Dream Chaser

I was underwhelmed by the last two Dream Hunter books. I felt the characterization was weak and the romances had little basis. Moreover, they lacked the familiarity of the D-H world. Thankfully, this novel hit the mark perfectly. I was engrossed from the very beginning and did not put the book down until I finished it.

Xypher was interesting and three-dimensional - he was more than simply "I have no emotion, but I like yours, so let's be a couple." I liked him and his bad attitude. And I felt the same for his heroine, Simone. This is very likely because not only is she more than she seems, she has a tenuous knowledge of the D-H world. Her best friend and colleague is a squire so Xypher didn't have to hide his nature the entire book. They show more felt like real people, albeit in Kenyon's world. This was readily apparent in the dialog. They bickered, bantered and teased their way to a familiarity on which a romance could be based. There was a lot of humor and sarcasm that the last two books just didn't have. Yes, there was sexual attraction (and some hot sex in the second half), but also understanding and intimacy. I was also happy to return to the D-H world, including Sanctuary, with cameos from Julian, Acheron and our favorite baddies. This book felt like it was part of, and added to, the mythology of the D-H world.

I do agree with other reviewers that the heroes are getting somewhat cookie-cutter: extremely sexy, ripped and cocky (pun intended) men who really only differ by their eye and hair color. However, I read Kenyon for escapism and that is a trademark of the D-H series. Overall, I felt this was closer in quality to the first few books of the series and one I would read again. Highly recommended! show less

We met Xypher in Devil May Cry. And he got a prize for helping them stop the Dimme – a month free from Tartarus. A month he can spend getting revenge on Satara, the woman who betrayed him and caused him to be condemned to eternal torture in Tartarus in the first place.

Of course, getting to Satara isn’t easy and while hunting he runs across Simone – a pathologist seeking answers to an apparent serial killing. Simone is dragged into Xypher’s world when Satara’s agents bind them both together – rather than try to kill the immortal Xypher, the only have to kill the only-too-mortal Simone to kill them both. Oh and the binding stops them getting more than 20 feet from each other.

Forced to live in close proximity, Simone (and show more Jesse, her 80s ghostly companion) have to deal with his extreme surliness and complete lack of trust – after centuries of being tortured and betrayed he’s unwilling to get close to anyone, even though Simone starts to melt him

Then there’s the problem of the Dimme that is apparently loose in the city and Xypher’s demon brother who has been sent out to kill Simone, Xypher or both. And that’s before people start making deals with Jaden - a being so powerful demons make Faustian bargains with him


Ok I have to say that there were some major issues in this book (especially the romance) that were pet hates of mine – because of this (and the same applies to any review, but doubly so here) if they don’t annoy you so much you may actually enjoy the book. But me, they annoy – and annoy a great deal.

Firstly – and this is a trope the Dark Hunter series uses excessively – Xypher has a horrible tortured past (like everyone in this series. It’s almost reached comical levels). And because he has had such an awful tortured past he lashes out at everyone around him – including Simone – he can’t trust other people again, ever, because one person betrayed him and now he hates everyone and everything – rawr! Not only is it tired and overdone and we’ve already seen the exact same story played out in
Devil May Cry, Dance with the Devil, Upon the Midnight Clear and even Night Pleasures, (far more if we just include men who have had long tortured pasts) but it also serves as a justification for him constantly lashing out at Simone.

And Simone? Pities him. The angrier he is, the more he lashes out at her, scares her and has temper tantrums at her, the more she pities him. Every surly outburst or sullen pout is just more proof of how tortured and sad he is and why she pities him even more! It reached a point where, if he had stabbed her, I think she’d have spent her dying breath to wail “oh see how much he suffers!”

I hate these tropes combined. I hate the whole Loving Contempt trope, I hate the idea that you should tolerate abusive behaviour because it may hide a delicate, sensitive soul. I hate the idea that it’s laudable to endure the surliness and I hate the idea that lashing out is ok if you have a painful past – while it makes it understandable, there’s no reason why Simone should bear the brunt of it. And I really really hate the idea that a surly, angry man can be won over if you’re patient enough and kind enough and loving enough. Enduring abuse shouldn’t be a praiseworthy activity nor should it be the path to happily ever after true love – it’s horrendously skeevy.

