Dream Chaser (A Dream-Hunter Novel, Book 3)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Sherrilyn Kenyon

The spellbinding Dream-Hunter series continues!

Hades doesn’t often give second chances...

Xypher has one month on Earth to redeem himself through one good deed or be condemned to eternal torture in Tarturus. But redemption means little to a demigod who only wants vengeance on the one who caused his downfall.

Until one day in a cemetery...

Simone Dubois is a medical examiner with a real knack for the job. Those who are wrongfully killed appear to her and help her find the evidence the police need to convict their killers. But when a man appears and tells her that she’s more than just a psychic, she’s convinced he’s insane.

Now the fate of the world hangs in her hands...

It was bad enough when just the dead relied on her. Now’s there’s the seductive Dream-Hunter Xypher who needs Simone’s help in opening a portal to the Atlantean hell realm to fight insatiable demons. The future of mankind is at stake—and so is her life. The only question now is: Who is the bigger threat: the demons out to kill her, or the man who has left her forever changed?

“Brisk, ironic, sexy, and relentlessly imaginative.”—Boston Globe

Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Put My Interest in the Series to Bed... Permanently February 22, 2008
32 out of 46 found this review helpful

Over the last year I've been seriously questioning why I keep buying the Whatever-Hunters books as they continue their downward slide into failed novel series that should have ended long ago when the author lost that creative spark. I absolutely hated the last one, but for some reason the overwhelming positive reviews lured me back in.

The only reason I can figure that this book has been getting such high praise is 1) the fence sitters have already left the building so there is no voice left to counter the super-fans who would give five stars to anything with Sherrilyn Kenyon's name on it 2) the book is only marginally better than the last four or five and people are just so happy to see any improvement that they are willing to grade it on the curve.

There is really nothing new or original that I can say about Dream Chaser that I and many other readers have not already said, multiple times, about the last half dozen novels. That's okay because the originality in this book has long left the station. In Dream Chaser, our two love birds are chained together via magical handcuffs and they must work together to stop the blood sucking demons haunting the streets of the Big Easy while exchanging canned action movie dialogue. The emo-boy hero whines constantly about how awful his life is because he had the bad judgment to fall in love with Cruella DeVille many centuries ago, and the heroine, whose spent her life running away from the magic mojo powers inside her, puts out out of pity. Then they realize that it must be love! In case you didn't key in on it, this book is a re-write of the very first Dark Hunter novel. If you read that then you've already read a superior version of this. Not only does it make Dream Chaser trite and unoriginal, but incredibly cynical too. Cynical that the author thought she could slip her recycling act by us, especially when it seems like she's doing her best to eliminate all but the hardest of the hard-core from her fan base. You know, the people that read the books so many times that the pages are falling out and should be most likely to spot the blatant similarities.

It felt like an absolute chore to read. Characters still feel like they are talking at one another rather than to one another, and everybody regardless of age still talks like a gum-snapping valley girl. Characterization is still as subtle as a brick to the face with anyone either being mawkishly virtuous or so evil that it isn't hard to imagine them biting the heads off of newborn kittens.

What else can I say? I've payed my dues as a loyal fan against my better judgment. I've withstood the increasingly amateurish prose, muddled unwieldy world building, terrible dialogue, and juvenile characterization for many book now and I'm finally ready to put this series to bed. Kenyon has cranked out at least five terrible book in the space of a year and that speaks of someone more concerned with quantity than quality. If the author doesn't care, then I certainly can't be bothered to.

5 out of 5 stars

Xypher's Story February 11, 2008
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

If you have read DEVIL MAY CRY you have some idea who Xypher is, if not, he is a Phobatory Skotos, one of the Dream Gods, who brings nightmares and eats the dreams of humans for emotion. Zeus has condemned them to have no emotions. Xypher was sentenced to Tartarus for his misdeeds. In DEVIL MAY CRY he helped Sin defeat the dimme demons and for that he was promised a month on earth to redeem himself by doing a good deed.

Xypher didn't think Hades would abide by the bargain but now he finds himself on Earth. He is given only his clothes and strength and memories. He has been living on the streets, finding food where ever he can and sleepiing standing up. But the only thing he wants is to find a way into Kalosis so he can destroy the one who betrayed him and left him in hell.

Simone Dubois is a medical examiner with Tulane, she is a contemporay of Tate who is the medical examiner for New Orleans. Tate is also a squire for the Dark Hunters, he has seen many things that others would not believe, only Simone knows about all the other supernaturals that populate our world. She has the ability to see and talk to ghosts. As a matter of fact a ghost lives with her. She helps Tate when he needs it.

When a body gets up off the examining table and walks out, Tate calls Simone. She goes with Tate to look at the scene of the crime. The woman's throat was torn out. While there they are attacked by daimons, Xypher is trying to force the daimons to open a portal to Kalosis, where Satara has gone to hide from him. He saves Simone but Satara has a plan, she will use Atlantian braclets to kill Xypher, by putting the bracelets on him and Simone if she dies he dies. His brother is a demon and he is the one sent to kill her after the spathi daimons chain them togather.

From here the story justs gets better and better. We meet up with Julian and others from other books. This is the best of the Dream Hunter books so far. I loved it and there are so many surprises. I liked Xypher in DEVIL MAY CRY and I am thrilled to get his story. Do not miss it. Good Reading.

