Dreamless

Holy cow! My emotions are all over the place. This may be the very first book that I have ever read where I felt like I needed to take short periodic breaks while reading it so that I could get hold of my emotions. And the ending chapters of the book? Why could my eyes not move faster? Why couldn't my reading comprehension go faster? I couldn't eat up the pages fast enough. I needed to see Helen through the intense action of the story, but I couldn't get there when I wanted to be there. I had to pull out all of my patient book reading mojo so that I could relax and enjoy the action. So many times during the story something would happen or a member of the main trio of leads in this story would make a decision, and I would stop and say to myself, "This is not going to end up well." And I have to be honest, most of the time it did not end well.The short story to this review: This was an amazing second book of the Starcrossed series! Read it . . . after you've read Starcrossed, book one, of course!!!Now here are the details: First of all, this is a trilogy, and this book stays true to most formulas involving trilogies . . . bad things are going to happen -- things that are going to have to be resolved in book three. So I know this. I expect it. But expecting it doesn't make it any easier. Oh man, this was a wild ride for our heroine, Helen!First of all -- the romance. In book one Helen loves Lucas, Lucas loves Helen, Helen's newly arrived and borderline mental mother explains that Helen is really Lucas's first cousin. All this romantic love is now taboo, big time. But here's the thing . . . I know as a reader what Helen and Lucas do not know -- Helen's mom is a big, fat liar! Helen and Lucas are not related, so they are totally free to make googly eyes at each other all day long and even take things farther if they so desire. So for this ENTIRE book Lucas and Helen fight their attraction to one another, sometimes in rotten ways. Lucas is gone (at least everyone thinks he is gone) from the story for a good portion of the book, and he is a big grump for another good portion -- all in order to try and protect Helen and prevent the two of them from getting it on accidentally on purpose one day. This was soooo frustrating to read -- but in a good way. The writing was done wonderfully so that I never got annoyed with this story line, but it was still so frustrating for me as a reader to be rooting for the two of them to be together, knowing that there was absolutely no reason for them to be apart. I wanted so badly to insert myself into the story so that I could yell out, "Hey lovebirds! You might want to double-check your source about your family relationship. I have a huge suspicion that she might be a selfish, lying, bumface!" But I couldn't do that, and it worked out okay. Nothing has gotten resolved by the end of this book, but things aren't going to be so rocky in this regard at least.And enter into the story romantic interest number two. Orion is able to help Helen as she descends into the Underworld to try and find the Furies. I loved this character. I have to admit I wouldn't have been totally unhappy if Helen had decided to form a romantic attachment to him. Orion has a tragic history and has been on the run from just about everyone since he was ten years old. And yet he has such a sunny and optimistic personality. It was infectious, and I was so glad he was with Helen, especially because she was feeling so much despair without him. It was a strange love triangle to read because I really was rooting for both of the guys. I liked them both equally, but I never really felt pulled in two directions. I still feel like Helen and Lucas are ultimately meant to be together, but I feel just as strongly that they will be able to do this without hurting Orion. I don't know how this will happen, but my reading heart tells me that it will be okay.Why was this book such a harrowing experience for my nerves? Well, Helen had a crazy difficult task. Every night she had to wander the Underworld looking for the Furies, not knowing exactly what she was doing. Every night she was placed in horrendous situations, and every morning she would wake up filthy, tired, and usually injured in some way. Orion made things easier for her, but the main problem was that Helen was unable to dream, hence the name of the story I suspect. Even as a scion Helen was susceptible to the side effects of multiple nights of dreamless sleep. She never felt rested. Her nerves were completely on edge. She started to feel as if she were hallucinating. She was a complete mess, and if things didn't improve soon, she wasn't going to make it to a book three. All of this is going on in the Underworld, but in the real world she was also being threatened by this mega weird and mega powerful soldier entity that appeared to be invincible. Some plan against her was in the works, and no one knew how to prevent it. So the action of the book got more and more intense as the pages flew by. You know who I was impressed with? The human friends who continued to hang out with this band of scions, even when things got crazy and dangerous. That was amazing!This book does not end with things all nice and tidy. As a matter of fact, everyone barely gets to the end of the book intact. There are still lots of things to sort out, and really there are a whole lot of new problems that are getting ready to smack right into this merry group of Greek tragedy stars. I thought it was interesting that in the end it was the compassion of Helen, Lucas, and Orion that doomed their plans. I am already on the edge of my seat in anticipation for the final book in this trilogy. I wonder if in the end it will be their compassion that will end up saving everyone. I have to believe that that is true. This was an excellent middle book for the Starcrossed trilogy that I highly recommend, especially if you are a big fan of paranormal romances that involve Greek mythology. I loved it, and I'm already headed out to re-acquaint myself with some of these stories from mythology that I have haven't read for ages. Great book!

