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Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends

Author	Talyn Rahman-Figueroa
Cover artist	Jung Shan
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Street Fighter
Genre	Fan fiction
Publication date	January 01, 2012
Media type	Online www.dreamneverends.com
Pages	500 pp (first edition)
Preceded by	Street Fighter 3 Third Strike

Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends is a 2012 action thriller fiction novel by Talyn Rahman-Figueroa. Dream Never Ends is the first series of novels based on the popular fighting video-game, Street Fighter. With its 25-year gaming history, the Street Fighter novel has been written for loyal fans spanned across the world. The novel focuses on Ryu's journey beyond the Dark Hadou and his challenges against Akuma seven years after Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Background

The Street Fighter novel was written in 1998 and was finally released online in January 2012 with new chapters released every Wednesday. The main book artwork was illustrated by Jung Shan, a talented chinese brush artist from Taiwan and other artists have contributed to the webpage too.

Author Talyn Rahman-Figueroa has taken a simple dimensional fighting video-game and has given the storyline resonant depth. She has placed what was originally an action animation in the realm of the journey of the soul, scrutinising a group of flat video game personas and building them into heartrending people. Street Fighter: the Dream Never Ends exemplifies how complex, conflicted and flawed the lives of Ryu, Ken and Guy is. They have families, careers, dreams, and troubles, and their interlacing stories unfurl and map out in thirty-six chapters spanning over three hundred pages.

Synopsis

Japanese martial artist Ryu has one purpose in life: to better himself, mentally, physically, spiritually. His seven year peace is shattered when the cancerous power of the Dark Hadou takes hold once more, dragging him to the depth of destruction. How can such evil return? It should have died with him several years ago. Finding himself in a sea of confusion and doubt, Ryu must re-open his past to uncover the truth.

Actress Tawnya Blaze should have been celebrating her new-found fame with her fake off-screen lover, but she feels frightened of this thing controlling her actions. Her body is scarred with Ryu’s name, and her mind is tainted by a mocking voice that leads her to him. Tawnya is under his control, and Ryu is hers. Until their paths cross, the two may never be free.

Characters

• Ryu - The lead character of Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends, Ryu struggles to comprehend the return of Akuma and the Dark Hadou after years of its absence. He must face his past to uncover the truth.
• Tawnya Blaze - An America actress who works alongside Fei Long, Tawnya is tormented by a deep voice in her head that compels her to follow Ryu across the world.
• Ken Masters - Struggling to keep balance of being the father, husband and entrepreneur, Ken becomes disgruntled that his martial arts is slipping from him. This feeling changes when a few years later, his estranged best friend walks back into his life again.
• Sakura Kasugano - Tired by the daily slog, Sakura's training becomes non-existent and her adoration for Ryu is replaced by actor Fei Long, whom she would watch regularly on TV after work. Her luck soon changes when she is invited into a publishing internship in Los Angeles.
• Fei Long - Since the defeat, Fei becomes dejected, unable to enjoy his life either as a serious martial artist or as a successful actor. To concentrate on his philanthropy projects, Fei decides to hire a professional actress to draw away attention from himself, but her help soon becomes more than he had originally bargained for.
• Guy - Guy briefly returns to Japan in order to restore his slipping fighting stamina. When he arrives, he watches a stranger destroy the village with a mysterious fighting technique that has him obsessed. As a welcoming distraction, Guy vows to catch the man responsible for the damage caused to the village.
• Rose - Years later, Rose feels the same energy of the Dark Hadou emanate from the other side of the world. Alarmed by the sheer ferocity of the power, Rose prepares herself mentally for a journey that was bound to test her skills and capabilities but struggles to contain the energy from taking over her.
• Akuma - The desperation to win the fight forced Akuma to use his most dangerous technique against Ryu, but his opponent was quick to strike him in return. It astonished Akuma that a technique well known to the Shotokan style could topple him, but he fell with an inner joy that the dark intent remained within Ryu.

Review

The Street Fighter novel is ablaze with an emotional fire that rivals the ferocity of Street Fighter games and films. One character is helplessly torn between lovers. Another is torn between tournament fighting and devotion to his family. Then there’s the fighter who destroys trust just to save his honor.

If readers tend to favor a story with supernatural highlights, Rahman-Figueroa does not disappoint. Fans know from the last tournament that the otherwise valiant Ryu has developed a bizarre, deadly problem: the Dark Hadou tends to possess him. Dream Never Ends opens with Ryu in a torment over how this evil power still does it. He’s killed its proponent, the psychopath Akuma, but somehow, the evil still controls him to shameful violence. Fans will recall that the character Ryu was raised by the venerable Gouken , his martial arts mentor and sensei, and that Gouken was killed by his own brother, the lusting-for-power Akuma. Rahman-Figueroa understands that this simple story line can be spun into Shakespearean-style turmoil, with satisfying intimate knowledge of what goes on deep in the hero. That is, by reading Dream Never Ends, fans can know Ryu inside out, and can cheer on not only his fighting, but also his soul’s evolution.

While the main novel revolves around Ryu's connections to Akuma, interconnected side stories takes a deeper look into the lives of Ken, Sakura, Fei Long and Guy, all of whom play a role in Ryu's turmoil. A few other well-known characters make guest appearances but the biggest highlight to the story is the introduction of new character Tawnya Blaze, a psychotic actress who is haunted by the voice in her head. She is no Mary Sue but the impact she has on Ryu further accentuates his human traits and kind character. The novel is currently free to read online and there are plans for the book to be published in partnership with Capcom.