Dream Hunter

It seems to me that reviewers are missing the central source of conflict in this clever romance with literary aspirations. In a nutshell, the hero and heroine are polar opposites. Kinsale offers plenty of symbols and metaphors to convey this: 1. The hero's name is "Winter" - he is cold, emotionally withdrawn from other humans - and (paradoxically) drawn to landscapes of hot, arid emptiness. Zenia, meanwhile, has lived her entire life under the scorching desert sun. She longs for the cool, lush gardens of England, and paradoxically, the warmth of human contact. 2. More conflict stems from the enormous material differences in the life experiences of the two principles: Winter has always possessed social power and wealth; ergo, they mean nothing to him; Zenia has always lived a powerless and materially deprived existence. She longs for financial security, basic creature comforts and certainty about what the next day will bring. That she transforms herself from a Bedouin boy into a proper English lady at the earliest opportunity is perfectly logical. Readers who find English-Zenia tedious or bitchy misunderstand her character completely by assuming that she, like Winter, should see life as one jolly adventure. 3. Then there is the East-West difference. Zenia's worldview, we are told and shown, is essentially oriental: she is deeply superstitious, fearful of curses, genies, etc. Winter is a man of science, a product of European enlightenment. It is not hard to understand why Zenia and he might not see eye-to-eye on basic things. Why does she hold him at arm's length, despite the best counsel of everyone around her, despite her own feelings for him, despite his obviously sincere and honorable courtship? Because she recognizes that they come from two different worlds; she doesn't trust him to settle down in England and be the kind of husband/father that she needs him to be. She cannot contemplate going back to the isolated, hand-to-mouth, nomadic existence that she knew before reaching England; and she believes (with reason) that Winter is incapable of changing from wanderer to couch potato, no matter what he says. Looked at this way, the wonder isn't that Zenia holds out against Winter as long as she does, but that she yields to him at all. Kinsale is a fine writer. And like most fine writers, she rewards the reader who takes the trouble to ponder her meaning. The Dream Hunter is a book that actually deserves to be reread, offering nuances of character, narrative structure and plot to the careful reader.

For me, a romance novel works when I feel that somehow, the hero and the heroine's love makes them each a better person than they would be without each other - that sense of "connection and belonging." This book is definitely worth the read. I'm not a big Kinsale fan; in fact, the only other book by her that I've liked is "The Shadow and the Star." The hero, Lord Winter, is definitely likeable. He seems to have the typically pampered aristocratic life, but the lack of warmth in his familial relationships and extreme shyness cause him to seek a sense of purpose in travel to exotic locales. Zenia, the heroine, has had a rough childhood, with only a mother who is one of those larger than life characters that can be overbearing. Without a stable family background, Zenia is also lost. She seeks an identity for herself by secretly hoping to go back to England and become an English lady. Lord Winter and Zenia meet. They then go through a series of events and misunderstandings that bring them together then pull them apart. Some people found this journey to be annoying because they could not understand Zenia's motivations. Zenia's extreme resistance to a seemingly perfect match is understandable within the context of her childhood.Overall, it is truly a touching, realistic depiction of two people who are seeking an "anchor", which they could find only in each other.

I've read through the reviews, and do understand why some people may not like the book as much -- we are so used to both characters all ready for love and with totally secure attachment styles. however, real life is not like that, many people (and I'm sure readers can identify with this) grow up with pretty messed up atachment styles -- we want so much to be loved, but are so scred ot rejection or being hurt as well. I loved this book because the characters are human -- you understand why they do what they do (they at consistently... unlike some other characters I've read who *suddenly* change in the middle of the story), even if you ache for them or don't necessarily agree with their choices.

Laura Kinsale continues her tradition of writing romance with unusual settings, flawed characters you want to root for, and a beautiful, unique style. The plot revolves around a search through the desert for a mythical mare known as the String of Pearls. Arden Winter never suspects that the Bedu boy acting as his guide is in fact a girl of English parentage desperate to return to the homeland she's never visited. The two at first seem like opposites. She grew up in the wilderness, but longs for the security of England. He grew up under the constraints of an English gentleman's upbringing, but wanted adventure and danger. It turns out, though, that they have more in common than they first suspect. Kinsale is the best at creating tortured characters whom you desperately want to find happiness, and then making you doubt that they will, not an easy thing to do in a genre novel. This one is one of my favorites of her work.