THE DREAM THIEF
Author: Shana Abé ISBN: 0553588052 9/2007 HISTORICAL/PARANORMAL Publisher: BANTAM DELL
Time Period: 1768 - England & Carpathian Mountains
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In the remote hills of northern England lives a powerful clan with a centuries-old secret. They are the drákon, shape-shifters who possess the ability to Turn—changing from human to smoke to dragon. And from the very stones of the earth, they hear hypnotic songs of beauty and wonder. But there is one stone they fear....
Buried deep within the bowels of the Carpathian Mountains lies the legendary dreaming diamond known as Draumr, the only gem with the power to enslave the drákon. Since childhood, Lady Amalia Langford, daughter of the clan’s Alpha, has heard its haunting ballad but kept it secret, along with another rare Gift....
Lia can hear the future, much in the way she hears the call of Draumr. And in that future, she realizes that the diamond—along with the fate of the drákon—rests in the hands of a human man, one who straddles two worlds.
Ruthlessly clever, Zane has risen through London’s criminal underworld to become its ruler. Once a street urchin saved by Lia’s mother, Zane is also privy to the secrets of the clan—and is the only human they trust to bring them Draumr. But he does nothing selflessly.
Zane’s hunt for the gem takes him to Hungary, where he is shocked to encounter a bold, beautiful young noblewoman: Lia. She has broken every rule of the drákon to join him, driven by the urgent song of Draumr—and her visions of Zane. In one future, he is her ally. In another, her overlord. In both, he is her lover. Now, to protect her tribe, Lia must tie her fate to Zane’s, to the one man capable of stealing her future—and destroying her heart.... |
RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: 
THE DREAM THIEF earns a Top Pick for the romance that is, at times, so sweetly touching, that I swallow a lump in my throat to tell of it. Two more opposite lovers surely are too difficult to find than these. But, as THE DREAM THIEF is a work of true romantic fiction, meaning there is a somewhat happy ending as the boy does get the girl, they also get a lot of trouble. But, as that shall no doubt be addressed in the next book I won't worry about it here. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that the wanting/needing but depriving themselves of one another type of romance in THE DREAM THIEF is the primary reason I like it.
As for the rest of the characters and plot, well, they are no doubt essential, but just mediocre in my opinion. I enjoy some of the diamond hunting elements, and the scenery that accompanies it, as well as the legends surrounding the dragons. It is all very interesting, but not quite as descriptive or enthralling as I like.
As Abé is very gifted at writing a story of lovers and combining it with a unique paranormal, I look forward to seeing Lia and Zane in the next book, QUEEN OF DRAGONS.
Shannon Johnson |