Darkest Whisper

Title: Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter
Media source: Paperback

Rating 3.5 out of 5

Recommendation: Add this to your collection if you enjoy paranormal romance, mythology and sexy male characters.

Darkest Whisper is the fourth book in the Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter.  It is not necessary to read them in order, but highly recommended as the later novels mentions things from previous novels.

Sabin is the Keeper of Doubt, a demon who thrives off of pulling a person's doubts and insecurities to the surface and making them suffer.  When Sabin meets Gwen; a harpy who was imprisoned by the Hunters; he wishes Doubt would remain silent even for a moment.  He wishes he could keep this woman he slowly falls in love with.  Gwen is a harpy who fears and dislikes her Harpy aspects, she needs to learn how to accept and control her harpy before she loses control and does something she regrets later.  The Lords are still hunting for Pandora's box and fighting the war with the Hunters; having a harpy on their side could be a huge advantage, soon they find out the origins of Gwen's father, one that shocks everyone even Gwen.

I have mixed feelings about this novel.  It was as compelling as the other Lord's stories, but something seemed to be missing in this one.  Gwen was depicted as being so timid and meek, and yet she stands up to Sabin's demon.  There seemed to be a conflict within that portion of the story.  I wasn't thrilled with Sabin becoming weaker because of Gwen, he became a different warrior while the others became stronger.  It wasn't until the end that readers see him becoming stronger, could that have been from  his demon, I don't know.  If it was, it wasn't brought out well enough.  In other books the demon would become possessive over the female as much as the warrior did, this novel the demon wanted to attack her more and then eventually became afraid of her.  I enjoyed seeing the demon itself reacting differently and opposite of itself, but it almost seemed weak that the demon would instantly give up and go hide rather than fight against Gwen's Harpy side.

The pace is a bit slower than some of the other novels, I found myself wanting it to go faster and wanting to get to different parts faster.  Some elements began to feel all too convenient such as the truth to who Gwen's father is (I don't want to give things away).  I have to wonder do all the women who belong to the Lord need to have some relevance to their quest? There are some characters who get mentioned briefly, whom I want more of such as Amun, I want his story and this novel just increased that desire.   I also enjoyed the addition of a new creature, the Harpy and the mythos behind them becoming something different within this novel.  Gena does a great job at making things her own.  Would I continue to read the series?  You betcha!  Would I continue to recommend it to others?  Of course!!  While I found somethings lacking in this novel, it was still fantastic and had some sexy moments.  it was a great novel and I look forward to reading more from Showalter.