River of Dreams by Lynn Kurland

LKurland-River of DreamsLynn Kurland brings a new entry into her Nine Kindoms series in River of Dreams. Though this was my first foray into Kurland’s writing, I dived right in. Unfortunately, I was simply left wondering how she became such a popular author. With little to hold my interest, I found River of Dreams to be a hard read, lacking entertainment or action.

Aisling of Bruadair is frantic to find both the truth about her future and a mercenary to save her country. When an offer of aid comes from an unexpected direction, she is relieved her quest is almost complete. But she soon realizes her task is far from over . . . and will include perils she never dreamed she would ever face.

Rùnach of Ceangail has offered to help Aisling with her quest, then he fully intends to take up his life as a simple swordsman far from magic and evil mages. Unfortunately, a chance finding of a book of indecipherable spells tells him that an ordinary life is never going to be his–especially when he realizes that the book he has in his hands belongs to a black mage who will stop at nothing to have it back.

With time running out, Rùnach and Aisling must solve what seem to be unrelated mysteries before others find those answers first and plunge the Nine Kingdoms into a darkness it will never recover from . . .

I have not read a book that so little happened in a long time. Kurland stretches out very little plot – plot which might’ve been better told as a novella if told at all. At first I thought Kurland did a nice job of summarizing the prior books and making the newcomer feel as if they didn’t miss much. Unfortunately I soon realized that I didn’t miss much because if the other stories are anything like this one, there simply isn’t much to tell. Everything about Kurland’s world is bland. I would compare it to white rice or water, but that might be an insult to the water and rice. Characters had no depth and the scenery was predictable at best. I kept wondering what was going on and what the characters were meant to be doing because they didn’t ever seem to be doing much. In my honest opinion, this book is a waste of time and I can’t in good conscious recommend it.

Read Order:
Star of the Morning
The Mage’s Daughter
Princess of the Sword
A Tapestry of Spells
Spellweaver
Gift of Magic
Dreamspinner
River of Dreams

About Natassia 143 Articles
I am a performer by trade and have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. My bookshelves are full of many genres but I have a love of fantasy, SciFi and steampunk which have only spurred my performing dreams to help one of these fabulous worlds come to life. I tend to read books with a lot of edge and grit; if it's got zombies, space battles or fantastical steam inventions, I'm in. When I'm not reading or off making my own adventures, I can be caught watching movies of every era, gaming, and being scandalously political like any good steampunk heroine.

1 Comment

  1. I am glad I read this review, because I felt the same about the last book in the series, and was really debating if I should buy this one or not just to keep going with the trilogy. I’ll pass and avoid her future fantasy novels.

    Most of her romances are fairly good, my faves are This is All I Ask and The More I See You. Avoid All for You, it was silly.

Comments are closed.