She could never forget the boy with the ice blue eyes...She was only twelve when she saw the silver boy on the beach, but Jenny has never stopped dreaming about him. Now she is grown, a marine biologist charting her own course in the family business -- a corporation that covertly crosses the boundaries of science into realms of the unknown...and the incredible.
And now he has found her again, her boy grown into a man: Perrin, powerful and masculine, and so much more than human, leaving Jenny weak with desire, and aching for his touch.
But with their reunion comes danger. For Perrin and Jenny -- and all living creatures -- their only hope for preventing the unthinkable lies in a mysterious empire far beneath the sea...and in the power of their dreams.
IN THE DARK OF DREAMS is a book about yearning. It's also a book about the ocean, dreaming, merpeople, magic (both real and fictionalized), dolphins, loss, betrayal, trust, hope, failure, redemption, love, discovery, the power of believing, how 1+1 sometimes = more than 2, and a little bit about a kind, sad boy who can start fires with his mind. (Oh, Eddie! I can't wait for your book. <3) I loved this story for all those things, even the hard things, but most of all for the yearning. And, in my opinion, nobody writes yearning better than Marjorie Liu.
This, the tenth book in Marjorie's very excellent Dirk & Steele paranormal romance series, has a slightly different flavor than the others. I typically describe these books as being very action-forward--they almost have an urban fantasy feel to them, though the romance is always front and center. And, while there was still plenty of action in this book, there was something about it that left more room for Perrin and Jenny. As if, between those action scenes, their longing for each other swelled to fill every available crevice, ballooning up and off the page, larger and deeper and more hungry than that of previous Dirk & Steele couples.
I really enjoyed Perrin and Jenny. Perrin, especially, is richly drawn. He's a complicated man: equal parts impassioned revolutionary and world-weary cynic, stony warrior and hopeless romantic. Jenny is unapologetically practical yet driven entirely by her obsession with a merman she saw on a beach when she was a child--a paradoxical combination that I absolutely loved. There was a grittiness to them that made them both seem very real (despite one of them being a merman), and that quality seeped into their romance. They did not sweep each other off their feet; they crept ever closer to each other, hesitant, tentative, insecure. They did not make poetic declarations of their love for one another; they allowed their actions to speak for them, in bold statements of loyalty, commitment, trust, tenderness, sacrifice. I have to say it again: the romance in this book--the longing, the hope, the surrender--is beautifully written.
I also felt the world around Perrin and Jenny was especially vivid. Much of this story takes place in or on the ocean and Marjorie has done an amazing job of bringing the sea to life. For those who have read previous Dirk & Steele books, we also learn more of Rik's story and a bit about Eddie, who, I'm not ashamed to admit, I'm already half in love with. He stole every scene he was in.
All in all, a beautifully written and well crafted love story. Despite it being the tenth book in the series, I feel you could easily pick this up and enjoy it without having read previous books. Though, after reading this book, you'll definitely want to read the others.
You can read the prologue here, on Marjorie's blog. You can pre-order here: B&N | Indiebound | Amazon
IN THE DARK OF DREAMS releases on November 30, 2010.
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