Adult thread: Dark Hunter Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon

[una]

Inter-library loan is fantastic. If it wasn't for the concentration of those smut loving south valley people, I'd have to actually buy these books. I have noticed that all the BDB, P/C and DH books come from the same two southern valley county libraries. Thank goodness for them! Did I mention that our library carries all the YA stuff though? However, my county does have MB...I wonder what that means?!?

Zareck...oh that male! His story...goodness! Are we discussing it yet? I know I would love to know, and I believe I'm right, LadyDi's strong opinions/feelings related to his book?

[Kymberli]

Today is a truly wonderful day...My mom is feeding my book habit She went out and bought me 10 more books from the Dark/Dream Hunters and some of the books with the short stories. She even bought me the hard back of Acheron!! I am doing the biggest Happy Dance ever. I am so hooked on these books. I have even cleared an entire shelf off on the bookcase for all of them.

I started reading Wulf today and I don't know yet, I really want to get through this one and get to Vane, because I think that he was wonderful in Talon's book and then when I found the link on page 2 or 3 and got to read the deleted parts of Talon's book about Vane.....It made me what to learn even more about him. If you haven't read the deleted parts then go back and look for it. At the moment I think that cullengirl posted it (sorry if I am wrong). Thank you for posting it and I enjoy finding all these link that help make the stories even better. I have listened to all of the advice about not reading in the beginning until I get ready to read Ash's book. I am trying to read everything in order from the list that GNE posted on page one (thank you for that). It put everything in order so that it is easy to understand and has helped me a lot.

I am off to read. I just can't get enough of these books. Even when I am not reading my head is always thinking of the books and possible theories as to where they all might lead. okay enough for now.

[Goodnight Elizabeth]

Aww! Thanks, Kym. You are very welcome. I'm glad the list helped.

Yes, Una, we can dish Zarek now. Where's LadyDi?

[LadyDi]

I'm lurking - because unlike most of you that loved Zarek, I was sort of "meh" on him.
(*readies herself for the slaps of bacon and gasps of disbelief*)

SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ ZAREK



Unlike another man whose name begins with Z who has suffered much, Zarek's did not wring my heart.
The scene in which the other Dark Hunters are in the lodge or house or whatever and Zarek is left outside, pounding at the door, did not seem right because Acheron was one of the people that locked him out and forbid him from coming in. We've met Ash - be it in one book or 20 books - could you see him making that sort of cold, callous, hurtful gesture? And I didn't like the reference to "someone even more hated than Zarek" - I didn't feel it was right to set up Zarek as this much-despised person and then, in his very own book, to have him trumped by someone else. We know there will be people eventually who have been dealt a worse lot in life in future books (the books always have to up the ante, right?) but wait until another book to make that comparison. My final gripe was with the baking - I know this is fantasy escapism, but I would have thought his lack of experience would have made for a much different scene. Someone (cullengirl? nissanmama?) suggested that he learned in the dream world, which is a good and legitimate point, but for some reason that irked me.
Despite all this, I liked parts of Zarek's book. I liked the change in locale (New Orleans can't hog all the sexy immortals!) and the situation - stuck in a lodge together. I liked how it set the stage for Valerius' book (my favourite).

Ok, make sure I didn't put any post-Zarek spoilers in there, and PM me if I did!

[Goodnight Elizabeth]

You did fine, Di. There weren't any spoilers.

I didn't cry as much for Zarek than I did Zsadist, but I think it was because I'm a bit more desensitized now. I think Zarek had it worse than Zsadist since Zarek was mistreated since birth. If anyone was caught being nice to him - BAM! Zarek was always hated, never pitied. I felt horrible for him. Zsadist was chained by his Mistress and forced to be a blood slave. Remind me, please, on why Zsadist didn't bust out since he was a fully transformed bad-a$$ brother. I can't remember.

As for Zarek's baking know-how, I said he had centuries to learn. There's books, movies, magazines, television, places where he could watch it in action, and plain ol' imagination. I would think he'd have some pretty decent fantasies lined up.

[skylarblue]

Like LadyDi, I wasn't feeling Zarek's book that much either. I did feel sorry for him and what he had to endure but I just felt so detached.

