Midnight Crystal (Book Three of the Dreamlight Trilogy) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jayne Castle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2011

It began with Krentz...continued with Quick...and now it will end with Castle.

Book Three of the Dreamlight trilogy.

For many earthly centuries, a legendary curse has plagued the Winters family, stemming from the tumultuous founding of the Arcane Society. But now, on the futuristic world of Harmony, the curse's final mystery will be unraveled...

Head of the ghost hunters guild Adam Winters and dreamlight reader extraordinaire Marlowe Jones must break the curse, save Harmony's entire underworld-and fight a passion that could destroy them both.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For Adam Winters, the new director of the Frequency Ghost Hunter’s Guild, finding the Burning Lamp would not only save his life but possibly the entire planet of Harmony. While exploring the rain forest and catacombs under Frequency, Adam discovers a mirrored maze that could be the power force that has kept Harmony running for centuries, but something about the maze’s energy patterns is dangerously out of sync. Locating the Burning Lamp might not only prevent Adam from turning into a psychic rogue but it could also restore stability to the maze. Fortunately for Adam, Marlowe Jones, the new head of Jones and Jones Investigations, is already on the track of the missing relic and has the necessary dreamlight skills to work it. In the latest flawlessly written addition to her futuristic romantic-suspense series, Castle cleverly clicks the final pieces of her Dreamlight Trilogy into place, creating a fast-paced, sexy, and witty treat. --John Charles

About the Author

Jayne Ann Krentz, who also writes historical and futuristic fiction under the pseudonyms Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle respectively, has more than fifty NEW YORK TIMES bestsellers under various pen names; more than twenty-five million copies of her books are in print. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jove (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515148369
• ISBN-13: 978-0515148367
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When a curtain opened allowing travel between Earth and a new world, it was a tourism opportunity like no one could have envisioned. Travelers moved back and forth between worlds with ease until...the curtain closed.

Abandoned on the new world with no access to Earth technology, the unexpected colonists had to learn to survive. And survive they did. JAYNE CASTLE chronicles the lives of their descendants in her best selling HARMONY SERIES. Turns out folks on HARMONY are starting to exhibit paranormal abilities and -- wouldn't you know it -- some of those people with psychic talents descend from members of the ARCANE SOCIETY (a bestselling series that Jayne writes under her two other pen names, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ and AMANDA QUICK).

Jayne is busy working on CANYONS OF NIGHT, Book 3 in the LOOKING GLASS TRILOGY due out in Summer 2011. Writing as JAYNE ANN KRENTZ she will release Book I, IN TOO DEEP, in Winter 2011. And writing under her historical pen name, AMANDA QUICK, she will contribute Book II in the trilogy, QUICKSILVER, in Spring 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sorry, this book is quite awful, September 13, 2010

By 

Foz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Crystal (Book Three of the Dreamlight Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

Look, I've been a huge fan of JAK for years. I purchase all her books without hesitation. Both the Harmony and Arcane Society series have been interesting to follow and I suppose I was expecting quite a bit from Midnight Crystal. Sadly, it was a total disappointment. I just did not like Marlowe Jones! She resembles an archetypal Nora Roberts character--tough on the outside, boring on the inside. Where's the signature JAK charm Marlowe is also rather contradictory... she cynically boasts several times in the book about her easy sex life and yet she's searching for love? I'm confused.

As a finale to the trilogy, one would expect a rich plot full of suspense. Instead, it's contrived and well, quite dull.

For JAK fans, this book is still worth a flip. But please, lower your expectations. And go read the other Harmony books! After Dark, After Glow and Obsidian Prey are my faves! :)

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Misfire, September 10, 2010

By 

Bookcat "Cat" (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Crystal (Book Three of the Dreamlight Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

A VERY rare misfire for one of my favorite writers, Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle. Really 2.5 stars, but I gave her three for being so inventive.

The grand finale of the dreamlight trilogy goes out with a less-than-modest bang. The story is set on a distant planet called Harmony that was colonized by earthlings generations ago. Midnight Crystal wraps up the story of a lamp created on earth that has some pretty amazing properties even for a fantasy.

The romantic element of Midnight Crystal is on a par with her other novels, but it's broken up by a constant barrage of technical details about how different talents work. It's CSI Harmony. I can't believe I'm saying this--for me, she too often glosses over the fine details--but I felt as though I were reading a technical manual! It's as though she thought out all of these very imaginative background details before the first novel, parceled out a few at a time in each book, and then dumped all the leftover elements into Midnight Crystal.

No spoilers--the actual Midnight Crystal is a tiny part of the plot that, like many other elements, is resolved a bit too quickly and neatly after all the buildup in the preceding novels. It all falls just a bit flat.

And there's way too much conversation in this novel!!! Adam and Marlowe blather on and on while you wait for something to happen. Usually Jayne plops you right into the action from the first page, but this one takes a long time to crank up. Of late, there's a pedestrian plotting style pervading romance novels: most of the action is told as a narrative in the past tense, and the action consists of characters simply reacting to what has already happened. This occurs to a lesser degree in Midnight Crystal than some others, but this is the first time I've felt cheated by one of Jayne's novels!!!

Also, Krentz usually picks a couple of phrases that she repeats incessantly throughout her books; in this case they're "crime boss" and "J&J agent." Maybe she uses this device to keep the characters' background firmly in the reader's mind, but the constant repetition is especially jarring in this case. I wanted to find out the resolution of the Dreamlight trilogy, but I was actually relieved when this book ended so I could move on to another.

This might have been better presented as two books. No matter what name she writes under, Krentz seems to write better when she has the space to develop her ideas. Don't get me wrong--a subpar Krentz novel is still better than many others. But after the other Harmony novels, which are a delight, this one is a clunker.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finale for the dream light trilogy, September 3, 2010

By 

L. Williams (Northeast Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Midnight Crystal (Book Three of the Dreamlight Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

All the i's are dotted and t's crossed in this final & 3rd installment of the dreamlight trilogy and long time readers won't be disappointed but neither will they be surprised as a Winters male & Jones female get together to solve the mystery of the midnight crystal (on the famous dreamlight lamp). A new psi ability was revealed but those are becoming 'ho-hum' and I hope that the next Harmony universe story will get away from the power du jour meme. Merging the Arcane/Jones universe with the Harmony universe may do that and I thought the Sweetwater family of characters who appeared in Ghost Hunters 6 worked well.

All in all, the plot of the Midnight Chrystal suffers a little more than usual from staleness & predictability. The humor &/or quirkiness that usually characterizes the Harmony universe stories fell flat (or was missing) this time around. Some Frequency city characters make cameo appearances here and I still remember how amused I was by Vince the dust bunny who stole the show in Ghost Hunters 6. :-) . Other Ghost Hunters books that worked well for me were #4 (Celinda the matchmaker also a theme in Arcane universe) and of course the best ever is still After Dark that featured Lydia Smith, a former university faculty member reduced to working in a tacky horror museum after a traumatic incident under ground.

As with the other Castle books, this one was published in paper back, so no complaints about paying HC prices from me, but I would have been/will be willing to buy HC if this Harmony universe story had matched the quality of other of JAK's efforts in the series.