Fantasy Book Critic: EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL: To Dream a Darker Realm by Angela Boord

To Dream a Darker Realm began life as Part One of my 2022 Cold War portal fantasy Through Dreams So Dark. Originally, I only wanted to make the 385,000 word Through Dreams So Dark more accessible to readers by re-packaging it in shorter chunks. But when I started getting my hands dirty, I realized a shorter Book One wouldn't be satisfying without its own arc. In the end, I added about 50% new material, including new subplots and complications, which will be carried into the new Book 2 I’m revising out of the rest of Through Dreams So Dark.

The new cover by Rena Violet also reflects changes I’ve made to the manuscript, especially the dash of dark academia that shows up in the Gothic purple (I love the purple!) frame. I chose Rena as the cover artist because I loved the drama of her graphic covers, and I felt from the beginning that she really got what I wanted to do. With this cover, I think she’s really captured the book’s vibe—kind of dark, with that tantalizing view of the Lake just out of reach.

Official Book Blurb: Stranger Things meets Robin Hobb in this Cold War portal fantasy series set in a world of dark conspiracies and quantum magic, where reality can’t be trusted but family means everything.

Sergei relives his mother’s tragic death in nightmares every night… but he’s the only one who believes she’s still alive.

Sergei lives an ordinary 1980’s American life… but every night he travels back to the frozen Russian lake where his mother made the ultimate sacrifice for her children’s freedom. So when a mysterious woman tells him his mother is alive, he jumps at the chance to find her.

The problem? The only clue to her whereabouts is an otherworldly book written in a language no one has ever seen before.

Lured into a risky game of cloak and dagger with a shadowy government cabal that wants his mother as badly as he does, Sergei will risk everything to find the truth. But when his nightmares start bleeding into reality, his double life might tear his family completely apart before he has a chance to bring them back together.

The clock is ticking. With one last chance to save his mother from the ruthless forces plotting to use her, can Sergei make it in time... Or will everyone he loves suffer the consequences?