When Dahlaine brought the Dreamers into the world of the Elder Gods he thought that keeping them as children, unaware of their true potential, would keep things under control. When the children start to become aware of their true identities they begin to have prophetic dreams but it seems that these dreams coming from somewhere other than the sub-conscious of the dreamer. It is almost as if someone is controlling them.

As things progress the Gods become more suspicious that someone with a greater power than they is orchestrating the entire situation. But surely, if they themselves are Gods, who could possibly be acting as puppet-master? Still, at least this higher power seems to be on their side.

As the war with the Vlagh continues on into Veltan's domain the Elder Gods realise that their enemy is gaining in strength. If they are to be finally victorious they are going to have to use every weapon in their arsenal – even if this does mean using a few devious tactics.

The Treasured One is the second volume of the Dreamers series and follows the Elder Gods and the Dreamers as the war moves into Veltan's domain. This novel picks up immediately where the previous book finished. Although the armies of the Vlagh were previously defeated the Gods know that it is only a matter of time before they return.

As you might expect from an Eddings novel, the writing style is superb. What is particularly interesting is the way that the story line will initially be seen from the point of view of one character and will then be repeated but from the eyes of one of the others.

Despite this essentially being a war story, full of conflict between the forces of the Vlagh and those of the Elder Gods, the authors have managed to inject their usual amount of humour into proceedings, which adds a certain realism to this fantasy epic.

Now, just because The Dreamers is a fantasy series, don't think that it is a lightweight throwaway series. Far from it. The story is intense, compelling and demands your attention. As there are four Elder Gods and four Dreamers at the centre of this series you sense that the armies of the Vlagh will take their attack to each domain in turn (otherwise, why have four of them?). This is very reassuring as you know, as you reach the end of the book, that there will be at least another two volumes (at least I hope I am correct!).

At least two more opportunities to read about Longbow, Narasan and the rest – I can hardly wait!