The Children of Hypnos

by Francesca Zappia

Emery Ashworth is a dreamhunter. She spends her time fighting the nightmares of mankind with her partner, Wes, the lowest-ranking boy in her class and the biggest pain in Emery's neck. When Emery and Wes are sent to gather intelligence on a rogue dreamhunter, their bickering lands them in the midst of the Dream-humanity's collective subconscious, where real matter warps until it can no longer return to the waking world-pursued by one of the most dangerous dreamhunters on Earth. Traversing the darkest parts of the human mind and hunted by an unbeatable foe, the two must work together to return to their families, their friends, and their lives before the Dream unravels them both.[COMPLETE]

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Novella

82 pages, ebook

First published May 19, 2017

About the author

Writer of MADE YOU UP and ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS. Represented by Louise Fury of the Fury Agency.

Also wrote The Children of Hypnos serial on Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/story/9547883...).

Social Media: @ChessieZappia

You can find links to all my social media on my website, www.francescazappia.com.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!
I can't wait to see what broke Eliza and Wallace.
But...
DON'T WRITE FOUR BOOKS AND THEN GO INTO HERMIT MODE.

[Francesca Zappia]

Volume 2 is posting now! New chapters added Mon+Fri @ 1pm EST. Only on Wattpad.

https://www.wattpad.com/story/9547883...

New cover, new content, new chapter header art. (Btw, if any Goodreads librarians can change the cover on here, I would greatly appreciate it.)

Thank you everyone for reading. I hope you enjoy the continuing story!

- Chessie

[Casey Harold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingg!! All I want in life now is for this book to be published so I can have my own hard copy to love and cherish forever! And for the rest of the series to be written and published as well!

[Booktastically Amazing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wattpad will be the end of me, I swear.

Real rating: 3.8~3.9

I honestly can say, this was enjoyable. The greatest? As in, I cannot live without knowing what happens next--help, my heart is lost, and I cannot find it--my tears have not stopped yet flowing and my sense of life is rapidly decreasing? Nope. It has not, in fact, done all that. But come on, seldom books do, to be honest. I just wish my life would've been blessed more with swoony moments, just because the main character has had a boyfriend. Um...which boyfriend again? I am being legit truthful with y'all. You know in those books where the concentration is so much in the action (which is not bad, at ALL. However, the 'boyfriend' is still active in this story so yeah, I expected a bit more) that the 'promised' romance, kind of took a back seat and went...non-existent? I was surprised when he was mentioned as a love interest. Like, this guy? I have more chemistry with a toilet paper than the main girl does with him. And yes, I did indeed say toilet paper. We have an ongoing relationship. Sue me.

In the OTHER hand (the thing that saved this whole book, to be honest) the idea? Dreamhunters, Dreamseekers, *ahem* DREMKILLERS (y'all know who you are, you should be ASHAMED, I wanted an extra donut with the box, not an extra KIDNEY.) all of THAT, is such an amazing premise for the whole book. I would like to see it upped to 💯 in the following book. Because, guess what? I did not KNOW there was in fact, a second one. Pardon my genius, if you will.

Another thing that I would've liked better...more dead people. Seriously, nightmares kill. So then, let some people die. Perish. Leave the world. Fall asleep for eternity. Be exiled from existence-I'll stop. It would've added, I don't know, something MORE to the book. Am I evil to be asking for that? Hmmm, well, if a certain BEING doesn't gift me an extra donut, I'll be completely fine cutting off heads and poisoni- moving on...

The last point I'll touch on, because I need to harass (gently and with decorum, obviously) some authors into writing books faster and not making me wait two years for a gosh darned sequel. The characters in their entirety. They were good. Great? Remains to be seen. Did I love them? Eh. Depends on the day. And the plot twists. Also, the death I WAS gifted, was painful. For about 3 minutes. After that, well, things moved on.

So yes, I'll probably (not) find the brain cells which have escaped the jail inside my head to write a full length, fully fangirly (AGAIN, I fangirled, but not as much as I WANTED to. A squeal here and there. You know, I have to keep up the reputation of screeching like a banshee every 15 seconds. My neighbors will think aliens have abducted me or something. Or goodness forbid, I've become *shudder* normal) completely sarcastic review, therefore, I'll leave y'all with this little note of mine.