More tropes I hated in the romance – yes the fast forward button was pressed again. Xypher and Simone spent less than 2 weeks together – in fact I think it was more like 3 or 4 days. And yet they BOTH were willing to sacrifice their lives for the other and Simone was desolate without him. really? They’re not even acquaintances yet, but they’ve already reached “I can’t live without you!” stage? Even most depraved stalkers need a little more time than that to get hung up on someone.

To finish off, in standard terms this immortal couple gets to be immortal (rather than just relying on their heritage to get the job done) by effectively enslaving Simone to Xypher. Awwww, sooo romantic *uckies uckies uckies*

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Best book of the series so far…and that is saying A Lot because all of the books in this series are excellent. But the thing is, I know that the next book in the series is even better because I have already read the entire series. That is the advantage of re-reading a series. You know what is coming but also it refreshes my memory because I have forgotten so much that it is almost like reading it for the first time…almost.

This is the 13th book in the Dark-Hunter series and the 3rd book in the Dream-Hunter series. The series is getting more complex and complicated as the plot carries on. There are now a ton of characters and each one has their own mysterious backstory which gets revealed little by little in each book. All of them show more somehow tie into each other. I have no clue how Sherrilyn Kenyon keeps track of all of it. I have a picture in my head of a multi-layered glass bulletin board with timelines and places on it and overlaid with multi-colored string tracking characters and events that look like it was spun by a spider who was on a psychedelic trip gone wrong. I know I’m having a hard time keeping track of it all.

We met Xypher in book #11, Devil May Cry. He was in Tartarus when Kat went down to get him because she needed a Skotos crazy and strong enough to enter a gallu demon’s dreams. When she entered his cell, he was being whipped by skeletons but he was fighting back. He would grab the whip away from the skeletons only for it to reappear in their hands again for them to continue lashing at him. He’d been there for centuries so that showed how some of his determination and character. Kat made a deal with Hades to release him to help her and if he did what he promised, Hades had to make him human for a month. If he proved his humanity in that month, Hades would have to release him from Tartarus forever. Hades tells her after they made the deal that he can’t believe Kat would let something so evil out into the world. He told her that Xypher had went into the dreams of hundreds of people and drove them crazy. Most of them killed themselves. It took eleven Oneroi to kill him.

Xypher did as promised which was to find information about the gallu demon and he even helped Kat and Sin in a battle. In this book, he has been human for about a week. He still has some of his god powers but not all of them because Hades likes messing with him. Since Xypher believes he will return to Tartarus no matter what at the end of his month free, he is determined to make it count and get revenge on Satara by killing her and making her suffer in Tartarus right alongside him.

Satara wasn’t made of sugar and spice and everything nice. No, she was made of sulphur and bile and everything evil. We have met her before and she likes to cause pain and cause trouble. I’m not sure of her ultimate goal but she seems to cause a lot of trouble. She is Stryker’s half-sister and one of Artemis’ handmaidens but she hates Artemis for some unknown reason. Satara summoned Xypher into her dream when he was an Oneroi and seduced him. He became a Skoti because he liked the emotions that he was able to syphon off of her. She then pretended to love and care for him so he taught her how to dream walk and let her use his powers to do so. She used them to destroy her enemies and people she didn’t like and when Zeus and Hades decided to punish her, she ran to Xypher crying. He made a deal with someone named Jaden to give him his soul if Jaden would somehow make Zeus and Hades believe it was he who drove the people insane instead of Satara. Satara promised she would visit Xypher in Tartarus and give him a true death, one that obliterates him from the universe so he wouldn’t be tortured for the rest of eternity, but instead she visited and laughed at him about how stupid he was to believe her lies and fall for her tricks. She even beat him and tortured him. Yeah, so she deserves to have Cinderella run over her with her pumpkin coach…wait, that’s a different tale.

Simone is a medical examiner who teaches at Tulane in New Orleans. She is friends with Tate, the coroner. We have met Tate before. He is a Squire for the Dark-Hunters and covers up certain deaths which could expose the paranormal world to humans. Simone knows about Dark-Hunters and that Tate is a Squire for them. She, herself, is able to see ghosts. In fact, she is friends with a teenage ghost named Jesse who has his own bedroom in her home. She met him when she was eleven, right after her mom and brother were murdered. He helped her get through it but as she has grown and aged, he has always kept the same age. He died in the 80s and is kind of stuck in that era.