When we read Starcrossed, we knew Josephine Angelini was a Goddess. Everyone I have convinced to read that first book of this trilogy was a) totally in love with the story and characters and b) totally devastated they needed to wait a whole year for the next book! Now that the second book, Dreamless, is here, you are going to feel the same way. Dreamless will leave you breathless, leave your heart pounding and leave you wanting MORE!Helen is the Descender. She can go into the Underworld and is the only hope for the Scions to find a way to defeat the Furies. The Furies' curse leaves all Scions with an uncontrollable rage to murder anyone with a blood debt, even if their blood debt was protecting the very family member who is now overcome by the Furies and wants to kill them. It is a never-ending cycle that keeps the houses divided and families torn apart. Helen is the only hope, but every night as she descends, she loses a little bit of herself in the Underworld.As Helen wanders around aimlessly, she feels her mission is hopeless, but when she encounters Orion, everything changes. Orion is another Scion, one she should be trying to kill, thanks to the Furies, but in the Underworld, all Scion curses and powers are suspended. Orion is undoubtedly an attractive young Scion, but Helen still can't get Lucas out of her mind. After she found out she and Lucas were cousins, she has tried to move on, but she just can't stop the feeling of happiness and joy when she is with him. But with her mission at hand, Helen puts aside her own desires to stop the Furies, with Orion at her side. Night after night, they descend and get a little bit closer to the solution, but their time is running out. Helen is dying as a result of her descending and she is caught between two impossible and beautiful loves: one who is a cousin and is forbidden to her despite her love for him, and one who she can only be with in the Underworld without wanting to kill. Can she stop the Furies AND sort out the terror in her heart?Oh this was SUCH a good follow up to SUCH a good first novel that Josephine Angelini is my new favorite author. There are a lot of authors I love and follow, but Angelini will now be one of the select few I use to define my favorite reading experiences (and that is a limited crowd!). She has a way of spinning a masterful web of a story and leaving you to crave more and more and more. Her characters are amazing and so real and complicated you will find yourself wanting to know them for real (despite fully acknowledging that they are fictional and that would of course make you a crazy person). Sometimes I think it is easier to write an amazing break out novel than it is to write a follow up novel that lives up to the greatness of the first. But Angelini has accomplished that goal in spades. She will leave you remembering the greatness of Starcrossed while loving Dreamless even more!The best part of this series is there is one more book to go (but maybe if we beg and plead there will be more than just one more to go!). This is an amazing series for anyone, adult or young adult, who loves Greek mythology or just needs some epic storytelling in their lives. It is one of the best trilogies I have found in a LONG time and I am so glad I found this author and this trilogy. If you need some summer reading to keep you going out on that beach or anywhere, for that matter, pick up this series. You will be thanking me later!

