Review - Dreamless

by Josephine Angelini
publisher: HarperTeen
date of publication: May 29, 2012
format: digital review copy
pages: 302
source: Edelweiss
read it in: 4 days

From Goodreads:

Can true love be forgotten?

As the only Scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.

Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out—a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies’ cry for blood is growing louder.

As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen’s sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.

Josephine Angelini’s compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding as an unforgettable love triangle emerges and the eternal cycle of revenge intensifies. Eagerly awaited, this sequel to the internationally bestselling STARCROSSED delivers a gritty, action-packed love story that exceeds expectation.

After her world was rocked by an earth-shattering revelation, Helen Hamilton is given little time to come to terms with all that has just happened to her.  Instead, she must set out to track down the Furies so that she may bring to an end their perpetual anger toward the Scions, thus ending the bloodshed of the past thousands of years.  As the Descender, it is up to Helen to do what others can't, all the while trying to hold up the facade of a normal teenage girl and keeping her ever-eroding sanity intact.  As a new ally arrives to lend her aid, a new, even more dangerous adversary has their sights set upon Helen.  If this new enemy succeeds, then life as Helen knows it could come to an end.

Oh, Helen, Helen, Helen.  What ever are we going to do with you?  Helen continues to be ever more stubborn in Dreamless, but there is one little word that makes her stubbornness and poor judgment make sense: hubris.  If Helen's behavior had not been put into such great perspective by one teensy little word, I would have likely been much more upset with her and unable to see the bigger picture.  As it was, I became more disillusioned with Lucas as I watched him go off the deep end.  He surprised me in the end, however, with some well-timed developments and an attitude change.  It is a new character by the name of Orion, however, that caught my attention.  Now this is a guy I can root for for Helen!  Aside from the obvious reason (read Starcrossed if you haven't already, because I'm not telling!), Orion was an altogether more appealing match for Helen.  I found him to be more empathetic and reasonable than Lucas.  As such, I was fairly content with what I read of the characters and look forward to seeing more of what they will be up to in the future.

I found the plot in Dreamless even more appealing than I found the one that makes up Starcrossed.  There are some truly brutal occurrences that show us that the Scions' adversaries aren't messing around.  The plots cooked up by the antagonists and the lengths to which Helen must go in her attempt to put an end to the Scions' hounding at the hands of the Furies made Dreamless so much more compelling and I was easily drawn into the story.  The descriptions of the different areas of the Underworld that Helen visits are so vivid and, at times, absolutely chilling.  I couldn't help but being mesmerized by each and every landscape that was described.  Overall, Dreamless just really worked well for me and I was able to end the book with contentment.  I'm glad to say I will be continuing with this series!  

Dreamless takes the potential that Starcrossed brought to the table and makes it better with even more interesting character interactions, vivid scenery, and a gut-wrenching series of threats.  Angelini skillfully weaves several themes from Greek mythology into a tapestry of tragic, grueling circumstances and challenges.  If you're a fan of mythological variations, you will enjoy Dreamless.  From its interpretations on key figures in mythology to some truly horrific moments, Dreamless catches you up and makes your imagination take flight.  This series is really going places and I can't wait to find out what's next for Helen, Lucas, Orion, and the rest of the Scions.   

Buy Dreamless at the Following Locations:

Amazon / IndieBound / B&N / The Book Depository

Obligatory legal statement: This digital review copy was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via Edelweiss. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.