A big family, a reading addiction, and the occasional celebrity scandal are the ingredients of life that create one woman's opinion on just about everything.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

THE DREAM HUNTER by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Let me start this off by noting I've been a Sherrilyn Kenyon fan since she first started writing about Dark Hunters. While I can honestly admit that I've read some books in the series that stretched the premise a bit thin, by and large I have to say I've enjoyed these books...some more than others. I've also enjoyed the off shoot books about Were Hunters as well. Again, some more than others.

However, as more and more mythology seems to be creeping into the books I'm finding myself less and less interested. This is not a commentary on Ms. Kenyon's writing ability. This is about my own interest in a particular subject. Am I the only one who has to constantly remind myself who everyone is in the god families and how they are related to one another in these books? Ms. Kenyon does make references and leaves bread crumbs in each book reminding us of connections, but I still find myself getting confused and have sometimes found myself stopping my reading and going to her website to get sorted out. Sadly my knowledge of Greek mythology is so poor that I don't even know how much license Ms. Kenyon has taken with the actual facts.

THE DREAM HUNTER has a wonderful premise and I must admit I was anxious to give it a try. To have a flesh and blood man just show up when you've only known him in a very up close and personal way in your dreams would be pretty startling and freaky. I also thought it would make for a very interesting story premise.


Not only is Arikos a guy who walks through human dreams, he is a god. While the mixing of real life and those of the "gods" takes a leap it's no worse than the leap we take when reading about werewolves or vampires. However, I do think here that the real life characters accept the existence of these gods a little too readily. Even so, that wasn't my problem with this book. Frankly, I just felt mired down by all the mythology. While Ms. Kenyon made attempts with humor and character devices to teach us about the world of ancient Greece that she obviously loves and finds intriguing I was just not interested. I didn't feel it gave the story gravitas or progressed the plot in anyway. It seemed like a way for her to show off her knowledge and how she was cleverly weaving it into her story.

This isn't a bad book by a long stretch. I did finish it. I just felt disappointed and dissatisfied when I was done. I found myself more interested in the secondary characters than the main characters in this book. Go figure...like that's never happened before. Those that like all things mythological and fantasy will probably love it. For me...not so much.

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7 Comments:

Blogger ~ames~ said...

I keep getting confused between Appolites and Daimons. And how the were-hunters are sympathetic to them.

12:27 PM PST  
Blogger scooper said...

It's eerie how similar our opinions are sometimes. While I need to know some mythology to understand where a story is coming from and where it'll be allowed to go, I don't want to read mythology. If I did I'd get a book about it and not a romance novel. It sounds harsh, but there it is.

3:33 PM PST  
Blogger Jodi_Lee said...

I love S.K. too! I am still new to all of hers (and everyone else's too), so I think I have a while before I will get sick of it. Well, then again, maybe not. I got burnt out on Medieval's recently. This book is on my list to buy.

9:53 PM PST  
Blogger Rosie said...

Ames, yeah while I confuse the gods who's related to who, who's a good god and who's a bad one, the list goes on. When reading a book becomes that much work, well I'm not going to read them any more.

scoop, I know...I was surprised how closely our opinion of the book was and I hadn't read your review. If I had I probably would have a link to your page saying "What she said..."

Jodi, if you are new to SK then you still have some treats in store. I'm not a big fan of her historicals under Kinley McGregor, but I sure have enjoyed some of the books from the Dark Hunter series.

8:03 AM PST  
Blogger Jenster said...

I'm also a SK fan. Either the last couple DH books weren't as good as the earlier books or I just wasn't in the mood. But I've heard pretty good things about Dream Hunter, which is sitting on my counter, waiting for me to finish up what I'm reading now. I'm curious to see what I think. LOL

I have one or two Kinley McGregor books, but I've never read any of them. Which is funny because historical is my favorite.

12:12 PM PST  
Blogger nath said...

I have read the whole DH series so far and I've enjoyed a lot of them, but the last couple of books fell short I think. Personally, I thought that the mythology saved this book - not all the facts and legends, but seeing the gods. I have to say I was a tad disappointed that the story was taking place in the "past," but I've always loved Katra, so it was okay. My problem is that the more she writes, the more characters she adds, the more mysteries she incorporates without clearing up lots of questions we have. It would sit better with me if it wasn't an obvious scheme for readers to continue reading. Ash story is coming next year. I'll continue reading the DH series till Ash story. That book will decide if I continue or not afterwards :P

7:30 AM PST  
Blogger Rosie said...

Jenster I read the Kinley McGregor books because I like historicals too. They were okay, but not something I can see looking for more or keeping. As for the DH books I'm still hoping the next one will be better. I hate info dump in books.

Nath, ditto the story taking place in the past...I don't understand why. Did you pick up on a reason? Is it to place Katra in the right place at the right time for Ash? There has been such a build up and expectation for Ash's book that I'm almost scared to read it. I WILL be reading it of course, but it's hard to believe there could be a book to meet so many fans expectations after so much time.

12:57 PM PST  

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