“THE DREAM HUNTER” BY SHERRILYN KENYON
This is one of these novels that on the one hand irritate the heck out of you (and I’ll explain why later on) and on the other entertain and engage you enough to make you want to read more…
The novel is an interesting combination of fantasy and reality, in which the author uses Greek mythology in a most unusual way. “The Dream-Hunter” is the first book in a new series by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and it takes place in the late 90’s on the Greek island of Santorini.
Dr. Megeara Kafieri grew up watching her family disintegrate while searching for the illusive Atlantis and swore that it would never be her life. However, on his deathbed her father begs her to continue his life’s work and find Atlantis. He leaves behind a strange old box with an even older coin with strange writing on it for Megeara, which finally convinces her that perhaps Atlantis really exists somewhere at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. And one day she fishes an attractive stranger out of the sea; one she has seen many times before… in her dreams.
However, Arikos is not an ordinary man; he’s a dream god who made a pact with Hades so he can spend two weeks as a human with the woman that so enticed him in her dreams. But the price they both will have to pay for his impulsive act may be too high for them both.
What makes this story quite interesting is the way the author weaves mythological figures and makes them walk among humans, bringing a new and appealing class of characters. However, that’s the only positive thing I can say about it. I mentioned above that at times the book gets really irritating and the reason for it is the language. First of all, there are many mistakes; grammatical, stylistic and lexical. Ok, so some of them are pure typos but at some point you say to yourself: what the heck? What were the editors doing? Sleeping through it? At times it simply gets too annoying.
Secondly, the characters are a mixture of Americans of obscure backgrounds (however, they are mainly scientists) and Greeks, which I assume have some kind of higher education since they speak perfect English (or American, I should say). Putting that thought aside, the rest are the gods, goddesses, demigods and dark hunters, who also speak American perfectly, as well as ancient Greek and some other languages. It’s only natural since they are gods after all, right?
Anyway, what I have a problem with is the fact that the language the characters use (and I mean all of them, Greek and American alike) is not adequate to the circumstances and the environment the story takes place in. No Greek, or any European for that matter, even the most educated one, would speak English loaded with southern American phrases and dialect typical to a white southern person. And it takes me back again to the fact that the editors working for this publisher should either do their jobs better or be fired.
Moreover, the characters aren’t well developed, a bit one-dimensional, actually. There really is not depth to them, and their reactions are almost predictable. However, even so combined with the event of the story, they somehow manage to draw your attention. And once you get past the language and the fact that no European or otherworldly creature would speak in a certain fashion, you may actually enjoy yourself…