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.

Styxx

"Styxx"  (Dark Hunters):  Sherrilyn Kenyon;  media source: paperback.  Rating 5 out of 5 stars.

We have all met Styxx throughout the other novels, but never got his story, nor completely understand him.  I don't know about other readers but I have always wondered what made him the man he was.  Who was Styxx really other than Acheron's twin brother?  We never seen him for who he truly was, until now.  There is so much that happens in this novel that it would take forever to give you a synopsis.

In order to protect her son, Acheron's mother had another goddess hide his unborn body into the womb of a queen.  A queen who happened to have already been pregnant which her own child.  When the two boys were born, there was a visible difference between the two.  One was marked as a god, Acheron.  The other was not marked.  When Styxx's father seen Ash, he accused his wife of infidelity and disowned Acheron as his son.  In doing so he also marked distrust and hatred towards Styxx.  Xerxes find ways to punish Acheron for whatever he felt is disrespectful or other things deserving of a punishment.  Unknown to him, Styxx felt everything that Acheron felt. Styxx spent his time agonizing over Acheron as kids, even more so after Acheron was sent away to live with their uncle.  An uncle who did unspeakable things to Acheron.  Styxx quickly learned of these things, when Estes decides to "break Styxx in" he learns exactly how bad things were for Acheron.  throughout his lie Styxx gets tortured by various gods in various ways, mainly Apollo who marks him as his own.  Then Apollo marries his sister and his life is made even more miserable.  Who would have thought that Styxx' life would be seen as miserable.

All the while Styxx falls in love with a beautiful woman he meets by the river, but he doesn't reveal who he truly is and we learn that both are keeping secrets.  Throughout the novel he meets up with
her secretly  slowly building a life together.  He goes to war where he is miraculously the only general to have success against the Atlantians.  Throughout the novels gods and men alike pin after Styxx and he can hear those thoughts.  Left over residual from being born alongside Acheron?  Flash forward a bit.  Someone kills Styxx's sister and Apollo is furious and both Ash and Styxx are killed (are they really?) Apolloymi (Ash's dear mother) goes crazy and kill or turns the gods and goddesses of her pantheon into statues.  Again a lot happens throughout the novel, too much to give a detailed synopisis of what happens, so I am leaving some things, but that gives you all the more reason to read the novel.


So Styxx dies, but not really cause he can only die if Ash dies and well, Ash can't die.  Flash forward a bit more and Styxx is greeted by Dionysus and another god of the Celtic pantheon.  Both want Styxx' help to kill Acheron which he gladly jumps at. Of course they are unable to follow through with their plan, but end up angering Acheron and we see just what that man in capable of.  As we go on Styxx is miserable with the loss of his beloved Beth and their unborn child, but makes a friend in one of Acheron's warriors: Urian.  Off and on Styxx is asked to help Acheron, which he does for various reasons.    Through deductive reasoning Simi; Acheron's Charonte demon realizes who Styxx's beloved is and tries to reunite them cause all hell to break loose.  Styxx is happy again, he finds out the true reason he can hear the thoughts of those around him, as well who Urian truly is.

There is a ton that happens as I said a few times throughout this, and it is a rather thick book, but it is an AMAZING book.  I loved the Acheron focused installment of the series, and I love this one just as much.  Kenyon quickly became one of my favorite authors and she never ceases to amaze me.  The novel is full of strong emotions radiating off the pages from Styxx.  Who knew he was such a passionate character?  We didn't really see that in the glimpses of him that we have seen thus far.  This story paired with Acheron shows there are always two sides to a story.  The twins hated each other for what they thought the other felt and thought, when what they perceived was not the truth.  Styxx' character endures so much throughout the novel  he becomes a completely different character by the end of the novel than he was in the beginning.  We watch as he becomes broken down, but picks himself back up again.  He is not the spiteful conniving character we tend to think he is, far from it. 

From the moment I picked up my first book from Kenyon I was hooked, I believe I have all her novels including those from the League series, though I am missing some of those.  I cannot get enough of her writing, she is simply amazing. She gives us characters that we continuously want more from.  After reading Styxx and Acheron, I kind of want a novel on Ryssa (the sister) as well as Urian, among so many others.  I cannot wait to get my hands on another one of her novels.  If you haven't read any of her novels yet, not just Styxx, do so.  You will not be disappointed.