Nachdem Helen erfahren musste, dass ihre große Liebe Lucas eigentlich ihr Cousin ist, und das nachdem sie gerade erst vom Fluch der Furien befreit wurde, lebt sie am Rande der Verzweiflung. Ihr größtes Ziel ist es nun, den Teufelskreis aus Hass unter den Scions zu durchbrechen, damit wieder Frieden einkehren kann. Während sie Nacht für Nacht in die Unterwelt hinabsteigt und dort unerwartete Hilfe erfährt, braut sich an der Oberfläche jedoch neues Unheil zusammen. Ein unheimliches Wesen beobachtet Helen und ihre Freunde. Und auch die Götter haben ihre eigenen Pläne für sie.Machen wir doch mal lustiges Bücherraten. Wem kommen die folgenden Umstände bekannt vor?- Nachdem die beiden Hauptcharaktere sich verliebt haben, stellen sie fest, dass sie eigentlich verwandt miteinander sind.- In Band 2 versucht sich der Junge von dem Mädchen, das er unsterblich liebt, fernzuhalten, indem er sie z.B. gegen sich aufbringt.- Da der Junge und das Mädchen gut zwei Drittel des Buches getrennt voneinander agieren, führt die Autorin einen zweiten männlichen Charakter ein.- Prompt empfindet die weibliche Protagonistin verwirrende Gefühle für eben diesen.- Der Leser befindet sich in der Zwickmühle: wer ist denn nun "der Richtige" für Helen?Man merkt wohl schon, dass ich einige Male laut aufgestöhnt habe und mir sagte "Nicht schon wieder das!!" Allerdings verbindet Josephine Angelini diese "Anleihen" mit ihren ganz eigenen Ideen. Und die Sagenwelt der griechischen Mythologie ist definitiv etwas Neues. An dieser Stelle möchte ich anmerken, dass viele Anspielungen oder Handlungsstränge schwer zu verstehen sind ohne Kenntnis dieser griechischen Geschichten. Ohne Band 1 gelesen zu haben, wird man diesen Band wohl auch sicherlich nicht verstehen. Zudem bleiben auch am Ende viele Fragen ungeklärt, auch hinsichtlich der Beziehungen zwischen den Charakteren.Mir gefiel, wie sich Helen als Charakter weiter entwickelt hat. Sie ist unabhängig, bildet sich ihre eigene Meinung und handelt auch danach. Orion, der "neue", der eine Reinkarnation des Aeneas darstellen soll, ist ein sehr netter, mitfühlender und unkomplizierter Junge. Man würde sich für ihn wünschen, dass er nicht, wie scheinbar alle anderen Männer/Jungen auch, sofort Helen ("the Face") verfällt. Selbst Morpheus, Gott des Schlafes, ist selbstverständlich in sie verliebt und würde scheinbar Alles für sie tun.Der Schreibstil ist flüssig und angenehm zu lesen. Die Sprache wechselt zwischen einfach und bildhaft, einige Textpassagen fand ich hier besonders schön.Ich habe lange überlegt, ob ich dem Buch 3 oder 4 Sterne gebe, da mich ja doch Einiges gestört hat. Letztendlich entscheide ich aber ganzheitlich auf der Basis meines Leseerlebnisses. Und ich kann nicht sagen, dass das Buch durch die oben genannten Faktoren weniger spannend oder unterhaltsam gewesen ist. Ich habe es zügig durchgelesen und kann für das Vergnügen einfach nur 4 Sterne geben.

This was my second time reading this novel, and it was so much better than I remembered! It turned out that I had completely forgotten almost everything that happened in this novel, so it was like I was reading it for the first time.Helen grew as a character in this book. She was much more important in this one because her character plays a vital role in trying to stop the furies from destroying families and causing fights. She managed to stay strong after everything she'd been told at the end of the previous book. I did feel bad for her because she couldn't stop feeling what she was feeling, even though she knew it was wrong (but we knew that it wasn't). I wish I could have told her character that her mother lied to save her all that pain and suffering. But Helen did manage to stay strong. She had a goal in this one that kept her occupied.I loved Lucas so much and I can't even understand how much he had to have been hurting for him to react the way he did. Lucas was keeping a lot of secrets in this one which were gradually revealed throughout the story. He also was always near Helen to protect her even though he shouldn't and mainly because he couldn't stay away from her. My heart ached for him because of all the pain he was being put through because Helen's mother is a bitch.I still didn't like Helen's mother Daphne in this one after what she said at the end of Starcrossed. Even though she was helping Hector & Orion, she had her own motives that she was keeping a secret.Hector is my favourite character in this series. He's hilarious and just so sweet. I felt so bad for him because he was separated from his family because of the furies, but it was lovely to see him and Helen together because he was still able to be close to someone he loved.I was very intrigued by Orion. He was suddenly in the Underworld with Helen even though she'd been there for ages and hadn't seen him before. So I was very interested to learn more about him. He was a very sweet and caring guy. He worried about Helen and was determined to do everything he could to help and protect her.I loved seeing Claire & Jason and Matt & Ariadne together! Even though Matt & Ariadne weren't a proper couple, I was rooting for them because they would be perfect together.The storyline in this one was much more interesting. There was a lot more going on with Helen and Orion trying to stop the furies; the 100 cousins targeting Helen; Lucas & Helen and Lucas going off the rails.The ending was fantastic! It was gripping, thrilling and I just couldn't put the book down. I was shocked by what happened and how everything happened, but I was very interested to see how it was going to affect all of the characters in the next book (especially the Zach thing).Overall, this one was much better than the first book with the introduction of new characters and the fast-paced, action packed plot. This is a series I definitely recommend if you haven't started yet!