IF I DO NOT GET MY EXTRA DONUT, I WILL EITHER GO ON STRIKE OR HAVE A MINOR BRAIN *waving hands wildly* THAT. THOSE ARE MY TWO OPTIONS. DEAR CASHIER, LEAVE THE DONUTS WITH ME. OTHER PEOPLE DON'T NEED THEM.

P.S: Excuse me while I go watch a movie to somehow TRY to superimpose my magnificence over more innocent (?) beings and convert them into fellow followers of the Mighty Sarcasm. Adios!

P.S.S: And yes, I barely understood everything up there. It's who I am. Confusion incarnate. Now, I only need to find Hotness incarnate. Where's he at?

P.S.S.S: Also, just count the amount of times I say the word 'donut'. The bridge to Terabithia will be revealed to you. *snort*

[Harkeerat Dhunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sleep is for the weak."
Holy Zeus, this was splendid!! I love the idea of fighting monsters and doppelgangers in dreams! So surreal.
I used to think there wasn't a lot of good stuff on Wattpad...this has proved me utterly wrong. And all the art Francesca has made for this is so aesthetic!
Really looking forward to reading more by Frances Zappia.

[Mir]

If this is anything close to as good as the characters in Eliza and Her Monsters think it is, it will be amazing.

[Lior]

THIS IS AN ACTUAL BOOK???? MUST READ IT. NOW.

[sally ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little unedited and info-dump-y, but still a fun read! Excited to see how Francesca Zappia chooses to continue the series.

I am especially curious to see whether she chooses to write a fifth book or go into hermit mode.

[Veronika · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my admiration goes to the writer, I'm stunned!! (unable to breathe, live for a while, etc). I thought it'd be great, but not THIS GREAT!! I'm still shaking inside of all that happened from the beginning till the end and I need more!

[Talia]

EDIT (10/12/17):
There's a Monstrous Sea preview on Wattpad

9/18/17:
Now all we need is Monstrous Sea.

[RyanneAndHerBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if she doesn't write the rest of the series? Ahhhhh. It's so exciting! I usually can't get into online books but that was so fun!

[Booktastically Amazing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real rating : 3.8

You know those books, that you don’t know whether you like them or not. But you’re pretty sure you don’t hate them? And your thought process kind of fizzles out because so many things happened, and it shamefully took you so long to finish said book, and you enter a state of... ‘I don’t know what to say, but I’ll write a paragraph on WHY I can’t seem to know what to say. Because I hate not reviewing stuff’? Yes, that’s precisely what is happening here. I’m content. Not with how it ended of course. *stares at hands* *shakes said hands* Um...where is the update? In the series, where is it? So here I shall finish. With this GIF, because again, I have no idea what else to say.

https://giphy.com/gifs/l0MYSlg9eQOpRx...

[Cláudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It was a small consolation that the look of betrayal on his face matched what she felt inside."

[Tara♥]

I finished Eliza and Her Monsters last night and while reading it I needed there to be an actual The Children of Hypnos and Monstrous Sea and there is!!!

[Silly Goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Children of Hypnos: ★★★★
The Children of Hypnos Volume 2: TBR

Before I get into reviewing this marvellous book/ebook/whatever you technology people call these things, I want to talk about where I've been lately, not because I think anyone was counting on my goodreads presence but because maybe some people need to hear this, and it actually has a lot of revelance to The Children of Hypnos. My mental health lately has been... weird. Things have been difficult, not because anything has changed, but because my mind has decided to change my perception of everything?? Standard mental health problems I guess?? Basically reading became a chore and goodreads became a life-sucking void, something I never imagined it would become. I don't know if you'll see as much of me on here anymore from now on, probably a monthly update, but I'm holding up. I'm actually really proud of myself from stepping back because it took a lot to admit that I was struggling and that it's okay to get tired of hobbies or completely burned out. Either people on Goodreads got really chill while I was gone, or Goodreads has an incredible feature where they stop sending you notifications when it seems you're taking a break because after a couple weeks or so, I stopped receiving any notices and the app just gave me a total break. So cool! Anyways I'm working on things but I'm so glad to see how many of my friends are reading up a storm on here! Thank you for being so normal, it's a well-needed breath of fresh air (:

I first heard of The Children of Hypnos through Eliza and Her Monsters, of course, one of my favourite books of all time. I related a lot to the characters there so I figured, why not read their favourite novel?

