Dark Dreamers

Dark Dreamers is an anthology by Christine Feehan and Marjorie M. Liu.

Dark Dream
She's known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon--the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate.

A Dream of Stone & Shadow
There are those who do terrible things in this world, and those who simply watch. Charlie would do neither. Imprisoned, his only release is through his own destruction--or through Aggie Durand. Sweet as a kiss or a rescued child, she is the one dream he does not dare desire. As an agent of Dirk & Steele, she could be his salvation. Today, Charlie's dream is waking.

I must admit I've read only a few books by Christine Feehan. In general, I thought they were OK, but they didn't make me want to seek out all of her work. In fact, "Dark Dream" is the first Carpathian story of hers I've read; I actually read books from two different series. I thought the premise of this one sounded interesting. I liked the "known him since 15, but don't know who he is" angle. However, I ended up sticking with my "OK, but not terrific" opinion.

My main reason is this: there's not much character conflict. There's a quick introduction and some initial distrust on Sara's part, but this is dispatched quickly. From almost the beginning, there's very little to keep Falcon and Sara apart. Sure, there is an evil vampire who comes after Sara, but there's very little else to the story.

If you like the Carpathian series, though, you might enjoy it more. There are other Carpathian characters as well, who I'm guessing were featured in previous stories. They help the external plot along, and if you've read the previous books, it's probably nice to get this glimpse of how the couples are doing now. Overall, this story rates 3 out of 5.

"A Dream of Stone & Shadow" is the shorter and stronger of the two stories. Liu has a knack for creating interesting situations and original characters, and she does it well in this story. I don't want to say anything more about the plot than the blurb gives away, because I want to avoid spoiling the story. Suffice it to say I thought it struck a nice balance of action and romance. The ending in particular was terrific.

The story transported me back to the magic of Tiger Eye, which I loved for its unique premise and emotional story. "A Dream of Stone & Shadow" struck me in a similar way. Aggie is a wonderful heroine. Charlie fascinated me, and I wanted to know more about him. This story rates 4.5 out of 5.