By the end of Starcrossed (which I read last October), Helen has learned that not only is she a Scion, a member of a superhuman race descended from the demigods of Greek mythology, but also that she is the Descender-- a special Scion who can physically enter the Underwold and may be able to end the curse on the Houses, the blood lust incited by the Furies which forces them to kill members of other houses or any family members who are kin-killers. This book picks up shortly after that, and Helen is exhausted because she spends every night in the Underworld, stuck and and in pain; she's emotionally upset because she is still incredibly drawn to Lucas (the Paris to her Helen), even though they are apparently cousins and now they really can't be together-- since inbred Scions tend to be the dangerous kind of crazy, in addition to that whole problem of uniting two of the Houses resulting in a war. Eventually, Helen finds a new ally to help her with her quest in the Underworld: a young man named Orion.
Orion is another Scion, a son of Apollo, and Helen's mother figured out a way to send him into the Underworld to help her. With his help, she learns to navigate her way in the Underworld, and eventually they figure out that they should consult Persphone about how to deal with the Furies. But all this time, while Helen is descending every night, she hasn't been dreaming. She doesn't know for a while quite what a toll it is taking on her, but it is significant, and something even her Scion body can't heal.
In the meantime, there is also a Myrmidon following her-- he may be serving one of their known enemies, but it's also possible he's serving some other master. And there's also a prophecy about three Scions who may be some kind of heirs-- Helen, and Orion, and Lucas, who seems to be developing some scary powers over darkness while he's trying to deal with not being around Helen and not really even being allowed to help her through this trial. So even if Helen and Orion figure out how to break the curse, there may be something new and possibly worse awaiting humanity and the Scions after that.
This book didn't grab me quite as quickly as Starcrossed did-- I think because the beginning was literally torturous, as Helen spent night after night stuck in various painful, awful places in the Underworld, before she learned some measure of control. Even so, I still managed to read it too quickly. Maybe I'll have to re-read it again sometime soon, and savor it more this time instead of rushing through to find out what happens.
| Title: | Dreamless |
|---|---|
| Author: | Josephine Angelini |
| Date published: | 2012 |
| Genre: | Young Adult Fantasy |
| Series: | Starcrossed Trilogy |
| Number of pages: | 496 |
| Notes: | read an ebook |
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