2 out of 5 stars

I need to get off the Sherrilyn Kenyon train February 16, 2008
16 out of 20 found this review helpful

This book was better than her last few attempts (hence the 2 star, not 1 star review) but honestly...it was still a pretty bad story. Apparently, I'm in the minority with this conclusion. While I was reading this story, it just felt like I've read it before. And I realized that I had....the last several Kenyon books sounded EXACTLY like this story. This book was a real case of same old, same old...For example:

1)Same old "teenagers in a mall" language - ex. Jesse - Grody to the max. Gag me with a spoon. I've seen you in the mornings. Huh?

2)Same old "tired" plot - Tortured hero meets do-gooder heroine. Do gooder heroine just wants to show tortured hero that there is someone out there who cares about him. And that someone is her. - How many stories did Sherrilyn use this plot in? Unfortunately, too many to count.

Same old "gorgeous" hero - I'm sorry, but is anyone else tired of seeing the same men (with different color hair and eyes) in her stories? Good Lord, can we have some average looking guys here? What about average looking and under 7 feet? Pretty please.

What else can I say? The romance between Xypher and Simone was just a little too, "Gift of the Magi." I kill myself to save your life, but you give up your soul to save mine? Plus, the ending was just a little too quick. The entire book was about him getting into Kalosis to deal with Satara. You know, the person who initially betrayed him, and sent him into hell in the first place.

Well, what does he do when he finally sees her? Make another deal with her and kills himself. Again. That's it. That's how he deals with the person he spent centuries hating. Why would he have thought she would have kept her word this time? She didn't the last time. The truth is, he would have NEVER trusted this woman again.

By ending this book with a whimper, instead of a bang solidified my previous thoughts about Sherrilyn's stories: I really need to get off the Sherrilyn Kenyon train.

5 out of 5 stars

4.5 - Stars - This Dream Hunter is worth another try! February 6, 2008
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

With Dream Chaser, Kenyon is back to doing what she did so well in the earlier Dark Hunter books, Xypher is a dark and tormented character who stirs your sympathy and Simone is a heroine you truly believe can bring him redemption.

Xypher half demon half god former Skotos has been damned to Tartarus and been left to suffer thousands of years of torture because he dared to love and chose the wrong woman. Now he has been given thirty days in the human world and a shot at full pardon if he can accomplish something good, but Xypher knows exactly what he wants to accomplish in his free month and good has nothing to do with it. He is filled with centuries of rage and plans to wreck vengeance on the one responsible for his suffering before returning to eternal torture. Aware of the danger Skatara, the object of Xypher's wrath, sets out to destroy him permanently, sending an assassin with immortality nullifying magical cuffs. The assassin fails his first attempt but Xypher ends up magically linked to human Simone unable to be more than a few feet apart from each other with out the cuffs spell killing them both, and the cuff's powers also ensure that if Simone is killed Xypher will die. Simone is psychic, she sees ghosts, and as medical examiner for New Orleans she is not totally unaware of the `bump in the night' world of Xypher's hunters. But Simone is much more than she seems and her experiences and life view make it possible to see past Xypher's rage to something more vulnerable. So while Simone's mortality is what makes it possible to kill the immortal Xypher, it just may be that Simone's innate kindness, humor and humanity will be the key to his redemption.

One of the things that makes Dream Chaser work for me where the other Dream Hunters haven't is that Xypher's initial rage shows his potential for a depth of feeling where the lack of emotions in the other Dream Hunters left them sterile and made it difficult to connect or care about them as characters. And once we get Xypher's back story and begin to understand Xypher though Simone's very insightful perceptions, we do actually care for him. There is a sense of a hidden yearning for love even when his attempts to gain it in the past have cost him so much. I also really liked the way that Simone's relationship with Jesse, a ghost that has been Simone's family and constant companion since her family's death when she was a child, helps to build Xypher's trust in Simone and show him that love can be something good and true. As always it is fun to see Kenyon take advantage of the world and characters she has built, and old favorite characters have cameos -- Julian Alexander, Kat and Archeron appear - and new and interesting ones make appearances. Though I admit at this point I am having trouble keeping track of everyone in her vast and complicated pantheon.

After my disappointment with the early Dream Hunters, I hadn't planned on reading Dream Chaser. I disliked the shorts and the first novel, and avoided Upon a Midnight Clear because it sounded like more of the same from the reactions of other reviewers, but I'm on Kenyon's mailing list and the excerpt from Dream Chaser intrigued me enough that I decided to give the Dream Hunters one more try. Boy, am I glad I did!

5 out of 5 stars

Loved it! February 6, 2008
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I had waited anxiously for Xypher's story but was worried because the first two Dream-Hunter books were disappointing. But Sherrilyn Kenyon did a wonderful job with Dream Chaser. I just couldn't put it down. Many of my favorite characters made an appearance in this book and several new ones were introduced. I enjoy the world that Sherrilyn Kenyon has created and how she has weaved all these characters into it. It may not always work perfectly but this time, it did. Got to admit, I can't wait for Acheron's book and there is a sneak peek at the end of Dream Chaser.

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