A rollercoaster ride for the mind!

When I saw the title to be honest I had no clue what was awaiting me. I had to google hypnagogic and learnt that hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the hypnagogic state of consciousness. The deeper I got into the read the more it began to make sense. Shifting in and out of wake-dream-states.

The protagonist, Blaz, possesses an extremely analytical mind and it is enthralling to witness how he gets challenged with a vast world of thought experiments expertly crafted by the author throughout the storyline and to follow his inner development. Voluntarily or not one starts thinking about all these "what ifs". At the end of the day I found myself questioning the whole system I was imprinted to accept as reality.

The plot is complete, and more than that, the ideas explored, similes and metaphors used are refreshingly intelligent.

I am not going in depth about the plot line and characters as not to spoil your reading experience...

The first chapters are a little hard to get into (for those not too accustomed to the art of reading). Fernandez uses a vocabulary rich and intense writing style. After some time the mind gets accustomed though and from then on the flow takes you down the river. Some scenes are a bit lengthy for my taste. And, this book is not for everybody. It demands a certain level of open-mindedness and - I hope this does not seem arrogant - intelligence, to be able to truly appreciate the read I reckon. Also the ending would be quite unsatifying, would one not get to know in the authors notes that this is part one of a duology.

I was tempted to deduct a star for the lengthy scenes here and there and the ending but since this is a selfpublished debut and a good one too, the fifth star attributes to sympathy.

In a nutshell: Brilliant read, thought-provoking until the final page.