Book Review: “The Dreaming Crystal” & “The Slayer Rule”
Posted: July 31, 2026 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Hard Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Mystery, Review | Tags: Book Review, Dan Williams, Hard Fantasy, Hard Science Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Kaye Lynne Booth, mystery, Richard DeGrandpre, The Dreaming Crystal, The Slayer Rule, Writing to be Read Leave a comment
About The Dreaming Crystal
One reckless murder is all it takes to change the world forever. An angry ghost is trapped in a crystal prison and an unlucky few are fused to the Stone, doomed to an eternal torment of maddening shared memories.
But that was all twelve thousand years ago. Now it’s 2096 and there’s no magic and no ghosts; everyone knows! There are only little people forever scrambling to stay out of the way of big tech. Everyone knows humanity is beleaguered by drought, flooding, poverty and society shot through with corporate corruption. But no one has time to care.
Yet as Nate, Chen and Tina struggle to get by from day to day and pay to pay, the ancient ghost rages on in the Stone and the chains of power that bind it are weakening. Strange earthquakes gather force off the coast of Akarana Island and when an old house is demolished, something unbreakable is broken and Nate, Chen and Tina and everyone in the world will be drawn into the legacy of the curse of the ghost in the Stone whether they believe in such nonsense or not.
Hard Fantasy. Hard sci-fi. Gritty realism and golden characters.
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Crystal-Order-Stone-Book-ebook/dp/B0BHZQM8D3
My Review of The Dreaming Crystal
I received a digital copy of The Dreaming Crystal, by Dan Williams through Sandra’s Book Club review program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
This is a long book, but it is necessary for such an intricately detailed story, with well-conceived world building and a story crafted to span over thousands of years. The characters are well-developed, but are skillfully revealed in increments over the course of the story. By the end, I was rooting for Nate and Chen to be reunited, and hoping to see Teens, (or Tina, or Elayne?) and Rengi defeated. That being said, I must admit I was disappointed in my expectations and left feeling as if I’d missed more than a little something. Without giving up any spoilers, the ending was left a bit open ended, perhaps to give an opening for the next book in the series, but without things being wrapped up neatly, I felt there were several promises made on premises that were left unfulfilled.
An excellent hard fantasy/science fiction tale which left me feeling a bit cheated. I give The Dreaming Crystal four quills.
About The Slayer Rule
Set against the backdrop of the American West, “The Slayer Rule” is a sweeping crime drama that delves into themes of friendship, love, loss, and the silent tragedies that haunt the rural landscape.
The story begins with a dinosaur hunter being found dead at the base of a cliff, just days after our protagonist, Nick Yearsley, arrives in Jordan, Montana. Unfortunately for Nick, the local sheriff doesn’t believe in coincidences.
But Nick isn’t looking for trouble—he’s looking for dinosaurs. It shouldn’t matter what happened in Jordan thirty years ago when a twelve-year-old boy deliberately killed his drunken father in a hunting “accident.” Nor should it matter that the area has a history of disappearances and deaths dating back decades. And it certainly shouldn’t matter that the young sheriff was promoted from chief deputy because of the recent death of her husband, the previous sheriff.
What does any of this have to do with the present-day life of Nick Yearsley? On the day he arrives in Jordan, absolutely nothing. By the end of that day, with what he accidentally sets into motion, everything.
Richard DeGrandpre’s stunning crime novel employs great depth of characterization to harness the age-old power of storytelling. If you’re expecting a straightforward whodunnit or a formulaic crime thriller, prepare yourself for a page-turner that is, well, just the beginning.
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Slayer-Rule-Bone-Hunter-Book-ebook/dp/B0DC4Z2DTZ/
My Review of The Slayer Rule
I purchased The Slayer Rule, by Richard DeGrandpre through a free BookBub Deal. I’m offering an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
I chose this book by title alone, thinking it was a thriller. It’s not. It’s a crime drama, but it did turn out to be a decent mystery. Paleontologist Nick Yearsley comes to Jorden to confront an old colleague turned nemesis, who is on a dig there. But things don’t turn out the way Nick planned at all, and suddenly he’s the number one suspect in his colleague’s death, and the pieces aren’t adding up right.
When the pretty sheriff asks him to not leave town, Nick takes the opportunity to discover some real dinosaur bones, all while trying to clear his name and stay out of an old feud between two neighbors. As luck would have it, he keeps finding himself back dab in the middle of it all.
This story kept me pondering. I give The Slayer Rule five quills.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARC digital copies, (she also accepts print copies). Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
