Search - The Dream-Hunter (Dream-Hunter, Bk 1)

I love Sherrilyn Kenyons Dark Hunter series, but I must confess I was hesitant to read this book. I'm so glad I did! I really enjoyed it. I finished in two sittings. While in my opinion the majority of the Dark Hunter books are deeper and darker, this was still worth the read. I really like how she tied up the other books with this one from the "past",

Kenyon weaves together humor and hubris in the first book in a new series. As a dream-god who can't feel emotions, Arik doesn't understand the consequences of what he does until it's too late. His struggle to understand the emotions he feels for the first time are sometimes humorous, but Kenyon doesn't turn him into a laughing-stock, at least most of the time. He is truly baffled by the differences between the human world and the dream world.

The exchanges between Arik and his "brother" Solin are filled with typical Kenyon barbed humor. I actually laughed out loud several times.

As a stand-alone, this is an interesting book, blending mythology, fantasy and reality. As part of the Dark-Hunter universe, this is actually set before at least Night Pleasures (Book #2). Don't be tempted to read it first, though. There are some serious spoilers, especially in the last few chapters, such as who Ash really is. There are also things you probably won't get unless you've read the Dark-Hunter books through at least Seize the Night.

In this mix of fantasy and romance, Arikos is a dream god condemed to live in a world without emotions by the God Zeus. The only time he can feel any emotions is when he is inhabiting the dreams of others. He is drawn to the dreams of Dr. Megeara Kafieri. Megeara "Geary" only relaxes in her dreams. In the real world, she is continuing her father's quest for Atlantis. The quest that ended up destorying her father. Arikos is so drawn to Megeara that he makes a deal with Hades, two weeks of being human in exchange for one human soul - Mageara's.

I really liked the way that Arikos struggles with the differences between dreams and reality. He truly doesn't understand why Geary doesn't react to him the same way she does in her dreams. He's totally clueless about the mundane things in life - the things that people skip over in their dreams.

Really liked it, but I may be bias in that I am a true Sherrilyn Kenyon fan. Another hit for me.

I had a tough time getting into this book. Steamy sex scenes but meh for the dialog and character development. The actual plot (if you can call it that) just barely moves. I wouldn't order any more Kenyon books after having read this one.

This was better than I thought it would be but it did take me a little bit longer to really get pulled into this story. Once you start getting into the "meat" of the story line it's quite well written and flows nicely. I kept looking at this book over and over before I finally decided to order it, and I can't say it was a bad choice, I'd still recommend it since it's a definitely different type of story within the paranormal/ancient gods type of stories.