Priestess Dreaming by Yasmine Galenorn

I really hate to say what I’m about to say about a series I really enjoy. I was really looking forward to Priestess Dreaming by Yasmine Galenorn, but sadly, while it was a good read, overall, it fell flat.

We’re the D’Artigo sisters: savvy half-human, half-Fae operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. My sister Delilah is a two-faced werecat and a Death Maiden. Menolly is a vampire married to a gorgeous werepuma. And me? I’m a Moon witch married to three gorgeous husbands, and I’m about to journey through the veils to search for a long lost legend…

With the war in Otherworld raging, the Queen of Shadow and Night summons me to her court. Aeval orders me to embark on a hunt through the mists to find an ancient ally she once knew. I must seek out The Merlin and wake him from his long sleep. But Morgaine and Bran are along for the journey, and the pair pose a threat to both me and my quest. Now, surrounded by danger on all sides, I must pray they are allies rather than enemies, as we undertake a perilous search through the labyrinth of time..

Let me start off by saying, if you haven’t read the previous books in The Otherworld series, do NOT read Priestess Dreaming. You’ll be lost. Each book builds from the prior books.

That said, let me tell you why I thought Priestess Dreaming fell flat for me and why I’m so disappointed.  First, if you just look at Priestess Dreaming as an individual book, it was actually really good.  I love the dark and gritty and I love Galenorn’s writing style.  Also, Camille’s POV is my favorite of the 3 D’Artigo sisters (I love them all, but I feel I relate best to Camille), so I always look forward to books in her POV. I actually don’t have any stylistic issues with Priestess Dreaming. The problem lies within the overall series and story-arc.

I’m just going to put this out there, very bluntly. The series is getting too stretched out, it needs to actually end. OK, that’s done. It was hard to say! I adore these characters and the world.  However, I feel like it’s just time to have the battle with Shadow Wing and end things. To me, as much as I hate to see a series I love end, there comes a time when it must. Otherwise, it comes across. Book start to feel more and more flat. It’s as if you can tell the author is just writing and grabbing at straws to create new conflicts that need to be resolved in each book (small conflicts) while somehow trying to stretch the overall conflict of the series.  I feel this is where the series as a whole is at right now.  With each new release, I keep hoping we’re getting closer and closer to this big, epic battle with Shadow Wing…and nope, nada.  Heck, we haven’t even had any progress on finding the seals in several books.  I’m becoming frustrated as a reader, mainly because while the writing is still great, it feels as if Galenorn is writing just to be fill space in the series.  The first spinoff just wrapped up and another one is beginning.  I didn’t read the Indigo Court, but I have read the first novella in the new series, Flight from Hell. See here for my review.  It appears this new spinoff series will somewhat track the Otherworld series plot, in that events there will lead more into the battle with Shadow Wing. *sigh*. Will this ever end?!

My guess is we all know series where this happens–where for whatever reason more books are contracted and you can “feel” the struggle to maintain the series plotline with each additional book, because the original plot line should have ended ages ago and was likely not supposed to be stretched over so many books.  If this continues to happen, I may have to stop reading the Otherworld series all together, despite my love for the dark and grittiness of it. I already did this with Kerrilyn Sparks and I don’t want to quit another series that I love.

Basically, for me, it’s hard to really tell you why Priestess Dreaming fell flat without the above diatribe. It fell flat because the series as a whole is just getting too stretched out/stagnate. I was captivated by the writing, the action didn’t lag too bad and I enjoyed the story.  But, because it doesn’t really, IMO, further the overall series, it ended up being “meh” overall.  One thing I really enjoyed,though, was the spin on Merlin/Arthur/Morgana. Not sure why I didn’t catch on sooner that Morgaine=Morgana and Arturo=Arthur. D’oh LOL!

So while I enjoyed Priestess Dreaming, it did fall flat, mostly because the series is beginning to fall into the category of “it just needs to end already”, not because of any faulty writing, etc.  I guess we’ll see what happens next…

Read Order:
Witchling
Changeling
Darkling
Dragon Wytch
Night Huntress
Demon Mistress
Bone Magic
Harvest Hunting
Blood Wyne
Courting Darkness
Shaded Vision
Shadow Rising
Haunted Moon
Autumn Whispers
Crimson Veil
Priestess Dreaming