Simone has lunch with Tate who shows her a file from the latest odd murders. He thinks there is a serial killer but he doesn’t believe it is a Daimon. The latest victim got up and walked off the table while one of Tate’s assistants still had her heart in his hand after opening her up to do the autopsy. The man is in the psyche ward now, thinking he is crazy. Simone agrees to go to the morgue to see what she can get off of the victim’s belongings. She is a little psychic and can often read or interpret feelings or events from items or a body. While she is having lunch with him, she feels like something evil is watching her but she cannot see anyone so she shrugs it off.

She and Tate go to the morgue and while they are there she meets the ghost of the victim, Gloria. Gloria has no idea what happened to herself but Jesse tells her she is a ghost. They decide to drive over to the crime scene to try to jar Gloria’s memory.

They get attacked by Daimons but get rescued by a gorgeous but hostile man who may not be there to rescue them after all because he grabs one of the Daimons and demands that he opens a portal to Kalosis. Simone has no idea what the loon is talking about but then another bigger and scarier Daimon walks out of what looks like thin air and snaps a gold bracelet on the hottie-hostile-guy and then another matching bracelet onto her arm. He then tries to kill Simone. Hottie-hostile-guy shoves Simone into her car and gets into the driver’s seat and takes off. The Daimon jumps on the hood of the car but hottie-hostile-guy knocks him off while driving. Then the Daimons start chasing them in another car. Hottie-hostile guy tells her it would probably be easier for if he knew how to drive while he slams into parked cars but also manages to do a good job of getting away. Simone is all of the sudden in the driver’s seat without moving but has no time to question it because she has to get away from the Daimons.

When Simone asks him who the hell he is, he tells her, “Xypher, and you are?”

“Pissed off. You wrecked my car, shoved me around, and are a complete and utter dickhead!”

“Dear God.” He said dryly, “What a mouthful—your mom must have really wanted a son. Mind if I call you ‘Pissed’ for short? The rest of that is just too much to say every time I want your attention.”

When Jesse laughs, Xypher tells him that he needs to be careful or he’ll feed him to a Daimon. Simone is stunned that he can see Jesse. I don’t know why she was stunned since he was able to magically switch seats with her. But this is the kind of interactions they had through-out most of the book and they cracked me up.

He tells her that they are probably stuck together for a while because of the bracelets. He is pretty sure that they are meant to bind the two together. Once they lose the Daimons, they call Tate who refers them to Julian, the son of Aphrodite who lives in New Orleans and teaches Ancient Greek Civilization at Tulane. He tells them that the bracelets were made by the Atlanteans. They are designed to bind a god or someone powerful to someone weaker like a human in order to be able to kill the god by killing the human. So whoever is after Xypher will now try to kill Simone. The other drawback is that they can’t be separated by more than 20 feet without one of them dropping dead. So now they are stuck together for however long it takes to find someone to unlock them.

It doesn’t take too long to figure out that it was Satara who sent the Daimon to put the bracelets on them. She also sent Kaiaphas, an evil demon and Xypher’s brother, after Xypher. Xypher is part dream god and part demon. Kaiaphas has to do what Satara tells him to because she holds his soul.

I absolutely adored Xypher and Simone. Xypher was a real jerk but the things he said were hilarious and he showed some vulnerabilities that just made my heart hurt for him. Simone was just sarcastic as heck and I loved it. I also liked Jesse and his 80’s hang up. I think I went through eight million emotions while reading this book. Who me? Exaggerate? Nooooo!

Xypher is set on getting revenge on Satara but also starting to have feelings for Simone who, while not taking any of his bullshit and could match his sarcasm with her own, was nice to him. She even buys him clothes and food because he had no money and Hades hadn’t given him the power to manifest clothes or food for himself so he had been sleeping on the streets and eating whatever he found. The problem is will Xypher choose Simone or choose revenge?

We got a closer look at some previously mentioned characters and were introduced to some new characters.

As always…or almost always, Acheron made a brief appearance. He gave Simone some sort of cryptic message that came into play later in the story.

Kat helped at one point also. She is pregnant and showing.

