Book Review of Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

Title: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Author: Kresely Cole

Release Date: February 15th, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

*If you have not read previous book in the Immortals After Dark series, this may contain spoilers.*

HE VOWED HE’D COME FOR HER . . .

Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives.

SHE AWAITS HIS RETURN . . .

When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals—unaware that he belongs to their world.

TO SATE A DESIRE MORE POWERFUL THAN DEATH . . .

Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan’s torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared—even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: This is book 11 in the Immortals After Dark series and I have been looking forward to Regin’s story since the first time we met her.  She is sharp-tongued, quick witted, loyal to her core and kicks some major butt.  In short, I love her to death!  On the outside Regin plays the part of a care free, happy, Valkyrie.  On the inside Regin misses her warlord with a fierce passion.  He has been reincarnated and found his way back to her four times now and in each lifetime she has had to stand by helplessly and watch him die right before her eyes.

Declan has lived a life of torment and heartbreak.  He was tortured as a child and forced to watch his parents brutally murdered in front of him by creatures from the Lore.  As a result, he has grown up hating anything having to do with the Lore and was trained to track them down, capture and torture them.  However, he takes just a little too much pleasure in his work at times and Regin is his next target.

Out of all the books in the Immortal After Dark series, these two faced the most adversity throughout their courtship.  Declan is literally torturing Regin and her friends and family, how do you forgive something like that?  Despite all that, I was still rooting for them, more than anyone we have seen previously.  I cannot even begin to imagine the pain Regin must have gone through to watch the man she loves die in front of her multiple times and not be able to spare him.  Now that he is back in her life, it is hard for her to just dismiss him, no matter how evil he may appear to be.

Kresley Cole continues to amaze me with her ability to weave previous story lines into present ones flawlessly.  The books come together seamlessly and each story plays an important part in the overall plot.  Which is why I would not recommend reading these books out of order, you can do it if you want to, but things make more sense if you go in order.  You will also have complete awareness of other events happening simultaneously from previous books that play a critical roles in Dreams of a Dark Warrior.  For example, in Dreams of a Dark Warrior we pick back up at the island where many immortals are being held captive.  We have seen many stories revolve around this island and run into previous characters.  Past books have left holes in the timeline because the characters cannot be everywhere at once, this story fills in gaps that we only got glimpses of in the past and continues to add depth to this entire series.

I was also excited to see Regin and “Aiden” in past lifetimes.  We get a glimpse of Regin before she became immortal and she was just as fiery as ever.  Good to know that even after centuries of living the girl still has spirit and came by it honestly.  It was fascinating to go back to the beginning of this curse that both Aiden and Regin live with and see how it all started.  Regin fills us in on the many lives of Aiden with her memories and with each detail revealed, you understand how much pain she has had to bear throughout her life.

Overall, Dreams of a Dark Warrior is another fantastic addition to this series! Kresley Cole does an amazing job of spinning a tale so addicting you will not be able to put the book down for a second.  I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next because rumor has it that Lothaire’s book is up next and you know that is going to be good. ;)