Dreamstrider

Gr 9 Up—Livia has the unique ability to inhabit other people's bodies. She was born a tunneler, the lowest class in the Barstadt Empire, and laments that "I always dreamed too big, too bright, too much." The Professor she cleans for recognizes her unique dreaming ability and teaches her to dreamstride. While her body is asleep, she can inhabit another person's sleeping body, hijack their memories, and impersonate them for short periods of time. She is hired by the Emperor's secret police to work as an operative with his spy network. While dreamstriding in the shared dreamworld of Oneiros, she uncovers information about a plot by a neighboring nation to invade Barstadt. If she succeeds in stopping the invasion, she'll get her citizenship papers and earn her freedom. Dreamstriding is very dangerous because if she can't get back into her body in time, she'll be lost in Oneiros's Nightmare Wastes. The Barstadt Empire's very distinct social stratification is well developed, as are all the characters, with the villains being particularly intriguing. Gender diversity is organically worked into the text, and several of the main characters are gay or bisexual. Livia's a very appealing protagonist. Her self-doubt about her abilities, struggle to overcome her low social class, love for a man she can't have, and desire to find the strength to resist the Nightmare Wastes and embrace her destiny will engage readers and leave them rooting for her to succeed.