Into the Dreaming by Karen Moning – a Review

Into the Dreaming is a short story by Karen Moning, that was just released earlier this week.  She wrote this in between her other Highlander novels, and it was part of a anthology.  Fans of Moning, which I include myself, will enjoy this book.  I had never read Into the Dreaming, and found this to be a lighthearted and enjoyable book to read.  I loved the extras that are included here.  So if you are a Karen Moning fan, do not hesitate to get this book.

Into the Dreaming is about Jane Sillee, who is a would be romance novelist, who keeps getting her manuscripts rejected.  At night, Jane dreams about her own Highlander.  One day she comes home to find a box, with a tapestry that has a picture of a Highlander in old Scotland.  When Jane looks closely, she sees that the highlander is her very own dream lover. 

Aeden MacKinnon has been imprisoned in Fae land for 500 years. The Unseelie King has tortured, and brainwashed him to be his very own Vengeance warrior, to do his bidding.  A dark and evil being, programmed not to feel, but to kill at the King’s command.  Aedon no longer remembers who he was, only that his name is Vengeance, and he is ice cold in every way.

The Seelie Queen decides to save Aeden, but since she cannot interfere, she plots secretly to enable Aeden to break the contract. If Aeden can find someone to love him within the one month that he is free, he will become totally free, or else be binded to the King forever. Enter Jane Sillee and her dreams at night with Aeden, something the Queen set into motion all those years before.

Jane wakes up the following morning and finds herself lying naked on the beach by the sea, with a kitten purring next to her.  Thinking she is still into the dreaming, Jane begins to explore and finds her dream lover and a castle.  But this is not the Aeden she made love to every night in her dreams.  Jane begins to realize that this is not a dream, and somehow she has been transported back in time to Scotland. She sees her dream lover as a man who does not remember her, and is totally cold and in human.  Jane understands more later, when she  hears a voice that tells her she must find a way to save him or lose him forever. 

She sets out on a plan to taunt him and make him to begin to feel again, in order to help break the evil that surrounds him. I really did enjoy the book.  It was a light read, and fun to watch Jane try all kinds of things to entice Aedon.  Jane will do anything to make Aedon feel his sexuality, as well as to make him remember her.  The kitten was adorable, and a nice touch.   I won’t spoil anything by telling you what happens, but with all the extras in the book, it is worth to buy this novella and read this story.   I for one was happy to be back in Highlander time again, but I also cannot wait for Iced and Dani O’Malley.  It was fun to spend sometime with our Highlanders, but its time to go back to the dark and Fever land.

 Reviewed by Barb

This is from the upcoming graphic novel Fever Moon