The Dimme demon Kerryna who escaped in book #11, Devil May Cry, was in this book. She isn’t as evil as previously believed but she said some of her sisters are so they should be kept locked up. She is in love with one of the Charonte demons who had disappeared in one of the earlier books, Xedrik. He is also Simi and Xirena’s older brother. It turns out that there are quite a few Charonte demons living in New Orleans. They own a bar along with Kyle Peltier, one of the Were-Hunter bears.

The most interesting character we met is Jaden. I’m pretty much in love…again. I still love Urian but I have room in my cheating, two-timing heart to add Jaden. Jaden is a mystery. Kaiaphas summons him by killing a human woman by smashing her onto an oak tree. Apparently, oak trees can be used to summon ancient spirits and other things. Jaden is known by all kinds of different names and is said to be born of the first power. Whatever that is. He is not a demon, nor god, nor human. He’s a go-between for the higher powers and demonkind. Xypher called him evil but I’m not so sure he is totally evil because of some of the things he did. After he spoke with Kaiaphas, he bent down and did a sort of blessing for the dead woman, telling her to “sleep in peace” and thinking what an unnecessary death it was. He did a few other things that seemed not so evil too but it would spoil the book if I mentioned them. Nobody knows who or if he even has a master but he has what looks like a gold collar on his neck.

This was such a good book! It was one of those that I was sad to see end. You would think that Sherrilyn Kenyon couldn’t top this book but I know that the next book is about Acheron and aptly named Acheron and it’s the one all her fans rave about…that and a future book called Styxx…so I’m off to read that now.

List of Terms

Apollites – A race of people made by Apollo with the intention that he would one day replace Zeus. He thought that he could create a race superior to humans. Apollites are stronger and taller than humans with psychic powers. Angered by this, Zeus made declared war on them and exiled them to Atlantis.

When the Apollite queen became jealous of Apollo’s beloved mistress, Ryssa, she ordered Ryssa and her newborn’s son to be killed and ripped apart. In sorrow and rage over this, Apollo cursed all Apollites to die painfully on their 27th birthday because that was how old Ryssa was. They also could no longer live in the daylight and had to live only off of Apollite blood. In doing this, he also cursed his son, Stryker.

Daimon - some Apollites live longer because they have learned to suck the souls out of humans to extend their lives but they have to keep a steady diet of souls to live. Daimons have black tattoo-like marks on their chests like inkblots where they gather souls.

Atlanteans – A race of people who are stronger than humans. They have their own set of gods.

Dark-Hunter – a warrior who sold his soul to the goddess Artemis for a single act of vengeance. They hunt and kill Daimons to protect mankind and are immortal. Each warrior has his own unique power or set of powers such as mind-reading, telekinesis and healing. Because Daimons have animalistic instincts and features such as fangs, so do Dark-Hunters but they do not drink blood. They also cannot go into the sunlight. They cannot marry or have a lover for more than one night. Because Dark-Hunters are so powerful, two cannot be near each other or their powers will drain. They also cannot hurt or kill each other because what one does to the other happens to them also; if one hits and breaks the nose of another Dark-Hunter, his or her nose will break also.

Squire – someone who takes care of a Dark-Hunter. A Squire does everything from running errands to running the household. They are sworn to protect the secrets of the Dark-Hunters.

Dream-Hunter – children of the Greek gods of sleep Morpheus and Phobetor. The goddess Mist or Myst is the mother of most of them but some Dream-Hunters have human mothers. Dream-Hunters visit the dreams of humans, gods and Apollites. There are two kinds of Dream-Hunters, Oneroi and Skoti.

Oneroi – Oneroi are dream gods who visit the dreams of humans, immortals and gods. The Oneroi are in charge of policing dreams and keeping track of the activities of the Skoti to make sure they don’t harm any human.

Zeus cursed the Oneroi because one played a trick on him while in his dream. Zeus cursed them to not have any kind of emotion and the only way they can have emotions are by going into people’s dreams. They are only allowed to visit a person’s dreams once and move on to the next person. There are different classes or types of Oneroi and their roles or assignations can usually be recognized by the first letter of their names.

D’ – are assigned to immortals and gods. They help Dark-Hunters with their nightmares and help them transition from their past mortal life to their new immortal life. These Dream-Hunters are the only ones who can revisit the same person more than once and usually stay with the same Dark-Hunter forever.

M’ – are the enforcers of all Dream-Hunters. They police the Oneroi to keep them from turning into Skoti and are the ones who pass judgement on any who break the rules.

