Fired Up

Fired Up
By Jayne Ann Krentz

This is the first book in the new Dreamlight Trilogy and also part of the Arcane Society set which cuts across all three of Krentz's pseudonyms: Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, Jayne Castle.

Chloe Harper is a dreamlight reader, sensitive to dream energy and able to interpret it visually in the trace "fingerprints" left by people when they touch something. Jack Winters is a direct decendent of Nicholas Winters, the infamous rival alchemist of Sylvester Jones. He is the unfortunate inheritor of the family curse which can only be neutralized by finding both the famous Burning Lamp and a strong dreamlight reader to activate it. They are in a race to find it before Jack's psyche implodes and before the rival Nightshade group finds it to use it for their own nefarious purposes.

What I liked/didn't like:
I liked the characters and I always enjoy Krentz. She is very imaginative and always manages to make me laugh. I was a bit irritated by all the references to "psi" which used to be a Jayne Castle term used in her alt-world psychic romances, but which has now crossed genres in all her books. It is a minor peeve though. What was more disconcerting was the references to another couple in the Dreamlight trilogy from a book that has not yet been published (it would be the Amanda Quick historical). Why they published the contemporary story first and then referenced the historical one is beyond me.

I would recommend this book to those who are already familiar with the Arcane series. I think I would have been lost if it was the first one I picked up. Frankly, it has been so long since I've read most of them that I may go back and reread them myself. Arcane Society newbies should check out Jayne's website. She has compiled a full listing of the Arcane books in order of publication. They are well worth checking out.

~Submitted by Michele