Join us as we celebrate the cover reveal of the latest in Alethea Lyons’ Seer of York series—here’s book three, The Dreamwalker! And scroll down for an extract to get you in the mood…
Title: The Dreamwalker
Series: Seer of York
Release date: 3 March 2026
Publisher: Brigids Gate Press
Cover artist: Alison Flannery
Even daydreams can be possessed.
Could you sacrifice your family, or the person you’re in love with, if it meant saving a country of strangers?
Return to the world of the Seer of York, with arcane archivist and witch, Harper, and her cat-shifter familiar, Fionn.
When a dreamwalker possesses an opera singer, she’s caught in a daydream where she’s become the enchantress she played on stage. Though Harper and her demonhunter foster sister, Grace, banish the dreamwalker, a seed of the spell takes root in the audience. As more artists across York are cursed, a picture builds, literally, as the bespelled people draw the beginnings of a complex arcane ritual.
The ritual will restore England’s dwindling magic, saving it from plague, famine, and death, but allowing it to continue will not only doom the possessed, but the whole city of York, including Harper’s family.
The Author Says…
This book takes a slightly different path to the first two in the series. I got to explore more of the world outside Yorkshire, and bring in more characters who have been in my mind for a long time. It also takes a surprisingly long time for me to un-alive anyone on page.
Joking aside, writing a book 3 feels very different to writing a book 2. There are ongoing stakes around Harper’s family (both birth and found family), as well as the bigger picture of how her actions have affected Yorkshire and England. I wanted to do justice to the tough moral choices some of the characters face.
I’ve also introduced romantic subplots for the first time. The primary relationships remain familial, primarily Harper and Grace, and Harper and Fionn. However, in this book, I got to write a bit about my own journey of bisexual awakening. That was surprisingly hard to get right, given that I lived it, albeit without demons to deal with. So that means The Dreamwalker has an extra special place in my heart. I hope there will be readers who will see this late realisation, and feel seen and comforted by the fact the character didn’t know something so fundamental about themselves. In case anyone asks, it’s not because I’ve added it later. It is a reflection of my own journey and the fact I was in my thirties before I realised (or rather, my husband pointed it out).
As always, I wanted to place a spotlight on the idea that our differences make us stronger. People of different faiths, cultures, sexualities, and genders all work together. Without all of them, the story wouldn’t work. It’s a queernormative world with far less racism than our own. Instead, I wanted to use magic as a way to show a persecuted difference without specifying any in the real world. England is an isolationist nation. Magic is illegal. But without it, England is withering. Sadly, this has become more and more true of our real world as well.
But primarily, it’s a supernatural mystery with some wonderfully creepy York bits.
I hope you’ll join Harper, Fionn, Grace, Heresy, and all the rest of the gang for their next adventure (or their earlier ones if you’re new to my world).
The Dreamwalker is out on 3 March 2026. Head to the links for more details and to preorder:
- AUTHOR WEBSITE: alethealyons.com
- LINKTREE (including Universal Preorder Links, Goodreads, etc): linktr.ee/alethearlyons
Excerpt from The Dreamwalker
Harper saw through the eyes of another as history repeated. Her mistakes would become their mistakes, just as she had taken on the burden of her mother’s and grandmother’s. Generations of seers, all blinded by fear.
The world was out of balance. Darkness tainted magic and caused its science to run awry. The places where little magic existed sucked on the rest with the inevitability of a black hole. They’d patched dead spots before, but never an entire country. The centuries-long blight that was England had to be cured.
Harper crouched next to her and reached out a tentative hand to pat the woman’s shoulder. As soon as they touched, the other woman’s head snapped round. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, pupils tiny pinpricks. She grabbed Harper’s wrist, too tight. Harper grunted, held her ground. “I’m here to help you.”
“With my revenge?” The wild gaze swung back to the wall. “Hekate’s temple is almost complete. The spirit shall return.”
The undine turned, her face reflected in many facets and difficult to see clearly. She looked straight into the seer. Harper’s name was breathed from the stranger’s lips before they pressed gently against hers.
“I like watching the stars with you. May this be one of the thousand ways I paint you? With stars and wonder in your eyes?”
“Don’t fear the darkness, Harper. Breathe and let it wash over you.” Stars glimpsed through pine trees wheeled overhead, faint daydreams sparkled from the crystal chandelier on the opera house ceiling.
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