Opinions on my setting?

[Darkfantasy]

My story surrounds a human girl on the hunt for her own kind that disappeared when she was a baby.

1. This setting involves the dream world, as it's the only realm where the living and the dead can meet. My Villain (who is now dead) has the power to control dreams, pull people into this world, trap them and do physical harm to them (which is a rare ability). I have no goal or motivation for this character yet as I'm in the early stages. But she targets humans (humans are new to this planet so there isn't thousands of them). Using her abilities she places them all into a sleep that no one can wake them from in the physical world. There bodies are hidden/protected in a set of caves and their physical form is kept alive by magic. Their minds are taken to her dream world, were they are turned into slaves (many die and if they die in the dream world they die in the real world as well). Those enslaved are unaware they are in the dream world and think they've been taken to another planet by the Villain. But once they learn this, they can begin to control the dream world themselves and do things they couldn't in the physical world but it's not an easy skill to learn.
   
   
2. This doesn't involve the dream world. Instead my villain has the ability to replica a place and make it into it's own realm. A realm that she controls totally. She found a way to forcefully remove humans from the planet and trap them in her world. This world the villain totally controls and the characters have to use non-magical skills to escape.
   

I'm new to Fantasy so wanted some opinions on these settings. I wanted something that felt interesting and unique (I'm aware the dreamworld has been used before). But I wanted opinions on which setting I should use. Which has the most potential? Either would work fine for my plot and my character.
Thanks for any feedback

 

[Orc Knight]

They are interesting and both could be used quite plausibly. The undead using a Black Lotus scenario or the full on physical almost extra-dimensional realm. It really may come down to how you write the story. The former may involve your protagonist using more of her wit then the latter, not that escaping another realm wouldn't take any. Not sure if getting your story might help you a little better for it. Or at least a version of it. Stories have a bad habit of changing and shifting a bit.

 

[Darkfantasy]

Orc Knight - Stories have a bad habit of changing and shifting a bit.
Is that an understatement. This idea alone has changed so much. maybe I'll apply both to my plot and character and see which works best. Thanks for answering

 

[Protocol Orin]

I don't know about what age works best, because that mostly depends on what you like more, and that you are more capable of depicting

But I can think of a interesting question it sets up though.
If you have powers in that world, would you rather leave it to enter the real one, or would one come to a agreement with the ruler to get theright rule a area, and learn more powers to control that area, thus making it easier for the ruler to control the realm
(You can gladly use this idea in some way if you wish)