A pretty fun setup for a story.... shame it doesn't live up to that.

The basic premise of a world where virtual reality through dreaming has become the norm for entertainment is pretty fun. There could be some really interesting worldbuilding done with the economics of it, what exactly the relationship between the dreamers and their 'pets' are like, the relationship between Four and the family he here who he's met before. All of these are are alluded to in this story, but non get the time of day though, and instead we're thrust right into the middle of an 'invasion'.

The dream worlds we see are beautiful, and there's a real sense of danger to our characters in them... but when we get out of that world, things start falling apart for me. The 'pets' coming together to form a giant devil not only feels very silly and out of nowhere to me, but also implies a level of consciousness to the creatures, which are mentioned to be native to this world, and is just completely overlooked. The method to defeat them also feels like a bit of an ass-pull, they do set it up a little with not wanting to go over the river, but even then, it feels out of nowhere.

And finally Sharon's departure... I mean, I guess it lives up to a lot of classic companion's departures. Like those it's out of absolutely nowhere, and because of a man she met like three hours ago. It just doesn't work.

In short, there's a lot I want to like about this story, but it consistently fumbles the bag or overlooks every single one of them. I feel it could've done better with another issue or two in the magazine.