From Booklist
Night Lives gathers some of Eisenstein's previously published mysterious fantasies, which vary in setting from the medieval backdrop of her stories about the minstrel Alaric to the purely dream worlds of other protagonists. Meanwhile, she is faithful to themes of the heart. In "The Island in the Lake," Alaric visits the Lake of Death, plays for both commoners and lords, and discovers a well-kept secret while using his talents to save the lord's son. "Nightlife" and "Wallpaper World" both treat of dreams made real. In the first, Jane falls in love with a dream named Jack, only to discover that he is a real man trapped in a coma; in the other, Edward's dreams of a woman he knows only from his bus ride to work turn out to have analogues in the waking world. The collection closer, "Sleeping Beauty," is a lovely, tragic take on the classic story. Fragile creations though they seem, Eisenstein's stories for the most part succeed admirably in opening windows on the unknown. Regina Schroeder
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