"Master of Dreams" by Alexey Pekhov, Elena Bychkova, and Natalia Turchaninova, summary

"The Dream Master" is a 2014 novel that opens a four-book series of the same name. The story takes place in a near-future world where genetic engineering extends lifespans and a hyperloop connects cities in a matter of hours. The central feature of this world is the existence of people who can consciously enter other people’s dreams and influence them: to heal, inspire, predict the future, or cause harm. These people are called dreamers. The book was co-written by three authors — Alexey Pekhov, Elena Bychkova, and Natalia Turchaninova, who have long collaborated.

Returning home

Epic dreamer Matt returns to a small provincial town after a ten-year absence. The house where he spent his student years belonged to his teacher, Felix — also a dreamer — who died in his sleep ten years ago. For Matt, it’s more than just a home: the house exists in two worlds simultaneously, and only in it can he truly sleep and work. All this time, he’s been deprived of proper sleep.

On the very first evening, it becomes clear that someone has been in the house. Behind the mirror — the portal to Felix’s mirrored study — Matt discovers a young girl named Helena, or Hal. She accidentally wandered into the house at night, entered the mirror, and spent several days locked in the mirrored room, unable to escape. Exhausted and hungry, Matt leads her out, feeds her, and gives her a place to stay for the night.

Student

On their very first night, Matt and Hal find themselves in the same dream. Hal plays a trap involving faceless creatures, unaware of what she’s doing. This becomes the final confirmation for Matt: Hal is a daemos, a creator of nightmares, a "black houri," a rare and dangerous type of dark dreamer. Such a gift, without training, can destroy both the bearer and those around her.

Matt accepts her as a student. The first lessons begin immediately: he teaches Hal how to dream lucidly, how to be unafraid of other people’s spaces, and how to understand the laws of the dream world. The girl grasps everything quickly, although her self-confidence occasionally overwhelms her caution.

Eison

The first clients are Lydia and Simon, the parents of sixteen-year-old Aison. The boy suffers from a "split mind." Another dreamer tried to treat him, but the patient fell into a coma and hasn’t woken up for a month. Matt immediately warns: he will act in Aison’s best interests — even if he chooses to die rather than return to his body. The parents leave shocked, but Simon returns and agrees.

Matt takes a button from the boy’s clothing — the only "beacon" he needs — and, together with Hal, enters the patient’s dream. It reveals a dark, distorted city with lantern bugs, creaking chariots, and ruins. Matt appears as a killer with a tattoo of Atropa’s knife, Hal as a priestess of the goddess Ata. Ason’s dream is littered with symbols of death and destruction: dead fish, withered trees, white seaweed-like hands. Matt brings Ason out of the nightmare, and he comes to. Simon thanks the dreamer: as payment, he promises to fix the house’s aging wiring.

Visit to Pyatiglav

Matt travels to Polis, the metropolis home to the Five Heads, the central governing body of the Dreamers. There, he is greeted with suspicion: the appearance of a Deimos has alarmed the entire council. Matt is given official status and a warning: his and his apprentice’s activities will be monitored.

Meanwhile, a group of young people — Aster and his friends — appear in town. They purchased an unlicensed sleep aid online under the pseudonym "Morpheus" and entered it along with their friend Nikos, who is now stuck there and unable to wake up. It’s an artificially created sleep experience, designed specifically to trap and drain emotions — a death trap.

Saving Nikos

Matt decides to enter the dangerous dream to rescue Nikos. Hal insists they go with him: she’s already helped with Aison’s treatment, and refusing her participation is impossible. Matt agrees, warning her sternly: disobeying means pain, the dream can’t be completely broken, and he can’t leave her alone.

They are lulled into sleep by a "beacon" — a flash drive containing data about an unlicensed sleep. They find themselves in the international port of Polis, from where Hyperloop Zero departs for Bangok. Matt knows this place: he once visited there with his teacher. The artificial reality is immaculately recreated, but beneath the beautiful façade lies a debilitating mechanism. Armed robotic stormtroopers, exotic scenery, deliberately created dead ends — everything works against the intruders.

Felix’s Shadow

Alongside his professional affairs, Matt repeatedly encounters a presence in the mirrored room: he hears footsteps, sees a dark silhouette by the window, notices broken jars of buttons. He calls out the name — Felix. A velvety laugh, fading in the air, answers him. The teacher, who died in his sleep, left something in the house that continues to exist on the border between the real and the dream world.

Hal gradually learns this, and her attitude toward Matt changes. From a wary, flighty girl, she transforms into a devoted student — with her own journal where she draws cartoons and records her impressions of her studies, and with a sincere desire to use her gift for good, not harm.

The Hunt for Deimos

Throughout the novel, Matt conducts a covert investigation: who is behind the sale of unlicensed dreams online under the name "Morpheus?" It is clearly a Deimos — possibly a Thanatos or a Wraith — who is using the dreamscape as a weapon. Victims are unable to awaken and die or fall into a coma. The information Matt gathers is transmitted to the Five Chapters. But he himself understands that the bureaucratic structure cannot keep up with someone operating from within the dreamscape.

By the end of the novel, the connections between individual cases — the sick, the unlicensed dreams, the mysterious "Morpheus" dealer — begin to form a coherent picture of the threat that Matt and Hal will face in the next books of the series.