Review: The Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The Dream Hunter
(Dark-Hunter #10)
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher: St, Martin’s Press
Publication date: Feb. 6, 2007
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:

In the ethereal world of dreams, there are champions who fight to protect the dreamer and there are demons who prey on them…

Arik is such a predator. Condemned by the gods to live eternity without emotions, Arik can only feel when he’s in the dreams of others. For thousands of years, he’s drifted through the human unconscious, searching for sensation. Now he’s finally found a dreamer whose vivid mind can fill his emptiness.

Dr. Megeara Kafieri watched her father ruin himself and his reputation as he searched to prove Atlantis was real. Her deathbed promise to him to salvage his reputation has now brought her to Greece where she intends to prove once and for all that the fabled island is right where her father said it was. But frustration and bad luck dog her every step. Especially the day they find a stranger floating in the sea. His is a face she’s seen many times…. in her dreams.

What she doesn’t know is that Arik holds more than the ancient secrets that can help her find the mythical isle of Atlantis. He has made a pact with the god Hades: In exchange for two weeks as a mortal man, he must return to Olympus with a human soul. Megeara’s soul.

With a secret society out to ruin her expedition, and mysterious accidents that keep threatening her life, Megeara refuses to quit. She knows she’s getting closer to Atlantis and as she does, she stumbles onto the truth of what Arik really is.

For Arik his quest is no longer simple. No human can know of a Dream-Hunter’s existence. His dream of being mortal has quickly turned into his own nightmare and the only way to save himself will be to sacrifice the very thing he wanted to be human for. The only question is, will he?

Arik is a dream-hunter, which means he enters people’s dreams, and only there can he feel emotion. When he stumbles across Geary’s vivid dreams filled with emotion and passion, he latches onto her and becomes obsessed with her. So much so that he strikes a deal with Hades. If Hades sends him to the human world as a human (so that he can be with Geary for real) then he will grant Hades a favor. Except the price Arik must pay is the one thing he desires most.

I have adored this series immensely… however, this one just didn’t work for me. I loved that it dealt with Atlantis and Greek Gods galore, but I found myself rather bored the majority of the time. I never fully grasped onto the plot or the characters. Between Arik’s ability to go into dreams, to the random God’s side-stories, there just never seemed to be a solid story line. Not to mention that their relationship was awful. I mean, Arik makes a deal with Hades so that he can be human for a brief period of time just so that he can have sex with a woman he’s been screwing in her dreams. What?! The whole point of Arik’s story is to just have sex with a human in the flesh, a human he’s been pretty much perving on for a long time via her dreams.

I wanted to like this one, but there was just too much that didn’t work for me. I will still continue with the series, but I will definitely be a bit apprehensive if another dream hunter book pops up.

Previous reviews from Dark-Hunter
Fantasy Lover
Night Pleasure
Dance with the Devil
Kiss of Night
Night Play
Seize the Night