Dragonmark

Illarion is a dragon, who was force to become human, and then again forced to serve those same humans as a mount during their battles.  Understandably he becomes bitter as he is separated from his dragonkin and everything he ever knew.  He then is forced into the fey realm where he looses the one woman he loved...


Where do I begin with this one.  I couldn't give a more detailed synopsis because I honestly did not finish the book and that saddens me greatly.  I have been a fan of Kenyon since Fantasy Lover and all the way through the other Dark Hunter novels, but this...this book was shear crap and not up to the standards that I have held Kenyon.  This is probably her worst novel yet.  It is LITERALLY copy and paste from other books.  There were chapters from Dragonsbane and Son of No One.  Oh you might think those sections were rewritten with Illarion's point of view WRONG!  He was barely in his own book!  I actually pulled my copies of Son of No One and Dragonsbane from my shelf and compared the three....word for word the same info from those books in this one.  It is not an original story so to speak.  Honestly how dare Kenyon do this to her readers.


I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.  I don't even want to rate the book, so 0 out of 5 because there was no effort in this.  Granted in the past we have seen scene from other stories in with other books like Acheron, but never has she copied and pasted verbatim.  The scenes were always rewritten from the view of Acheron or whatever hunter the book was about.  I couldn't be more disappointed in this author.  This may be the book that makes me no longer read her work.

Illusion by Sherrilyn Kenyon

In this installment of the Chronicles of Nick, Nick is expelled to a parallel universe where he is not the Malachi, his mom married Bubba, and everyone is normal for the most part.  The Nick from this world is now in his body cowering in fear as Caleb, Zavid and Kody are trying to figure out what happened to Nick and how to get him back before his generals destroy the world.  Someone did this to Nick, making him vulnerable in both worlds so that they may be able to kill him easier, but they underestimated Nick and those who care about him in both worlds.

I am a little sad to say Illusion felt like it was lacking something.  It seemed to progress slowly and drone on until the real action took place.  I missed seeing Acheron having a role in the book, even though he does make an appearance, it is not in the way that I expected.  But true to form Nick triumphs and kicks butt out of the big bad in this novel.  I expected more things to be revealed about Nick, but things are revealed about Kody and Savitar, making the plot thicken.  There is now a bigger mystery that surrounds Kody, and I almost feel the need to write down her family tree to keep everything in order. 

Like with the other books in the series there are twists and turns throughout the book.  Once you think you have everything figured out Kenyon changes things and blows you away.  I honestly started and finished this book within 5 hours or so.  I wanted to see what would happen, where the story would go and what would happen to our Nicky-poo.  As with all her other books, Kenyon brings the story life and makes her characters all jump off the pages.  I simply hunger for more about Nick and other members of the Dark Hunter series.  I like that she has a series devoted to Nick, and kind of gives an insight to his character more.  I have read almost all the Dark Hunter novels and always wanted a book just for Nick, and I guess his story took more to tell.  I almost hoped there would be a series dedicated to Acheron.  One could only dreams...hmm Acheron...oh wait we are talking about Nick.

I have this image of Nick in my head and I don't know if anyone else does, but I picture a young Gregory Peck, swaave and smoothe, sexy but at the same time a little awkward.  Somewhat of an old sole in a young man's body.  A man older than his years.  I wonder if that is something Kenyon goes for with Nick, maybe not. 

Anyway, I got a little sidetracked.  Illusiion is a good book for the series even if it felt a little slow.  It continues to set the stage for something bigger to happen to Nick and I can only speculate at what that will be, some things I know from the Dark Hunter series, but I am waiting to be completely blown away with the ending to this series whenever it happens.  But for now on to the next book!

Inferno By Sherrilyn Kenyon

Oh my do I love Sherrilyn Kenyon's novels.  She is one of my top favorite authors, right beside Kim Cormack.  Inferno is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Nick series and boy is it a great book!  Nick is still learning to deal with his Malachi powers and how to deal with Kody being sent to kill him when another entity begins entering his head calling itself the "Harvester." Through everything happening to him, Nick must learn how to not allow hatred to enter his heart or else that will be the end of him, and possibly the world as we know it.  Soon Nick finds himself in yet another battle, but with an ally he never expects to have.  Continue the epic series and see what happens to Nick next and where his journey takes him.

While reading the Dark Hunter series, Nick was one of my favorite side characters, and with his series he is quickly becoming one of my favorite main characters.  There is some much being through at this poor kid that it is a wonder he still has the strength to wake up every day.  As the novel progresses Kenyon lets out little tidbits of information about Nick, his father, and his friends that keep the readers entertained, surprised and eager for more.  Nick is probably one of the strongest teenaged leads I have read about in a long time.  He does complain a bit about things, but who wouldn't?  At the same time he takes his responsibilities and changes seriously.  He does what he can to protect the ones he loves and learn how to remain the man he is and not become the man he was designed to become.

As with most of her books, Kenyon has a strong balance between action, history, backstory, and romance.  We see a lot of character develop, not only individually but also as friends.  I appreciated seeing more of Caleb and Acheron in this novel.  Knowing what I know about Ash's and Nick's relationship in the future, it breaks my heart to see their friendship developing and cultivating (I almost dread the novel in this series that portrays their future).  Inferno gives us a little more backstory on Caleb and Kody both and how they came to be involved in Nick's life.  I enjoy when authors add backstories to their supporting characters because then we get insight into them and how they interact with the main character.  Kenyon does a wonderful job at this in all her books.

There is a lot of action and information thrown at the reader at once.  One may think this is a bad thing, but it isn't.  It works for the story line to have thrown at you as your read the way things are thrown at Nick as he progresses through his change.  I cannot wait to pick up the fifth book and find out what Kenyon has in store for Nick next.  I give this book a 3.5 out of 5, it didn't seem to stack up to the other books by Kenyon that I have read.  There seemed to be something lacking, but I am not sure what it is.