The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1) by Gena Showalter
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 0373772467
Edition Reviewed: Ebook
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: The Darkest Night
His powers -- Inhuman
His passion -- Beyond immortal . . .All her life, Ashlyn Darrow has been tormented by voices from the past. To end the nightmare, she has come to Budapest seeking help from men rumored to have supernatural abilities, not knowing she'll be swept into the arms of Maddox, their most dangerous member -- a man trapped in a hell of his own.
Neither can resist the instant hunger than calms their torments . . . and ignites an irresistible passion. But every heated touch and burning kiss will edge them closer to destruction -- and a soul-shattering test of love . . .
Though they carry an eternal curse, the Lords of the Underworld are irresistibly seductive -- and unimaginably powerful . . . Don’t miss this incredible new paranormal series from Gena Showalter!
Review:
First up I’m not going to argue which PNR author was “first” or who is better. Which one had THE idea first and who branched off of it—or stole it. No. I will say that if you’ve finally cracked and joined all of the hub-a-bulu about it there’s certain authors who’s names just keep popping up. J.R. Ward, Kresley Cole, Nalini Singh, Karen Marie Moning, Richelle Mead, Jeaniene Frost, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Gena Showalter are some of the names at the top of the list. So far I’ve tried all of them with pretty decent success rates. Except for Gena Showalter.
One day I picked up DN off of the shelf in the book store and was ready to purchase it. There was an obscenely long line and I decided to start reading it. Twenty pages in I was unimpressed. (Let’s just say I put the book back and bought a better one.) So when a Ebook copy landed in my lap, the first twenty or so pages where just as unimpressive.
The main character is a the damsel in distress, who has a rare gift that makes here a freak to anyone—except her soon to be mate. Besides her cute penchant for romance novels, herself doubt, insecurities, and total lack of a personality make for a boring time. The “soon to be mate” in question also happens to be a cookie cutter guy. He’s a immortal guardian who’s bonded to the Demon of Violence. That means a lot of mean words, thoughts, grrs, and basically alpha attitude. (Basically he could have popped out of any stereo typical romance.)
What did keep me going was the tease of Showalter’s humor that kept popping up, and the wickedly awesome mythology. The idea of men being the ones to open Pandora’s box amuses me beyond belief! Especially since it was as something as silly as making a point to the gods that they should be the ones protecting it. Learning about each warrior and the demon inside them soon became a heady addiction for me.
At the first of the book the Greek gods are in control and within a matter of page turns the Titans have escaped and the new upper management is already making the Lords lives miserable. Those miserable lives actually interested me more than the main couples. Reyes, possessing the Demon of Pain, meets his lady love when they kidnap her and her entire family. The Titans want Arion, Demon of Wrath, to kill them all. If he refuses he will go insane with the need to kill them. This makes for a pretty interesting triangle, the lady love, the man who loves her, and the best friend of the man who loves her want to kill her. So much better than a love triangle!
It’s a fascinating world on one of my favorite mythologies! Taking the old legend of Pandora’s box and giving it a new life. Sure the main focus of this book left a lot to be desired, but everybody needs to find their footing. The couple had enough of a “personality” that at times I found them very cute, and of course cheered them on. The mythology, other Lords of the Underworld, and promising twists of the future books are sure to make up for it.
Sexual Content: Bad language, dirty talk, and sex scenes. One of the Lords is promiscuity so you know things are really gonna get dirty.
2/5- Average/disappointing, library check-out
| Other book(s) in series: | ||
| Reviewed on BW: | Amazon: | Goodreads: |
| The Darkest Kiss (2) | Paperback | Kindle | The Darkest Kiss (2) The Darkest Pleasure (3) The Darkest Whisper (4) The Darkest Passion (5) The Darkest Lie (6) The Darkest Secret (7) The Darkest Surrender (8) The Darkest Seduction (9) |
2 comments:
I'm with you on this one. Gena Showalter popped up on every good PNR books lists, so I had to pick it up and see what was all the fuss about. But just like you, though I enjoyed the back stories, the mythology, the world building, I found the main couple lacking. Their story way too predictable. And yeah, the main character was a bit boring (there was a lot of eye rolling when she was around LOL). I've noticed that with each new book, this series gets higher ratings. I wounder if it gets any better? Do the characters become more developed and the stories more intriguing? I'm not sure I want to pick up another one just yet. Let me know if you make any progress with the series!:)
Great review!!
It does get better!! I'll actaully be posting my review later today for the next book The Darkest Kiss.
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