Dealing in Dreams

by Lilliam Rivera

The Outsiders meets Mad Max: Fury Road in this fast-paced dystopian novel about sisterhood and the cruel choices people are forced to make in order to survive.

At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets.

Sixteen-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throwdowns and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but Nala quickly grows weary of her questionable lifestyle. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega Towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search of the mysterious gang the Ashé Riders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles crews and her own doubts but the closer she gets to her goal the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone—she cares about.

Nalah must choose whether or not she’s willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. Can she discover that home is not where you live but whom you chose to protect before she loses the family she’s created for good?

• ISBN10: 1481472143
• ISBN13: 9781481472142
• Publish Date: 5 March 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

This is the story of having a dream and what it takes to get them and at what cost are you willing to get this dream. The heart of this story is Mega City and the all-inclusive only for the best towers. The story centers around a matriarchal society led by all female gangs. Men are considered to be a secondary citizen who does all the grunt work in the city. At the age of seven young girls are sent to training camps to become soldiers in gangs that consist of 5 girl members. Their also the underlying issue of the addiction of drugs that is basically the money to get you what you want. The pills leave you in a dreamlike state so your more easily manipulated into believing this is the best there is.

Our main gang is run by Nalah who has a dream and that dream is to live in the towers. Where life is so much better than struggling on the streets of Mega-City. She is tasked with finding out about the Ashe Ryder’s who live in the next city over. That city is believed to be the dirty underbelly where those who have been shunned from Mega City go to live.

This story is dark at times, has a lot of action going on as Nalah battles with other gangs on her mission. She learns that what she always been taught, that what she knows about her family and even about her self is far from the truth. This is a dystopian, sci-fi story with heart and I highly recommend it.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

This started off... well, it was weird, okay? I hadn't a clue what was happening, where/when we were, or what the point even was. I won't lie, I almost quit. I tell you this so that I can also yell "don't give up!", because it gets so much better! This is one of those books that makes me never trust myself because had I given up, I feel like I would have missed a genuinely awesome story, just because I was a little frustrated by the beginning. And to be totally honest, I think my frustrations were on me more than the book? Like- I wanted answers, but maybe I hadn't earned them yet, you know?

The story follows Las Mal Criadas, a girl gang, and more specifically, their leader Nalah (aka, Chief Rocka). I love her. She is such a grumpy old man. "Get off my lawn", I imagine her yelling.  But it works, because all the girls have these strong personalities, and particular strengths that make the group cohesive. And Nalah being the consummate cynic is part of her role. She (and the others) grow so much during the story. Their bonds are tested, their allegiances questioned, their loyalty challenged.

"By what exactly?", you may be asking. And okay, this is the part that confused me when I started. There's a leader, Déesse, and she seems to be the motivating factor for Nalah. Oh and by the by, men mean nothing in this world. It's an interesting dynamic that is explored further. Anyway, as you can imagine, there's more than meets the eye to Déesse, which is easy for the reader to see, but less so for Nalah, who's been idolizing her for ages. There's an absurd gap between the elite and the masses (sound familiar?) and Nalah yearns to earn her place as an elite.

But she has a lot of journeying to do. Both in the literal and figurative sense, as Déesse sends Las Mal Criadas on a pretty harrowing mission. They cross some rough terrain with some even rougher adversaries facing them, and the whole thing becomes quite an adventure. One that you will not want to miss.

Bottom Line: After a slow/confusing start, I fell completely in love. And actually, can we maybe have a sequel please and thank you?