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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No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 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 I suppose 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 sins"? 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 sin 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 continueing 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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Trailer for No Mercy

Here is the trailer for No Mercy, the next book in the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. No Mercy is scheduled for release September 7th.

You can read an excerpt here. Here's 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.

Am I the only one excited about Dev's story? Or what happens next? The great thing about this series is the series arcs, the plots that span the books. It's not just that I want to see things from Dev's point of view, it's that I want to know what is going to happen next.

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Review: One Silent Night (Dark-Hunter, Book 13) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

What a tangled web of friends and enemies and family this series is turning into. That's mostly a good thing, though sometimes it's hard to keep up with who is supposed to hate who, and why. Some of the reasons for the hatred happened eleven thousand years ago, after all.

But, the tangled web is mostly a good thing. It's a huge knot, and it will be interesting to see how the author straightens everything up in future books.

Here's the blurb for One Silent Night:

While the world carries on unawares, Stryker, who leads an army of demons and vampires, is plotting an all out onslaught against his enemies—which, unfortunately for us, includes the entire human race. To avenge his sister, Stryker prepares to annihilate the Dark-Hunters. But things go awry when his oldest enemy returns. Enter his ex-wife. Zephyra. Just when he thought nothing could stop him, he’s now embroiled in a centuries old war with a shrew who gives new meaning to pain.

We aren't supposed to like Striker, right? He's Acheron's enemy, and we like Acheron. Except now we are seeing both sides to the story, and it's not so cut and dried anymore. This started a few books ago, the idea that the Daimon's might not be as bad as we were originally led to believe. I'm curious to see where the author continues to take this.

We also pick up a few new creatures we didn't know existed. Old creatures that are almost extinct. And we learn some new things about people we already know.

I think that One Silent Night does a lot to move the Dark-Hunter series along. The romance within the book was a bit forced, but the other plots were good. And, the part it played in the ongoing series plots was great.

If I had to guess, I would guess that the next book will be about Nick. But, according the author's website, the next book is due out in August of 2009 and will be about Fang.

Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 8 of 10







1. Fantasy Lover
1.5 Dragonswan
2. Night Pleasures
3. Night Embrace
4. Dance with the Devil
5. Kiss of the Night
6. Night Play
7. Seize the Night
8. Sins of the Night
9. Unleash the Night
10. Dark Side of the Moon
11. Devil May Cry
12. Acheron
13. One Silent Night
14. Bad Moon Rising

Acheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I loved this book. I waited for it, and I wasn't disappointed when it finally came out. But before I talk about the book, I have to talk about the series.

The series is based on the mythologies of a few pantheons (mainly the Greek pantheon), and they manage to pull something in to the mix that could have created the vampire myth.

To try to protect humans from these things that aren't really the vampires of legend, but that do drink the blood of humans, there is a group created to fight them. These Dark Hunters basically lose their soul to become a Dark Hunter, but in exchange they get to take revenge on someone, and they get immortality (sort of, they can be killed, but it's hard, and even if they are killed, they become a shade). Oh, and they get paid very (very, very) well for the work that they do.

But, they aren't allowed a relationship. They go through the centuries alone. They have an assistant (of sorts) assigned to them, but they can't have sex with them or be romantic with them. And the Dark Hunters can't be around each other or their powers are weakened. Kind of a bummer. Though phones and now the internet has helped them at least talk to each other without draining their powers.

The first book in the series doesn't deal with a dark hunter at all, but someone who's been trapped into being a sex slave by one of the ancient gods. He is trapped in a book until someone calls him out, then he is their sex slave for a week. And this has been going on for centuries. It's a decent book, but I'd have stopped there if I hadn't been warned that I needed to read at least the first two books before deciding whether or not to continue.

It's the second book where we begin to learn about dark hunters, and as the series continues we learn more and more about the history that created them, and about their leader, Acheron.

Acheron is a huge mystery. We've been given teasers here and there, but much of who he is and what made him who he is now isn't known until you get to this book.

The Acheron book is actually two books in one. I was shocked by the size when it arrived on my doorstep, it's huge. The first story in the book is a history. We get the history from just before Acheron is born all the way to the present day. It's not pretty. It's very difficult to read, and I doubt I will read it again. But it's important that we understand what has created Acheron. Kind of like the sword that has to go through the fire several times to become strong. Now we know why Acheron makes the decisions he makes, and why he doesn't like to be touched, and a whole host of other things.

The second story in the book is Acheron finding his happily ever after. And I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that, because when a Dark Hunter (or other being) gets their own book, so far they've all gotten their happily ever after. I was quite pleased with the way the author gave Acheron the love of his life. Someone who isn't scared of him, someone who will stand up to him, and (perhaps most importantly) someone who will stand up for him.

Now we get to the part where I rate the series and the book. The book is easy, it gets 10 out of 10. Though if you hadn't read the rest of the books in the series it wouldn't be anywhere near that high, I don't think.

Which brings me to rating the series. I don't really like books that are purely romance. The cheesy writing about her heart fluttering in his strong embrace just doesn't do it for me. Not that there is that exact wording, but you get the idea. Also, most of the books kind of go by a formula: Dark Hunter is strong and never before felt anything for female before, now he does, but he doesn't have a soul and it's not allowed and... you get the idea. There are exceptions, but even the exceptions still kind of fit the formula of not being allowed and they have to fight seemingly impossible odds to find a way.

The redeeming quality of the series though is that there is a long term plot going on. Kind of the ultimate fight between good and evil, I think. Except there are gray areas of good and evil. The good side has a lot of bad in it, and the bad side's "Queen" is totally likable. And even one of the worst things she's done, once you understand why she did it, you can totally understand the reasoning behind it. I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the series, One Silent Night, which is supposed to be Striker's story. Sometimes the next story gives you the next thing that happens, but sometimes we read a new story only to discover it happened at the same time as a previous story so we don't get the next thing that happens at all, though sometimes we learn more about what was happening at the time. I really hope this next book gives us the next thing that happens. I believe it is going to be, the author's page about the book gives a synopsis as well as an excerpt from the book.

So, the series only gets an 8 of 10 for me. But, it's still a recommended series. And if you like all that "romance talk" then the series will probably be a 10 of 10 for you.

Book Rating: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 8 of 10







1. Fantasy Lover
1.5 Dragonswan
2. Night Pleasures
3. Night Embrace
4. Dance with the Devil
5. Kiss of the Night
6. Night Play
7. Seize the Night
8. Sins of the Night
9. Unleash the Night
10. Dark Side of the Moon
11. Devil May Cry
12. Acheron
13. One Silent Night