V’ – are the Dream-Hunters who help humans with dreams and nightmares, usually caused by Skoti feeding off of the human’s fear and emotions.

Skoti – an Oneroi turns Skoti (Skotos is the singular form of the word) if they become obsessed by a human’s dreams. They revisit an individual either because they get a high from the human’s emotions or they become infatuated by them. The Dream-Hunter becomes an incubus or succubus. The result drains the human emotionally and physically from lack of sleep and often drives the person insane. Most Skoti are children of Phobetor but not all of Phobetor’s children turn Skoti. Oneroi hunt down and punish Skoti but many of them escape justice and prey on the emotions of humans for centuries.

Gallu Demons – created to fight the Sumerian pantheon’s enemies, specifically the Charonte demons. The horrible demon Asag was used as a donator father for the gallu. The gallu turned on the Sumerians and were uncontrollable. They have two rows of teeth and can turn anyone into one of them if they bite them. They can also enter a person’s dreams if they touch a person first but they are unable to kill anyone in a dream. The only way to kill a gallu is by beheading it, hitting it between the eyes or severing its spinal cord then burning it.

Dimme – seven female Sumerian demons (sisters) who a powerful and uncontrollable even by the gods. They are locked away in a tomb somewhere is the Nevada desert. The seal weakens every few thousand years so the Sumerian gods have to reseal it but there are only two Sumerians left, Sin and Zakar. If the Dimme are ever released, they will destroy the world. show less

The last few Dark-Hunter books were kind of so-so for me, so it was nice to finally find another story in this series that engaged my attention better. Not to mention, I'm thrilled to finally be caught up to Acheron which is the book in the series I've been waiting to read for a long, long time. Although I've been tempted to skip ahead several times, I didn't want to miss any crucial pieces of the overall story arc. Therefore, I've been patiently biding my time and reading every book and short story in the series in order, hoping it will be worth the effort.

The hero of Dream Chaser is Xypher. He's pretty much a typical Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dark-Hunter hero: tall, dark, handsome, and deeply tortured. After being betrayed by Satara, he was show more killed and has spent centuries being physically tortured by Hades in Tartarus. Hades made a bargain with Katra in Devil May Cry to allow Xypher out for one month in order for him to help her and Sin stop the Dimme, a particular type of demon that could bring about the end of the world. Xypher is half-god, half-demon, and was raised by his demon mother's family, so he's never really known any gentleness or love in his life. When he took up his Dream-Hunter side and met Satara in the dream world, he was easily manipulated by her false declarations of love. For her, he turned Skoti and did some terrible things before the gods finally 'put him down.' He spent his time in Tartarus nursing a need for vengeance, and now that he's temporarily free, he's determined to find a way to get into Kalosis and kill Satara before his time is up and he has to return to hell. When the story opens, Xypher is pretty much acting like a big jerk, but after all that he's been through is revealed, his attitude is pretty understandable. There are certain aspects of his character that were very sympathetic, such as the fact that he spent his first week on Earth with nothing to eat, only the clothes on his back, and no place to sleep. When Simone starts showing him even the smallest kindness, like buying him a meal, he's completely suspicious of her motives, which really tugs at the heartstrings. However, from there, he seems to turn around fairly quickly, with few repercussions from all the torment he's suffered through the years. I personally would have preferred more focus on Xypher overcoming his past and learning to trust again, but instead we get him and Simone embroiled in a supernatural serial killer mystery which didn't leave a lot of time for exploring his feelings. Most of his turnaround felt like it was being told rather than shown.

Simone is a very sweet, lovely young woman. She is a medical examiner who currently teaches at the university and only works in the field when her good friend and fellow ME, Tate, calls her in. She thinks that she's some sort of medium or psychic, because she can see ghosts and sometimes talk to dead people. This part of the story reminded me a little bit of the short-lived TV series Tru Calling, although if memory serves, Simone's and Tru's powers work quite a bit differently. This is an intriguing ability I would have liked to see her use a little more, but it really only comes into play during the first few chapters. Despite her ability and knowing Tate is a Dark-Hunter squire, her knowledge of the supernatural world is still pretty limited. When she meets Xypher in a dark alley after being attacked by Daimons and suddenly finds herself essentially handcuffed to the guy, she really has no idea what's she's in for but along the way finds out some surprising things about herself. Simone bore witness to the murder of her mother and brother when she was just a child, sometime later found her father's body after he committed suicide, and spent three years in a children’s home before being adopted, so she's had a really rough life too. Maybe it's because at some time in the past, she came to terms with her all-consuming bitterness and need for vengeance, maybe it was because she channeled that energy into becoming an ME to fight the bad guys, or maybe it was because she had her ghost friend, Jesse, to keep her company and keep her sane. Whatever the reasons, she didn't really come across as what I would call tortured, but because of her past, she did understand Xypher's burning need for revenge even though initially he's pretty reticent. I also like how she just intuitively 'gets' him and doesn't easily take offense at his barbs. Instead, she usually lets them roll right off her as she keeps trying to reach him.

