Review – Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 492 pages
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Release Date: November 2, 2021
ASIN: B08VNWJTXT
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 5/5 stars

“The realm of Azenor has spent years plagued by a curse. Every new moon, magic flows from the nearby mountain and brings nightmares to life. Only magicians—who serve as territory wardens—stand between people and their worst dreams.

Clementine Madigan is ready to take over as the warden of her small town, but when two magicians arrive to challenge her father for his domain, she is unknowingly drawn into a century-old conflict. She seeks revenge, but as she gets closer to Phelan, one of the vexingly handsome young magicians, secrets—as well as romance—begin to rise.

Clementine must unite with Phelan to fight the realm’s curse, which seems to be haunting their every turn. But will their efforts be enough to save Azenor from the nightmares that lurk around every corner.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: I have been a fan of many of Ross’s novels, and this is one of the few I hadn’t read yet. Previous books I have read by Ross are “Sisters of Sword and Song” ( loved it), The Queen’s Rising (okay), Wild Reverence (loved it), and the Letters of Enchantment duology (loved it). I ended up really loving this book as well. I loved the creative world here; this was very well written and easy to read. I thought the magic in here was especially intriguing and would have loved to learn more about the magic system.

Clementine (Clem) is training under her father to become the Warden of her small town. The Warden protects a town from the curse of the Nightmares of the residents that come alive every new moon. Clem’s future takes an odd turn when two magicians arrive to challenge her father for his domain. Clem finds herself drawn into a past and conflict that she never knew existed. She is forced to uncover the truth behind many lies and tell many lies of her own if she is going to survive the path forward.

I absolutely loved this world where Nightmares comes alive and wardens must protect people against them. It is a fascinating curse to have on a world and the magicians that fight this curse are intriguing as well. I thought the magic system here was interesting and would have loved the chance to hear more about it and understand it better. There are multiple kinds of magic in this world, and although we hear about them, we never really get to delve into how they work.

This starts as a revenge story, but quickly morphs into Clem trying to uncover secrets and mysteries from multiple directions. I really enjoyed all of the characters in here, including Clem. They are all very morally gray, none of them are really evil, but they make as many bad decisions as they do good ones. There is an enemies to lovers type of romance blended into the story, which I thought was well done. These are complicated characters, and making assumptions about any of them can be dangerous.

I enjoyed how the story wrapped up and always love a good fantasy that is contained to one book; however, I loved this world so much that I wanted more. I wanted to know what happens after all these events that take place and what happens to this amazing world in the future.

Ross is an amazing writer, and I find her writing both easy to read and incredibly beautiful. It always flows off the page so well.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this story. I loved the complex characters, the intriguing world, the mystery, and the magic. I thought the story wrapped up nicely but wanted more. I wanted to learn more about the aftermath in this world and more about how the magic worked. I always really enjoy Ross’s writing style; it flows so well, is easy to read and beautiful. I would highly recommend if you are looking for a stand-alone dark fantasy with a creative world and intriguing characters.