I think I was telling Kym that it felt like I was actually Zarek. Instead of reading his book as an outside person, I was actually re-living his past with him. So while he wasn't emotionally involved neither was I and I feel really bad about saying that because his life was horrible.

His book did have it's moments but yet it was still frustrating to me in the same way as Phury's was. I know that it was hard for Zarek to connect with someone because he felt he didn't deserve to be loved but it's like okay you've got something good here why not see where it leads.

Now Kyrian is another story (and yes GNE we may need to work out a sharing deal for him). He's my favorite right now. WOWZA!!!!!

[twilightmom]

Still not reading posts... Just wanted to say to GNE and my gals... I'm way into Kyrian right now... The story has gotten A LOT better. *slaps high fives* I'll save my comments until I'm completely done, but it's not the story, it's the writing (which isn't as cheesey now).

[Goodnight Elizabeth]

No way, Jose, I ain't sharing Kyrian. I will share Qhuinn and I will share Eric Northman, but Kyrian is all mine. I will cut you. Hahahaha (Bon Qui Qui just took over my brain, sorry).

Trust me, there are plenty of other dark-hunters you can choose from. Please, please, oh gawd please don't make me share my Kyrian.

I'm the first to read him over here, he's mine. First come - first served. Finders keepers.

I'm so mean.

Yeah, this was a contributing post. Sorry guys for spamming the thread. Won't happen again.

[twilightmom]

Sorry GNE: I should have stated that I'm way into Kyrians STORY not him... You can keep him. I'm still all about JM. The DH's are nice, but I'm not attached YET.

So, I've now read Julian and Kyrian and the short story Dragonswan (which I didn't care for). My biggest hurdle/issue is Kenyon's writing tends to be a bit more on the "romance" side, especially at the beginning of the books. The writing is all about the HOT SEXY men and their future mates can't stare enough. The women are all "I can't help myself, I just want him" etc., etc. The actual language she uses is so cheesey sometimes.

But, I am enjoying the mythology... Still hard to follow. Let's see what I've learned and retained... Appollites are another race that was cursed by Appollo. (Former Atlantians) They want to rule by nature, but the curse prevents it to a large part. It seems that there are some Good Appollites, ones that live their 27 years and go... is this correct? Then there are some Bad Appollites and those who wish to cheat death are Damions - sucking souls and drinking blood of humans (probably the closest thing to our "vampires".) Do the Damions have heartbeats, like the DHs? Or are they "dead?" Then there were two other groups of badguys that I didn't understand (Slayers - that's Buffy, come on!!)

Now, the "good guys" there are 3 different species - the Dark Hunters, Dream Hunters and Were-hunters. The DaHu are former humans that make a deal with another God, lose their soul and become *like* appolites, but aren't. The other two I don't know much about, other than they aren't former humans.

Okay, so what important things should I have gotten from reading these first two books? Did I catch it all? I was pretty sleepy when I finished last night. I do like the women... they seem fairly normal - well except that Amanda's family is all "supernaturally gifted," it seems. They are strong of heart, which I like and don't seem to take a lot of crap.

ETA: I forgot another question... Did I read/remember correctly that there is no human "conversion" process... In other words, all Daimons (vamps) come from Appollites - right? The humans will just lose their souls, no life eternal... thanks!

[cullengirl]

SPOILER FOR ZARECK'S BOOK

I think Zarek had it worse than Zsadist since Zarek was mistreated since birth.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I cried buckets in Zareck's book. I didn't cry much in Zsadist book until the hospital scene. Like GNE, I also think Zareck had it a lot worse. Not only was he mistreated at birth, but by his own family. His father and siblings were so brutal to him. He was treated worse than an animal. No one wanted to be near him. Heck, even Artie didn't want anything to do with him. I think what sealed the sadness for me was learning about the village and the revelation. I wonder why Ash didn't step in. True, there are some things that he didn't reveal but how could you hide something like that and then expell him into solitude. No wonder he's so "brutish". Who wouldn't know how to act around people when there's no one there.

Twilightmom: I'm honored to be your crack dealer. From what you've read and learned from the first few books, you're right. As for the Daimons having hearts, I think they do. They just have to consume souls in order to prolong their lives. You'll learn more about them in Wulf's book.