Dungeons of Blood and Dream is without a doubt one of the coolest things that has been made in the last 10 years, and as a big fan I of course could not resist the allure of reading what Lori herself described as a "700 page lore dump" pertaining to it. I've actually had a similar experience before. After playing Westwood Studios' Circuit's Edge I eventually read Effinger's Budayeen Cycle. I love both to this day and I can't express how cool it is to read about a world that is fictional but which you have nonetheless been to before. I got to experience it again and remembered just how awesome it is. Even though the book and the game technically take place in two different layers of the world my experience of thoroughly exploring the game prior definitely infused and informed my reading experience. What was mentioned and what wasn't mentioned became its own little game of light and shadow, deepening the mystery. Much like in the game, the world of the book is very novel, borderline incomprehensible at first. But much like in the game, as you keep stacking your understanding, it eventually transforms itself. And the book presents an elegant explanation, that is almost too elegant. It's almost a whiplash when the book stops being cryptic and starts making perfect sense. I want to stress though that I'm not disappointed — I love all kinds of mysteries, those reliant on mystique and vagueposting and those with clever elegant explanations. And the world of Blood and Pis- I mean Dream certainly contains plenty of mystique. What is even more elegant are the lessons presented in the story. They're woven into the story very naturalistically without feeling heavy handed or clumsy. I actually don't have anything against moralizing, but it's still cool how light the touch of this book is, at least when it comes to presenting opinions. But it doesn't hold back when it comes to the rendering of its brutal world. There are a lot of grotesque things that could shock and offend here. It's the companion book to the game where you drink potions smelling of blood and piss after all. But I think the strength and the true edge of the book lie in how offensive, provocative, damning the themes and questions it asks can be. These are some truly uncomfortable questions. To even ask, to even hint at those questions requires an enormous amount of sincerity — a precious quality in art. It pleasantly reminded me of Degenesis and the works of Gene Wolfe. Original, raw and unflinching. Not afraid to be deeply uncomfortable to be real. And I think it succeeds even more when it comes to telling personal stories. This book does one of the most awesome things fiction can do — conjure the most wild, unlikely scenario and then imbue it with mystique and tangible specifics, satisfying particular rules of how it all works and fits together. If you value originality and unique worlds at all, this is a must read, there is nothing to even discuss here. If you like me value mystery and weirdness, pretty much the same applies. And to those who are only beguiled by the themes of the human condition and the horrors of power I can't promise this particular take will please them, but you certainly can do a lot worse than such genuine creative expression.