Oh my word.

I was hooked so fast this is such a cool thing i downloaded wattpad for you Ms. Zappia you're a genius an incredible writer and artist i have no more words thank you

From that BREATHTAKING first chapter to the development of the protagonist to this crazy cast of characters to THAT ENDING MY WORD

Totally worth the read, super easy to digest and such a quick read, no wonder Eliza read this whole series in a 24-hour period (;

[cat (catherynereads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Zappia's writing. Her world building is so fun and different. After reading Eliza & Her Monsters I was in a bit of a slump because I was sad to have finished the book, and didn't know what else to read. I discovered that she had written this (which is Eliza's favourite series) on wattpad, and just had to read it. The idea of going in and out of dreams is so different, and I loved the characters. The ending was so action packed, I couldn't even keep up, but it also felt a bit abrupt. I'm also a little bitter she ended it where she did, but Zappia has promised to write the next when she has time, so at least there's that! Basically, if you liked E&HM, and want more of Zappia's writing, go download wattpad and give this a read!

[Silly Goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children of Hypnos Volume 1: ★★★★
Children of Hypnos Volume 2: ★★★★

i need volume 3 right now, Ms. Zappia I'm begging. Another epic and painful ending.

[jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Jess (bookwyrmbella) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

I had heard that this was mentioned in Eliza and Her Monsters by the main character so I read it beforehand so I could get any references that were made. I really enjoyed the story and the artwork. The characters were relatable and the world building was amazing and immursive. I hope that eventually Francesca can get enough interest in it so she can get a physical copy published. It would make a wonderful companion to EaHM for any readers shelves!

[WJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Children of Hypnos is a free ebook by Francesca Zappia that's available on Wattpad. If you've read Eliza and Her Monsters, I would strongly recommend that you read this book as well because it's basically the series that Eliza is obsessed with and what her fan-art has been all about. I would also say that this is a little different from Zappia's other novels though because it's definitely more YA fantasy than YA contemporary fiction which is what Eliza and Her Monsters and Made You Up were like.

Even if you haven't come across Zappia's other work, I would go recommend that you try the book out for yourself anyway because the book subverts some of the tropes that I've come across in YA fantasy and is a pretty original take on the world of nightmares and dream-hunters. The book reminds me of Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall in the best way possible because it's also set in an academy where teenagers with special abilities study, the world-building is pretty original and fresh and Emery and Wes are a compelling set of characters that you end up really caring about.

The Children of Hypnos takes place in an alternative universe where nightmares are real tangible beings that can be fought and where being a dreamhunter is an actual profession (more like a calling, if you will). Emery Ashworth is a dreamhunter, coming from a long lineage of really awesome dreamhunters who seem pretty invulnerable despite the dangers involved in dreamhunting. Emery knows that she has a difficult legacy to live up to and it doesn't help that she seems to have been saddled with one of the most useless partners from her class - Wes, who seems like a real stickler in the mud and seems pretty incapable of defending himself, much less to keep up with her speed. Despite their differences, Emery and Wes are forced to work together because of their forced pairing and they two of them end up stumbling across a mystery involving a rogue dreamhunter, his nightmares and questions about what their school has been hiding from them.

The book started off simple enough, about a girl whose family's legacy seems difficult to live up to and about a boy who seems totally inept at his job of dreamhunting. But there's more than meets the eye. The girl has a stone-cold exterior because of her own fears about whether she will ever be good enough to match up with her legacy. And the boy may not be as inept as he appears to be, but is hiding something from everyone. And when the two of them are sent to gather intelligence on a rogue dreamhunter, that's when the story really gets good because there are twists and turns abound. Is the dreamhunter really rogue? Is their school's version of events always accurate? Has dreamhunting always been this way? Zappia creates a world with certain fixed rules and then goes about subverting the rules and interrogating them.

