I was impressed and disappointed by this book. Impressed because I did (surprisingly) really like Valerius and Tabitha. I loved that Sherrilyn Kenyon had them speaking in Latin and I believed their swift courtship and ultimate love for each other. I liked that Tabitha was spunky without being annoying and unlikable, which all too often happens in romance novels. However Tabitha is strong without being unforgivably bitchy. I also loved the cast of characters that inhabit Tabitha's version of New Orleans.
To explain why I was disappointed by this book, I must give some backstory. I was referred to this book by a fellow Kresley Cole aficionado when I was bemoaning the lack of respect given to No Rest For The Wicked hero, Sebastion, on Kresley Cole's forum. She said that Valerius reminded her of Sebastion and his woobie factor just broke her heart. I had to immediately check out this book despite purposely having not read any of the Dark-Hunter novels. So, admittedly, I have not read any of the preceding books. Despite this, I was able to understand a lot of what was going on plot-wise. But this may have been a factor in me not liking most, if any, of the Dark-Hunters other than Valerius. Because this hero was compared to my favorite romance hero of all time who was conceived by my favorite romance writer of all time (who, incidentally is just a great writer period) I was expecting better character development of all the main characters and especially in how they relate to Valerius. I felt like there was a lot of what was supposed to be character development but it came off as somehow shallow to me. Zarek and Kyrian came off as particularly juvenile and whiney, their beef with Valerius blatantly unfair and misguided. I know this happens in life, but I'm supposed to be rooting for these people and they are constantly being referred to as childish. For that matter, I thought most of these ancient beings, be they gods, daimons, vamps, or otherwise were all uncharacteristically melodramatic and emotional. I just don't think of ancient Greek generals as this immature and out of touch with the cruel times they were living in 2000 years ago.
Also, I think Ash or Acheron is supposed to be this wonderful character but I found him to be too much of a deus ex machina. He apparently can do anything and the convenient handing out of immortality, bringing people back from the dead (except those pesky red shirts), and being all around perfect just annoyed me. He suffered from what I call the Lestat Syndrome wherein an author makes her main hero so awfully perfect and well-beloved that he becomes achingly boring and stagnant to the plot.
I really enjoyed this sojourn into the world of Valerius and Tabitha and I appreciate their storyline. But I just found all the clutter in the background to be too distracting and not that complementary to their love story. Therefore, I don't believe I will continue reading this series.
To explain why I was disappointed by this book, I must give some backstory. I was referred to this book by a fellow Kresley Cole aficionado when I was bemoaning the lack of respect given to No Rest For The Wicked hero, Sebastion, on Kresley Cole's forum. She said that Valerius reminded her of Sebastion and his woobie factor just broke her heart. I had to immediately check out this book despite purposely having not read any of the Dark-Hunter novels. So, admittedly, I have not read any of the preceding books. Despite this, I was able to understand a lot of what was going on plot-wise. But this may have been a factor in me not liking most, if any, of the Dark-Hunters other than Valerius. Because this hero was compared to my favorite romance hero of all time who was conceived by my favorite romance writer of all time (who, incidentally is just a great writer period) I was expecting better character development of all the main characters and especially in how they relate to Valerius. I felt like there was a lot of what was supposed to be character development but it came off as somehow shallow to me. Zarek and Kyrian came off as particularly juvenile and whiney, their beef with Valerius blatantly unfair and misguided. I know this happens in life, but I'm supposed to be rooting for these people and they are constantly being referred to as childish. For that matter, I thought most of these ancient beings, be they gods, daimons, vamps, or otherwise were all uncharacteristically melodramatic and emotional. I just don't think of ancient Greek generals as this immature and out of touch with the cruel times they were living in 2000 years ago.
Also, I think Ash or Acheron is supposed to be this wonderful character but I found him to be too much of a deus ex machina. He apparently can do anything and the convenient handing out of immortality, bringing people back from the dead (except those pesky red shirts), and being all around perfect just annoyed me. He suffered from what I call the Lestat Syndrome wherein an author makes her main hero so awfully perfect and well-beloved that he becomes achingly boring and stagnant to the plot.
I really enjoyed this sojourn into the world of Valerius and Tabitha and I appreciate their storyline. But I just found all the clutter in the background to be too distracting and not that complementary to their love story. Therefore, I don't believe I will continue reading this series.
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