I say go for it.

            In summary, I thank you for taking the time to read this review. If you liked this piece, I write reviews on a regular basis. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English, I’m a certified journalist and I’m an aspiring novelist. I write short fiction, short nonfiction, and poetry, as well as essays, articles, and editorials. I’ve written dozens of pieces on this blog, so there’s plenty other content to see. If you are on social media, feel free to comment, like, share, retweet, whatever else you can do, that would be great. I appreciate all of your support. And until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!