Review 7*******This is the sequel to Starcrossed. I had been eagerly awaiting the book, and it certainly doesn't disappoint! I LOVED IT!Helen is the Descender, the only living person able to access the Underworld. She is a fantastic character, and I love her loyalty to her friends. Having paid her blood debt to the House of Thebes, she and the rest of the Delos family are trying to come up with a way to get to the Furies, to stop the blood feud.Lucas is also a fantastic character. I feel for him as he struggles to stay away from Helen. The fates seem to have other ideas though.In this story, we are also introduced to some new characters, as well as some old ones. Zach is more involved than before, but not in a good way. Then there is Orion. He is sent to help Helen in the Underworld. He is also a fantastic character, and he adds a new dimension to the story. He is the Head of House of Rome and Heir to another house. I know that he has the power to affect desire in people's hearts, but he is (to me) the perfect example of a hero; having power, but being reluctant to use it.Josephine Angelini has written another masterpiece! This story is so fast paced that I felt breathless in places! The descriptions of Hades, Persephone, Ares and the Furies are so lifelike, that I could imagine them quite clearly. So too was the Underworld; it made me thirsty just reading about it! I hope that I don't have that journey to look forward to when it's my time! I am now looking forward to reading the next book, as this one ended on a cliffhanger! I highly recommend this book and series to those of you who are looking for a fantastic YA action/adventure/romance filled with Greek mythology and Gods. - Lynn Worton (WaAR)

I really enjoyed the first book in this series when I read it earlier this year and in many ways Dreamless delivered just as well as Starcrossed did. I do like the way Angelini uses the traditional mythology: some very famous and obvious, such as Helen and Paris, the Oracle, etc. with others less common.Certainly, I read the book quickly and found it difficult to put down (although the chapters are quite long, so that could explain it!) But I didn't enjoy the dynamics between the characters as much as I did in the first book - I missed Helen and Lucas's intensity and was quite put off by how their relationship developed/dwindled in Dreamless - I understand why this was necessary for the plot, but I still missed them.There's lots of romantic developments for other characters, which if you've read Starcrossed I'm sure you can guess at - they were fine, but I wasn't overly fussed. The baddies are good though and I thought the overall plot was interesting. Angelini's skirting around the idea of a love triangle towards the end of the book - I hope she doesn't opt for this 'go to' plot device in Book 3 as it's been done too much recently and I'll probably switch right off.Overall Verdict: 4* People who liked Starcrossed will enjoy this I'm sure - doesn't suffer too badly from 'second book syndrome'. For a mythology YA it's one of the better series around.

Helen, die nach der Prophezeihung die einzige ist, der es möglich ist die Scions von den Furien zu befreien steigt nacht für Nacht in die Unterwelt hinab. Sie droht seelisch und körperlich daran zu zerbrechen, doch sie setzt ihre ganze Willenskraft daran, Hector und seine Familie wieder zu vereinen. Auch wenn sie und Lucas nicht zusammen sein können, denkt sie immer an ihn, doch er scheint sich von ihr zu distanzieren und etwas dunkles ergreift von ihm Besitz.Während Ari, Jason, Hector, Claire und Matt Helen so gut wie möglich in der richtigen Welt zu unterstützen versuchen erhält Helen in einem Augenblick größter Verzweiflung unerwartet Hilfe in der Unterwelt...Der erste Teil "Starcrossed" hat mich begeistert und die Messlatte für dieses Buch wirklich sehr hoch gelegt. Und Josephine Angelini hat es geschafft, mich im Nachfolgeband weiter mit ihrer modernen Trojanischen Sage zu beeindrucken.Die Charaktere werden noch facettenreicher, tiefgründiger und liebenswerter. Die Geschichte um die Verbotene Liebe zwischen Helen und Lucas und den Trojanischen Krieg reißt den Leser weiterhin richtig mit. Das Tempo wird deutlich erhöht. An Langeweile ist in diesen Büchern wirklich nicht zu denken. Man fiebert auf jeder Seite mit den Darstellern mit.Das Englisch ist auch hier gut verständlich. Ich habe nur wenige Begriffe nachschlagen müssen. Und die kleinen Jokes zwischen den Hauptprotagonisten kommen in Originalsprache einfach genial rüber!Vielen Dank an meine Leserunden-Mädels Sabine und Tanja! Ich freue mich schon auf unsere 3. Lektion in Griechischer Mythologie! Mögen die Monate bis dahin schnell vergehen ;)Fazit: Ein Buch, das niemand gerne aus der Hand legen wird! Mitreißend, Spannend und einfach toll!Absolute Leseempfehlung, volle Punktzahl und Favoritenstatus von mir!!!!