The secondary cast is interesting and varied with several carry-over characters from other Dark-Hunter books. As side-kicks go, Jesse was a pretty amusing one. He died in a car accident in the 1980's and is perpetually stuck at the age of seventeen. Having come of age myself in the 80's, I couldn't help liking him and his obsession with the pop culture of that era. If I'm remembering correctly, Tate has only come into the story in the past when a Dark-Hunter needed to be removed from a sticky situation during day-light hours, so it was nice to see him at work here, although his job seems to be primarily finding creative ways to falsify reports on supernatural killings. We get to see the Native American, Were-Hunter doctor, Carson, again. I like him and wouldn't mind seeing him as a hero in a future book of the series. Other past and future main characters who pop in for a visit: Julian (Fantasy Lover), Stryker (One Silent Night), Dev Peltier (No Mercy), and or course, Acheron (Acheron), although I have to admit that Acheron has been losing some of his edge lately, even though it pains me to say so. He used to be a major scene-stealer, but I haven't found that to be the case as much in these last few books. I certainly hope this changes in his book and he returns to the Ash I know and love. Last but not least, Dream Chaser introduces Jaden. We don't exactly know what he is, just that he's an ancient being who is very powerful and for a price, can grant his summoner the means to do almost anything. I've heard rumors that Jaden will get his own book somewhere down the line and like with Acheron, it will be a pivotal one in the series story arc. When Jaden first appeared, I wasn't sure I liked him very much, but by the end, I was starting to warm up to him. However, the cynical part of me feels like he's merely being set up as a replacement for Acheron since Ash will presumably be largely out of the picture after the next book of the series. Just enough is told about Jaden in this book to make him seem like an Ash clone, but I'll try to keep an open mind if I decide to continue with the series after Ash's book.

Although I thought Dream Chaser was one of the better books in the series, at least among the more recent ones I've read, it still had some weaknesses. For starters, it seemed a little too similar in plot to the first book in the series, Night Pleasures, which also had the hero and heroine handcuffed together temporarily and a heroine who discovers her supernatural powers. As with all of the Dark-Hunter books, there were things that changed or simply occurred at the convenience of the plot. This is something I've never liked, but it wasn't as egregious in this book as some of the others. Probably the most bothersome thing was what happened with the Dimme. I can't say much more without giving away a spoiler, but after the intense battle to keep them locked up in Devil May Cry, it seemed like a bit of stretch. However, I guess I'll just go with it, because if there's one thing I've learned while reading this series, it's that no matter how frustrating something is, you can't fight it. The other main issue I had was that I didn't feel the emotional connection both between the hero and heroine, and with them as a reader, in the way I would have liked. There were some scenes where it was difficult to stay in the moment, and I think a large part of this was because of Ms. Kenyon's penchant for head hopping. I would no sooner get adjusted to the scene from Xypher's POV, than it changed to Simone's or vise versa. Sometimes the author switched back and forth between them several times within one scene, making it very hard to get into each character's mindset and also interrupting the building emotion of the scene. For me as a reader, it is sometimes nice to see one character through the other one's eyes as they observe their reactions and intuit what they might be thinking rather than always knowing. Otherwise, Dream Chaser is a decent story that mostly held my attention, and like I mentioned earlier, I'm relieved to finally be able to read Ash's book next. After that, all bets are off. Lately, I've been feeling like the Dark-Hunter series is getting a little long in the tooth and needs to be put to rest, but as I understand it, there are gobs more books yet to come. With that in mind, it remains to be seen if I'll be able to stay loyal to a series that only occasionally floats my boat these days. show less