She also manages to avoid some of the more obvious cliches in YA fantasy. I'm glad that Emery and Wes aren't paired together romantically because that's just been a tired trope in YA fantasy. I'm also glad that both Emery's parents are still alive (even if they seem a little absent to the main storyline). Overall, I would recommend this read.

[Mihlean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I’ve already read this book twice and yes, I know it’s not an actual (published) book yet. Sue me 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Totally Unfiltered · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had such an original premise. How does anyone have such creativity to come up with a storyline like this? It amazes me. To have doppelgängers play a huge part in your life, in a world of nightmares and dreams. To live in fear of something for your whole life.

This book was written so beautifully, the pacing was perfect. I love the characters, especially Klaus, as surprising as that is. I felt like he was one of the only people to actually step out of what society tells them is right or wrong, and risks a life of simplicity to research what’s the truth.

I wish I could know more about the characters. The history between Maura and Klaus. But Jojo..... I sensed what was going to happen as soon as he was mentioned in the book. But the way it happens, kills me.

One thing I really appreciate is the fact that it's a wattpad book. This app that I've silently been looking for treasures. And this is definitely one. Wattpad may be a site full of fanfics and sometimes weird kinky stuff BUT I can't deny there are some beautiful books that are well written.

NOW I NEED A SEQUEL ASAP. This is why I don’t deal well with incomplete series, I need to read the next book as soon as I’m finished with the first.

[tay · Rating 2 out of 5]

FIND HOME HERE,
CHILDREN OF HYPNOS

pros;
- there was no freaking romance!!between!!our main characters!!!!emery and wes were just good 'ol pals!it!was!wonderful!
- the world is unique and the main character kicks ass.
- at the start of book emery and wes weren't friends AT ALL but by the end they were the best of buds.
- some scenes were very tense (in a good way)
- the ending was suspenseful and held lots of mini-cliffhangers (i'm looking at you 'last sentence of klaus's last chapter')

cons;
- bits were slow + characters don't stand O! U! T! to me.
-i had to hype myself up to read because most parts didn't grab my attention. so, not the best and hence the 3-star rating.

[Iara Rodarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The End (?)

Emery

She pulled her head away from him. "Of course I want to keep Wes as a partner. He helped me when everyone else was lying and using me as a bait."

Wes

He paused and looked at her. "We're partners. We stick together."

Emery

"I'll do the fighting. You do the dreamforming. We're like two halves of a whole hunter."

This was a great story. I still don't know why it took me so much time to finish it. Full of action and a creative storyline, I really wish this becomes a full book series in the future.

I need more of Wes and Emery, and their relationship as partners, friends and dreamkillers.

[Bailey Ashbaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay so I was brought here by Eliza and Her Monsters and this story completely blew me out of the water!!! I was expecting this to sound less like a fantasy novel and more like a YA fiction story but of course Zappia blew me out of the water with her talent. Be warned: all the mentions of this book ending in a cliffhanger in Eliza are completely true, your heart will be wrenched and immediately crave another chapter. But it's well worth it if you ask me.

[Belinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on Wattpad and adored it. I loved the characters. While the world building wasn’t perfect it was an intriguing world. I haven’t read something with this particular premise so it was unique to me. I can’t wait to read the next installment. Seriously I can’t wait. I want to hunt her down and make her tell me what happens.

[Shreya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enchanted and in love. Read Eliza and her Monsters first, and you will understand. The only issue I have is that I had to read it on Wattpad. Not liking the format of the website, but oh well. Totally worth it for such a story. An entertaining read with a solid balance of humor and action.

[Ghada · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is so predictable. I mean the concept and the idea is so original and I love it but I keep predicting everything that's going to happen and I can't take it anymore with the predictability. I loved Eliza and her Monsters so I thought that I'd love this too. Apparently I was wrong.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best few hours I’ve spent in awhile. Courtesy of Eliza and her Monsters I knew this would be an unfinished story - but I NEED MORE. Please.

[Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neeeed this to be a full series!