The time-line for Dreams of a Dark Warrior parallels with Demon from the Dark, and takes us back to that remote island prison in the Pacific. (In truth, these stories are going on at the same time - so be sure to have read Demon from the Dark first.) Valkyrie Regin the Radiant is being held prisoner by warden Declan Chase, a deeply troubled sexy mortal who believes all immortal creatures are evil and should be destroyed. He is a top member of The Order, an organization led by Webb who will stop at nothing to capture and learn about the immortals through vivisection (think of it as an autopsy on the living) and other torturous means.

However, Declan Chase is actually Regin's reincarnated lover Aiden, a mortal Viking berserker killed one thousand years ago before they could marry. Over the years, Aiden kept coming back in different forms via reincarnation - only to die again once Regin had found him and restored Aiden's memories with a kiss. So when Regin recognized Chase as her former lover Aiden, she is mortified by his torturous ways and intends to use the kiss of doom against him to help win her freedom.

Declan doesn't understand why he is so drawn to Regin, a filthy immortal! But he also doesn't realize he is actually Aiden. Throughout the book Regin and Declan fight their attraction and disgust with each other, which at times made for some great laughs and some good steam! So when chaos rains, Regin, Declan and a clan of immortals fight it out for freedom and revenge.

This book was a lot of fun to read. As we have come to expect from this series, it is filled with great action, hot sex scenes, and a mix of regular and new characters. We meet new comers Natalya, a fey, a half-ling high school kid name Thad, and Aiden's best friend Brandr, who won his immortality from the Gods a millennium ago. Nix returns, and as always was on her game! Love her! And we get to know more about vampire Lothaire, who just cracked me up every time he spoke. I am so happy his book is next!!

However, there were few aspects that I had issue with which is why I only gave it a B grade. For instance, Declan was a great hero but it took a long time to warm up to him since he was so dark and tortured through much of the book. But when he finally came around and recognized Regin as his woman, I forgave all his crimes against Regin and fell for the guy. However, I also felt many of his crimes against the lore were simply irredeemable.


(view spoiler)[The ending was a bit too pat for me, with too much redemption for Chase. Chase made a lot of enemies from the Lore, and many of his actions were unforgivable in my eyes. It will be interesting to see how the Lore interacts with him in future books. (hide spoiler)]


Overall, this book was tough to put down! It is a bit darker than previous, including some gruesome torture scenes and possibly the coldest and meanest hero in the series yet. I loved how we got to meet Aiden in several of his reincarnated forms, and Regin was so witty and funny with her cutting dialogue she helped lighten the story and balance it out for a great read. (I think Regin is now my favorite heroine in this series.) And while I didn't warm up to Declan Chase as the book's hero until near the end, I think Regin and him ended up as a great couple.