Dreaming Death

After a daunting amount of historical/cultural background, this series launch turns out to be a straightforward psychic-thriller romance. People in the city of Noikinos all have different degrees of psychic talents. Seventeen-year-old Shironne Anjir is achingly sensitive to the world around her, and she finds herself telepathically linked to Mikael Lee, a young man whose dreams force him to share the deaths of murder victims. He is an officer in the king's intelligence service, and his visions torture him unbearably. The two are brought together by a series of murders that echo almost-forgotten ritual sacrifices by priests of a blood magic cult. As in her Golden City trilogy, Cheney is very good at sensory detail, especially blind Shironne's perceptions as she begins exploring Mikael's world. Tracking down the killers turns out to be less important than discovering how the young people can develop their bond, and that aspect of the story is nicely handled. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (Feb.)