Comatose by Tony Estrella #Comatose #RandomThingsTours #ProvidedForReview

When I first heard about Comatose by Tony Estrella my interested was immediately piqued.

Have you read the book blurb, intriguing right?

The exploration of lucid dreaming caught my attention because I can lucid dream. It wasn’t until my university years during a psychology class that I realised what it was and that not everyone can do it.

A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment; however, this is not actually necessary for a dream to be described as lucid. 

Wikipedia

So, I gladly picked up Comatose as soon as it arrived in the post.

Comatose by Tony Estrella was an interesting read. I don’t think I’ve read a sci-fi book quite like it. I’m not even sure I could adequately sum it up in a sentence or two. It was a busy book with a lot of characters and a lot of adventure, and well it had a lot going on… I think the story would work well as a TV series.

The plot follows a series of main characters and their experiences and journeys and experiences with sleep/comas/dreams. It is very hard to say much about the plot for fear of spoilers…but I was surprised by the twist in the direction of the story about a third of the way into the book. It certainly kept me reading and guessing.

But, although I did like the book and I did. I found it was a bit too heavy on the description and the start was quite slow, I lost a little motivation near the beginning for picking it back up. The writing was maybe a tad clunky in places. If I’m honest I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t fall head over heels in love with Comatose, because it has a lot of elements in a novel I love. I thought it was good, but not quite as great a read as I had hoped.

I keep coming back to the word – interesting. Tony Estrella excelled at writing a story that stands out. Memorable. It was good.

I received a copy of Comatose from the publisher via the blog tour organiser – Thank you!

BOOK BLURB:

Comatose follows the lives of four strangers who are trying to cheat death. On the surface, these people – a famous Hollywood director suffering from terminal brain cancer, a budding scientist in Artificial Intelligence whose honeymoon tragically ended with a freak plane accident, an angry orphan who lost her closest family to a tragic accident, and the leading medical expert in treating comatose patients – appear to have nothing in common.

However, once they independently uncover a link between lucid dreaming and comas, their lives start to intersect. They uncover astounding opportunities to ease individual suffering and pain as they crisscross different time periods and distant locations in their odysseys. The competing factions careen forward into a life-threatening race for survival and supremacy, ultimately leading to an exciting conclusion that explains why we really dream.

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TONY ESTRELLA has worked in Asia, the US, and Europe as health startup founder & investor, corporate innovation leader, and strategic advisor. Tony is a regular speaker and panelist at industry conferences around the world. During his talks, he provides insights as a serial healthcare entrepreneur and a corporate executive. Comatose, his first novel was selected as a Semi-Finalist by the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative writing competition. Tony is an alumnus of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (MBA), London Business School, and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (Electrical Engineering). Tony currently resides in Singapore with his wife and daughter.