The Dreamstone (novel)

Lore & Background

The Dreamstone begins in Ealdwood, the last forest of Faery on Earth, guarded by Arafel, a Daoine Sidhe. When a man named Niall seeks shelter, Arafel sends him to Beorc's Steading. Later, the harper Fionn flees Lord Evald, who has seized the king's throne. Arafel gives Evald her dreamstone to protect Fionn, but the stone causes anguish to both. Fionn tries to trade his harp for the stone, but Evald kills him; Arafel then kills Evald and retreats to Faery.

Reader's Guide

The Dreamstone is significant as the opening volume of Cherryh's Ealdwood Stories, a series rooted in Celtic mythology. It was nominated for the 1984 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. The novel was later republished in three omnibuses: Arafel's Saga (1983), Ealdwood (1991, with revisions and a new ending), and The Dreaming Tree (1997, including those revisions). Reviews praised Cherryh's writing as 'first-rate' and the story as 'an epic tale of magic and adventure.'

Did You Know?

• The novel includes revisions of Cherryh's 1978 short story 'The Dreamstone' and her 1981 novella Ealdwood.
• Cover art was by Cherryh's brother, David A. Cherry.
• The Dreamstone was nominated for the 1985 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
• The novel's plot involves a magical dreamstone that preserves memories of the wearer.

Origins & Publication History

The Dreamstone grew out of Cherryh's earlier creative work, weaving together her 1979 short story of the same name, which appeared in Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Amazons! anthology, and her 1981 novella Ealdwood, all expanded with additional material into a full-length novel. DAW Books released the book as a paperback in 1983, with cover art by Cherryh's brother, David A. Cherry. The novel serves as the first entry in the two-part Ealdwood Stories series, with The Tree of Swords and Jewels following as its companion volume. Over the years, the two novels were gathered into three distinct omnibus editions: Arafel's Saga (1983, DAW Books), Ealdwood (1991, Victor Gollancz, which introduced revisions and a new ending), and The Dreaming Tree (1997, DAW Books, carrying forward those same revisions). This layered publication history reflects Cherryh's ongoing refinement of the material across nearly two decades of revision and republication.

Plot & Narrative Structure

The novel opens in Ealdwood, the last unspoiled forest on Earth, where the bright Sidhe once roamed freely before humanity's wars drove the dark ones underground and the bright ones back to Faery. Arafel, a Daoine Sidhe who chose to remain, guards this final bastion. Her isolation is broken when Niall, a fugitive prince, and Fionn, a dead king's harper, stumble into the forest. The central conflict ignites when Lord Evald invades Ealdwood to claim Fionn's harp; Arafel trades her dreamstone—a magical artifact that preserves the wearer's memories—for peace. The stone's bond creates mutual anguish between Arafel and Evald, each feeling the other's inner life. Fionn sacrifices himself to retrieve the stone, and Arafel kills Evald in grief. The narrative then extends into the second arc, where Ciaran, a halfling with elf blood, discovers the Tree of Swords and Jewels, and Arafel is drawn back into the mortal world to defend Caer Wiell against An Beag and ancient dark creatures.

Thematic Foundations & Mythological Roots

Cherryh grounds The Dreamstone deeply in Celtic mythological tradition. The world is populated by the Daoine Sidhe, the bright fair folk, contrasted with darker Sidhe who burrowed into rivers and earth when humanity's violence corrupted the world. Ealdwood functions as a liminal space—a threshold between the mortal realm and Faery (called Eald), a concept echoing the Celtic Otherworld. The dreamstone itself is a richly conceived artifact: it does not merely store memories but creates a living empathic bond between its current wearer and its original owner, forcing both to experience the other's inner landscape. This mechanism transforms a simple magical object into a vehicle for exploring themes of empathy, the inescapability of memory, and the moral weight of knowledge. The Tree of Swords and Jewels, where the Sidhe hung their weapons and memory stones upon their withdrawal, extends this mythology into a tangible, almost archaeological landscape of abandoned divinity.

Reception & Legacy

The Dreamstone earned Cherryh a 1984 Locus Award nomination for Best Fantasy Novel, signaling early critical recognition of her work in the genre. Reviews of the omnibus editions have continued to praise the material. Stephen Davis, writing for the SF Site on The Dreaming Tree, called Cherryh's prose "first-rate," noting that her dialogue avoids stiffness, her characters possess believable motives, and she never overstretches a scene. The Rambles cultural arts magazine described Arafel's Saga as "an epic tale of magic and adventure," recommending it to readers drawn to legendary Fair Folk narratives. The novel's legacy is also reflected in its evolving publication history: the 1991 Ealdwood omnibus introduced revisions and a new ending, a change carried into the 1997 The Dreaming Tree edition, suggesting Cherryh continued to refine the story's emotional and structural architecture well after its initial release.