In the first work of her newest series, WATER BOUND, Christine Feehan provides readers with the promise that she has created a new cast of characters as heartwarmingly interesting as those in her Drake Sisters novels and as steamy as those in her Dark novels. In fact, readers who did not want to let go of the Drake Sisters environment will relish that this series occurs in the same town and intermingles some of those characters. Readers unfamiliar with the Drake Sisters novels or Feehan's style will find WATER BOUND an excellent entry point.

Rikki lives in a world of strict rules that may not make sense to the rest of the world, but at least her figurative "sisters" have given her a place to call home, a place to find peace from the nightmares of fire that plague her...and make her call water to her from the sky, as well as all of the faucets in and around her house. Under the water is when Rikki truly feels free from the rigorous rituals she must undertake to keep everyone safe from the fires that follow her. She feels she has the best balance she can have: tolerating life when out of water and relishing life when in and on the water as a sea-urchin diver, until one day when she rescues a man from drowning and hypothermia.

Lev Prakenskii would also like a little peace in his life, but his world has been so dark ever since he was a child that he isn't sure he will ever find it. However, after enough of a bump on the head to send some of his background from his immediate grasp, but not enough to forget that he was never a very "good" man, he sees that peace with Rikki.

Feehan's treatment of Rikki, a woman with special gifts as well as specific needs, is masterful, and the work itself is an excellent start to what will hopefully become a lengthy series.