No Mercy (Dark-Hunters, Book 19) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

 

No Mercy is the nineteenth book in the Dark-Hunter series, and there are now three series that are placed in this world - Dark Hunters, Dream Hunters, and the Chronicles of Nick. Three I'm aware of, there could be more.

What I'm trying to say is that this is a complex world, and I think I've lost too many details from too many books. I have only read some of the Dream-Hunter stories, and I tried to read the first Chronicle of Nick book but I just couldn't handle it... too much teenage angst and attitude (I generally try to stay away from young adult for just that reason). But, I've read every
Dark-Hunter book, so it's not that I haven't read them, it's that I can't remember enough details from books I read years ago to tell me why this person has these powers, or why this couple is indebted to that person. I remember the gist of it, but not the specifics. And that was a problem for me when reading No Mercy.

I'm not really sure what to do about that - the options are to re-read the series (which I do not want to do), to give up and stop reading the series (don't really want to do that just yet, either), or to just keep plugging along and hope the author keeps giving enough hints in the prose to help us try to remember who these people are and why they are acting in the manner they are acting. For now I guess it's the third option.

As for the specifics of No Mercy -- we've met Dev before, he's one of the Bears at Sanctuary. If we've met Samia I don't remember it.  I liked both characters, and the various plots running along side the romance are all a continuation of the general overall story arcs that are happening. There is this huge tangled weave of love and hate and revenge and drama and... I have no idea how the author is ever going to straighten all of the tangles out.

The good parts - we get enough of Acheron to let us see how he's doing, and we get to see Aimee and Fang together some as well. We see a little of Savitar, and a little more of Thorn.

The bad parts... while it's not completely "same thing different book", it is just a little bit. How many ways can you have a Dark Hunter fall in love and take the risk of getting their soul back so they can be with their one true love? Ms. Kenyon has done a good job of keeping things fresh for the most part, but this is the 19th book in the series, after all.

Here is the blurb:

Live fast, fight hard and if you have to die then take as many of your enemies with you as you can. That is the Amazon credo and it was one Samia lived and died by. Now in contemporary New Orleans, the immortal Amazon warrior is about to learn that there’s a worse evil coming to slaughter mankind than she’s ever faced before.



Shapeshifter Dev Peltier has stood guard at the front of Sanctuary for almost two hundred years and in that time, he’s seen it all. Or so he thought. Now their enemies have discovered a new source of power- one that makes a mockery of anything faced to date.



The war is on and Dev and Sam are guarding ground zero. But in order to win, they will have to break the most cardinal of all rules and pray it doesn’t unravel the universe as we know it.

I finished reading No Mercy about ten or fifteen minutes ago, so this one is fresh on my mind. I have no idea what the last paragraph means.... the most "cardinal of rules"? I don't recall them doing anything that could unravel the universe as we know it. I remember Sam finding out that something couldn't be undone without unraveling the Universe, but there was never any chance of either Sam or Dev doing it. The most cardinal rule they broke was in falling in love with each other, as Sam isn't supposed to do that since she's a Dark Hunter - but that won't unravel the universe. Does anyone else know what that sentence means?

As for the writing elements: the romance portion of the plot was okay, nothing spectacular. The continuing plots are still headed towards some sort of resolution but at this point if it takes another dozen books to get there I'm not sure I'll last that long. It's time to wrap some of the long term stuff up, I think. The pacing had some serious issues for me, the prose and dialogue were fine, and character development was sufficient.

I'm going to give No Mercy a 7 of 10, and I'll leave the series at an 8 of 10.

• Book Rating: No Mercy: 7 of 10
• Series Rating: 8 of 10

1. Fantasy Lover (Julian & Grace)
1.5 Dragonswan
2. Night Pleasures (Talon & Sunshine)
3. Night Embrace
4. Dance with the Devil (Zarek & Astrid)
5. Kiss of the Night (Wulf & Cassandra)
6. Night Play (Vane & Bride)
7. Seize the Night (Valerius & Tabitha)
8. Sins of the Night (Alexion & Danger)
9. Unleash the Night (Wren & Maggie)
10. Dark Side of the Moon (Ravyn & Susan)
11. The Dream-Hunter (Arik & Geary)
12. Upon the Midnight Clear (Aidan & Leta)
13. Devil May Cry (Sin & Kat)
14. Dream Chaser (Xypher & Simone)
15. Acheron (Ash & Tory)
16. One Silent Night (Stryker & Zephyra)
17. Dream Warrior (Jericho & Delphine)
18. Bad Moon Rising (Fang & Aimee)
19. No Mercy (Dev & Sam)
20. Redemption (Sundown and Abigail)

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