Synopsis: Dream Chaser is #21 in the Dark-Hunters series of romances by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Xypher is a twice-damned Dream-Hunter with a checkered past (aren't they all?). In exchange for recently helping the good guys save the world (see Devil May Cry), the lord of the underworld has agreed to allow Xypher to spend one month in the mortal realm as a human. If, at the end of that month he has committed a good deed then he will be free from the underworld to live out the rest of his days on earth as a free man. A normal person wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and would seize the opportunity to be a better person and save themselves from eternal damnation. But no, Xypher is a bitter and reckless sort who prefers to spend his time show more seeking revenge against those who wronged him all those eons ago. Meanwhile, across town, medical examiner Simone Dubois is investigating a grisly murder involving a corpse that actually got up and walked out of the examining room. The cops and the county coroner are stumped, but Simone has a special gift that might help to shed light on the case: she sees dead people. Having witnessed the murder of her mother and younger brother as a child, she has been able to see and speak with ghosts ever since. When she runs into some really nasty soul-sucking Daimons in a dark alley, Xypher arrives on the scene just in the nick of time. He fends off the Daimons, but not before they have time to slap a really nasty curse on our hero and heroine. Unable to move more than 20 feet away from one another, the two must work together to fight off the bad guys and (of course) save the world.

I really liked this book. After meeting Xypher in Devil May Cry, I was looking forward to seeing more of him. He's mean, badass, and snappish - but basically a sweet guy underneath (like any good romance hero). He even does some really kind things for the heroine without intending for her to even find out it was him. Simone is a good Kenyon heroine: she's super-smart, courageous, and has just the right amount of vulnerability to make her likeable. You can tell she really treasures the people she loves. Even though the romance develops pretty rapidly, I think it works in this one. And her ghost sidekick is a pretty adorable character. Story-wise, you get lots more info on the different races of demons that are cropping up left and right in the series lately - and we meet some new characters who will probably become major players in upcoming books. show less

I enjoyed this Dream-Hunter novel more than the first one of the "arc". One of my favorite things was the fact the female lead already had some idea of what was going on, it wasn't a complete blindside and allowed some humor to be interjected. Revenge stories are always riveting and Xypher really did deserve to have that dish served cold. No spoilers buuuuuut I think the way it ended was pretty good. No one likes predictability, amirite?

I find it fun that with her stories, you can have characters from other novels just randomly showing up. Like Acheron for instance (and who doesn't like it when he shows up? ;D). So if you enjoyed a certain God or Demon etc, there's a good chance he or she may make guest appearances.

Looking forward to show more the next Dream-Hunter novel! show less

The Dream God Xypher has four weeks to prove his humanity or be returned to Hades in the Underworld. Xypher instead uses his time to plot revenge against the one responsible for his imprisonment. Simone is a medical examiner with the gift of seeing and speaking to ghosts. Simone uses her gift to help solve murders. One night a chance meeting brings Xypher and Simone together. Xypher and Simone soon discover they need each other to survive the threats to them.

The author's love stories typically stem from "love at almost first sight." This romance stereotype does not really hinder my suspension of disbelief when she is utilizing it. The character development and the romance usually fit the situation without feeling forced. What appeals show more most to me about the Dark Hunter world is the substantial subplots that carry through the entire series. Sherrilyn Kenyon's stories are intricate and subtle clues span multiple books.

I liked Xypher. He is loud, overbearing and sarcastic but he has a troubled past that influences his present. His inner turmoil is very reality-based. And I am honestly more drawn to cranky brooding characters. It was tense debating his ability to do the right thing. Simone was charming enough, but I did not feel a huge connection to her. She had pivotal moments that held my attention. Her past family trauma and how it affects her was well-developed. The romance brewing between the two leads felt organic, and I rooted for their relationship.

This book further integrates the demon races of the series mythology. Here we learn no being, including demons, are evil at birth. It is the individual that chooses their emotional path. I appreciate this theme.

Dream Chaser would work as a stand-alone story. I suggest reading the entire series to enhance the experience. This book links to at least one plot from an earlier book. Repeat characters are present here, and characters introduced in this story become important later. (The demon broker character who we meet here is one of my favorites in the entire series.)

This review represents my opinion after the second read through of the book. All opinions are my own and may not match that of others. I urge all readers to come to their own conclusion. show less