by Nadine Brandes
publisher’s synopsis
Some viruses go after the body. But the Nightmare Virus goes after the mind.
When dream technology goes wrong, a virus spreads across the globe, trapping people in a universal dreamscape. They call it the Nightmare Virus.Cain Cross is determined to find a cure . . . if he can decipher his brother’s chicken-scratch formula notes. But when he gets infected, he has only 22 days until he’s trapped in the mental prison forever.
Now, every time he falls asleep, he must fight in a Nightmare Arena until he earns his freedom to live in the “new world” that exists only in the mind.Then he finds a way to manipulate the Nightmare—to change it by mere thought.
Forced to navigate a world of nightbeasts, mistblades, and half-truths, Cain turns his focus to survival. When the Emperor offers him a LifeSuPod—and access to a cure—in exchange for a dangerous favor, Cain thinks he’s found a way out. But Cain’s new power threatens to take him on paths that jeopardize his very soul.
Will he continue searching for a cure, or will he swear allegiance to the Nightmare? And the bigger question might be . . . will he even have a choice?
The Nightmare Virus is pitched as Gladiator meets Inception, and it fits those comp titles. From the very first chapter, The Nightmare Virus pulls you in, leaving you ready to find out what happens next. There were a couple instances where the passage of time in the Awake felt like it passed a little unrealistically, but those were likely because the plot needed to get back to the Nightmare.
Nadine doesn’t shy away from hard, tough topics and themes in The Nightmare Virus, yet all of them are dealt with carefully and with hope. Nadine’s own passions and loves are clear in the story.
It might be because I read The Nightmare Virus essentially in one sitting, but I was a little confused on how exactly some parts of the Nightmare worked from the storyworld science. Though, the story is more science-fantasy, so maybe the parts I’m confused about fall more under the fantasy umbrella. 😉
While the story of The Nightmare Virus takes place in darkness, it’s ultimately a story of how the Light will always triumph and can never be extinguished.
Cautions: moderate/heavy violence; brief, vague allusion to the possibility of a girl being taken advantage of
Hailey Huntington 
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