Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Macmillan

Pages: 503pgs

The Story

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 iis 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.

The Review

A big thanks to Macmillan for sending me a review copy of this book!

I absolutely adored Starcrossed when I read it last year. It became one of my personal favourite debut novels in fact. The author, Josephine Angelini, had taken the fantasy and the mythology genre to a whole new level in YA fiction, and I was very much looking forward to reading her much anticipated sequel. As a result I had very, very high expectations and unfortunately DREAMLESS just didn't live up to those expectations. The beginning was a struggle for me but as soon as I hit the middle section of the book and read til the end, things had gotten even more epic which only goes to prove that this book wasn't bad at all . . . it just wasn't as good as the first.

The second installment DREAMLESS continues on from where Starcrossed left on from. With an ancient prophecy still lying heavily upon Helen's shoulders, where it's foretold that she must free the Scions from their bloodied debts owed to the Furies, she must, as a Descender, cross through the Underworld every night to find and defeat the Furies's quest of vengeance before killing each other in the process. But night after night, nightmare after nightmare, Helen struggles to keep everything together, even her own sanity until she meets another Scion - one she's never met before - who might be the only one who can help and save her. But with Lucas, the suppose love of her life, trying to keep clear of her as much as possible and with secrets unveiled at every turn, and with so many duties that she must undertake, the question remains to be . . . can Helen fulfill her prophecy or is it just a little too late for her to do so?

Firstly let me just say I was completely heartbroken over the whole Helen and Lucas relationship, especially since everyone seemed to think they were 'cousins'. So not cool. From the first book I was so in love with them and I desperately wanted them to find each other and be happy again, but it just didn't work out that way I'm afraid. And sadly, nothing much progressed in their relationship in this book either. Helen, the main character, still remained a great main heroine although for the majority of the book she was being wasted away. Literally. Since her trips to the Underworld are taking their toll on her and making her really thin and almost sick-like, and having the constant thought of your 'true love' being your cousin, Helen's character is pushed to the ultimate limits. But regardless of those matters, Helen has developed a lot more in this sequel which was a great thing to witness. She's being cruelly tested but that's not such a bad thing since it tests Helen in a good way. As for Lucas's character, where the hell was he? He was hardly in this book which was a such a disappointment. But when we do finally get to see our dear, dear Lucas, he too has changed like Helen. Lucas mopes around a lot for all good reasons I suppose but instead of being that charming guy he has always been, he has now become someone losing control which for him is a first. So it was also great to see some emotional sides to him but with that said, I still want more of Lucas in the third book. Way, way more of him.

What's even more interesting was that Josephine Angelini - like many other authors have done - have introduced a love triangle into the Starcrossed series. A thing I didn't expect from her at all. I may not have been jumping for joy over this but I was still interested in where she would take this new love triangle to. But despite my negativity towards love triangles most days (cause c'mon it's all been said and done), I was still pretty amazed to actually like - no love - the second love interest, Orion, the Scion boy Helen ends up meeting in the Underworld. Orion was simply wonderful and he was one of the main reasons why I kept reading and reading this sequel. I mean, as soon as Orion and Helen shared interactions with one another, I had become so invested in them and I know Lucas is still around and I should be loving him, but Orion has totally stolen my heart and if nothing can be worked out between Helen and Lucas, I really hope she gives Orion a chance. He's the better guy in this sequel and he really steps up his game!

Overall, DREAMLESS offers up yet another entertaining sequel and while I wouldn't say it was better than Starcrossed - because it's not - and while it may not have WOWed me like I hoped it would, but I'm still dying over here for the next book to come because the ending . . . it has left me wanting more!

The Rating 3 1/2 / 5 stars